Unit 4 American Lit Project

For this assignment, you will write a Tennis-Match Outline that will later become the Unit 5 Research Essay. Your thesis statement for this essay should do the following:

• Compare gender or class and how it is handled in short story, play or poem.
• Compare authors’ use of form and/or content in short story, play, or poem.
• Compare authors’ intent in short story, play, or poem.

To help you plan your outline and thesis statement, it is important that you also have each of the following in your essay:

• topic sentences for each of your points re elements of fiction
• evidence or examples from the works themselves and from outside academic sources (i.e., literary journals and texts) that justify your position
• a conclusion that ties all of your ideas together
• in-text citations and a reference list of at least 2 sources in proper APA style, including at least one academic source to support your arguments.
  • This source may derive from a literary journal or critical text.
  • Please refer to the following databases in the Cybrary:
    • Academic Search Premier (Ebsco)
    • Master File Premier (Ebsco)
    • E Book Collection (Ebsco)
    • Credo Reference (Credo
  • Please note that when conducting any research for this course, the following sources are NOT acceptable: Wikipedia, answers.com, about.com, and sparknotes.com.

The total content of the essay will be 4–5 pages, excluding the Title and Reference pages.

Using the Track A (gender) or Track B (class and economics) in America, prepare a comparison and contrast outline that you will use to write your final essay (Unit 5 Research Essay).

Tennis Match Outline: This outline shows a comparison and contrast essay designed as a tennis match. Just like the game of tennis, you will bounce your topic from one point to the next, alternating from one topic to another. Please see the sample outline to help guide your writing.

Tennis Match Outline

1. Introduction:
   1. Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun and Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son”
   2. background on both authors and texts
   3. brief summary of both texts (no more than 3 sentences for each)
   4. thesis statement: Both works, while diverse in form, discuss the struggles of being African-American and present convincing portraits of race in the 20th century.  
2. Topic Sentence: First of all, Hansberry’s realistic dialogue dramatizes the struggle of African-Americans, as does the lyrical and idiomatic language of the mother’s monologue in Hughes’ poem.
   1. dialogue in Hansberry’s play
      1. example 1
      2. example 2
      3. summarize the significance of dialogue in the play
   2. monologue in Hughes’ poem
      1. example 1
      2. example 2
      3. summarize the significance of monologue in the poem
3. Topic Sentence: Furthermore, figurative language and diction allow both Hansberry and Hughes to realistically portray race prejudice in Americ 
   1. diction and figures of speech in Hansberry’s play
      1. example 1
      2. example 2
      3. summarize the significance of plot in the play
   2. diction and figures of speech in Hughes’ poem 
      1. example 1
      2. example 2
      3. summarize the significance of plot in the poem
4. Topic Sentence: In addition, setting in Hansberry’s and Hughes’ works allows readers t ounderstand racial conflict in terms of social environment, atmosphere, and the perception of time.  
   1. setting in Hansberry’s play
      1. example 1
      2. example 2
      3. summarize the significance of setting in the play
   2. setting in Hughes’ poem
      1. example 1
      2. example 2
      3. summarize the significance of setting in the poem
5. Conclusion.