1. Contrast essay
Analyzing the point-by-point organizational structure of professional essays: Langley’s “Watch the Cart” & Catton’s “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”

2. Review: Point-by-point style
Differences are important & meaningful.
Like parts or qualities are contrasted.
Say about one the opposite of what you have said about the other.
The same information is included about each thing that is contrasted.
Contrasts are ordered the same throughout the essay.
Use the words difference, different from, dissimilar, not alike.
Don’t use “on the contrary,” “on the other hand,” or “where” to mark contrasts.

3. Organizational structure of sample essays
Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts
Watch the Cart!
Alternating points pattern
(more like point- by-point)
First: Block pattern
Second: Alternating points
(somewhat like point-by-point)

4. What is the thesis statement?
“There is nothing similar in the way men and women shop for groceries.”
“…nothing stands out more clearly than the differences between men and women when they shop.”
“Overall, then, women are far more proficient shoppers than men.” (Langley )
Watch the Cart

5. 3 differences between men and women shoppers:
Knowledge of items’ locations
Shopping speed
Manipulation of carts (guiding and control)
Watch the Cart

6. Topic Sentence/Contrast #1
“I think women control supermarkets in a way that men are unaware of.”
Men never know where anything is
Nine times out of ten, it is a man who asks where to find a product
Have no sense of direction in a supermarket
Even with help, they often cannot ultimately find the product
Women always know where products are
Only ask where to find unusual or obscure products
(implied) Have a sense of direction in a supermarket
When given help, women always ultimately find the product

7. Topic Sentence/contrast #2
Women shop fast while men shop slowly (paraphrased).
Men shop with the speed of a dead snail
Get worse and worse each time (takes more time)
Women shop at speeds that would get them tickets on freeways
Take the same amount of time every shopping trip

8. Topic Sentence/Contrast 3
“The biggest difference…involves the manipulation of carts” (307).
Men are described as a menace to other shoppers
Bounce their carts of display cases, sideswipe other patrons, and create havoc
Can’t control the direction of carts
A woman “guides a cart…fluidly and effortlessly” (307)
“her movements are almost poetic” (307)

9. What are some problems with this essay?
Point-by-point style, but not all points match/are parallel)
Thesis is not in the introduction
No clear topic sentences
6 Steps are not used
Ideas are included that are not mentioned for both men and women

10. Lee & Grant: Vocabulary
Poignant
causing strong feelings
Diametrically
completely different or opposite
Aristocracy
the people of the highest social class
Chivalry
a man’s honorable, kind, brave, generous behavior, especially toward women (knights in the Middle Ages)
Sanctified
made holy
Sinewy
having strong sinews (tissue/tendon that connects muscle to bone)
Obeisance
an action showing respect and obedience (bowing)
Fidelity
the quality of being faithful and loyal

11. Catton’s grant and lee: A study in contrasts
Based on the descriptions in the essay, which general is Lee and which is Grant?
What clues does the essay give us?

12. Thesis statement Option 1: Option 2:
“[Lee and Grant] were two very strong men, these oddly different generals, and they represented the strengths of two conflicting currents that, through them, had come into final collision” (146).
Option 2:
“Two great Americans, Grant and Lee--very different, yet under everything very much alike. Their encounter at Appomattox was one of the great moments of American history” (149).

13. Ordering of Information
Outline
Lee (par. 4-6)
Grant (par. 7-9)
Grant, then Lee mentioned (first sentence of par. 10)
But, Lee described first, Grant second (par. 10)
Grant, then Lee (par. 11+)
Does Catton keep the order of information about Lee and then Grant the same throughout the essay? No
Where does it change?
Paragraph 10 (pg. 148)

14. Contrasts and Comparisons
Lee
Represented old aristocracy (tiered class system)
Saw advantages in maintaining a social hierarchy (upper class leads nation)
Loyalty to the South
Grant
Represented individualism (self-determination)
Competition will determine leaders
Loyalty to a unified nation (creation of the United States)
Similarities
Both excellent soldiers
Refused to give up
Daring and resourceful
Quick in thought & action
Both turn from war to peace quickly

15. Compare & contrast method: block pattern
Why does Catton highlight the differences between Lee and Grant before he compares them?
Would the essay have worked if he had put the similarities first and ended with the contrasts?