English 126: Paper #2: Connections Task: Textual Comparisons

This English 126 paper assignment, titled "Connections Task," requires students to compare two selected texts from a provided list, focusing on how the second text alters a key theme or character from the first. The essay, ranging from 1000 to 1250 words, demands a detailed analysis of the differences in language, characterization, and plot to understand how each text interprets events and actions. Students must formulate a thesis discussing the significance of these re-workings and changes. The essay structure includes an introduction with a thesis, body paragraphs with specific points of connection, and a conclusion addressing the significance of the found connections. Students are expected to use quotations, follow MLA format for the Works Cited page, and write for an educated audience. Outside sources are limited to definitions, not analysis, and must be cited. The goal is to explore how changes in the second text rewrite elements of the first, altering our understanding of the character, plot, and larger story, aiming to improve writing and analytical skills.

English 126
Paper #2: Connections
Task: For this paper, you will be drawing connections between two texts in order to discuss how
the second one alters some key theme or element of the first text.
Your paper should be four-to-five pages (1000-1250 words) and should tackle a specific
character or theme for comparison, showing how one text reworks the other. Pay close attention
to the differences between the texts—in language, characterization, and plot—to discuss how
each imagines and interprets the actions and events.
Stick to one character or key theme. Do not attempt to connect every aspect of the two texts you
have chosen to work with.
Pairs of texts to choose from:
• “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Case of the Speckled Band”
• “The Purloined Letter” and “A Scandal in Bohemia”
• “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “A Scandal in Belgravia”
• “Adventure of Silver Blaze” and “The Marchioness”
In drawing your connections, you must also determine why the re-workings are significant.
Focus on how the changes in the second text rewrite some element of the first text. Think about
these questions:
• What do the changes tell us?
• How do they alter our understanding of the character and the plot?
• How does that rewriting change the larger story or our understanding of it?
Structure: Your paper should be five to eight paragraphs long with an introduction, body and
conclusion as follows:
Introduction: This should provide the context for your thesis and should introduce the texts, the
authors, and the character or theme you will be discussing. End with your thesis. (See below for
specific instructions on the thesis.)
Body paragraphs: Each body paragraph should identify and address a specific point of
connection that relates to both texts. Your body paragraphs should follow this structure:
• Topic sentence identifying the point of connection
• Discussion of the first text on that point, with a quotation and analysis
• Transition (this may be a phrase or an entire sentence).
• Discussion of the second text on that point, with a quotation and analysis.
• Wrap-up analysis identifying what the reader should take away from this paragraph
Ideally, each paragraph should include examples from both texts illustrating the point of
connection. However, if the paragraph becomes too unwieldy and you feel you must split it in

half, you may do so. In that case, split the paragraph into two after the analysis of the first text
and before the transition.
Remember, though, not to divide the paper in half by texts. Do not tell us everything about the
Irene Adler in “A Scandal in Bohemia” on pages 1-2 and everything about her character in the
Sherlock episode on pages 3-4.
Conclusion: Use your conclusion to address the question: so what? This is the place to fully
discuss what you make of the connections that you found. Why are they significant? What do
they show about the larger themes within the texts?
Thesis: In this type of paper, your thesis should make an interpretive claim about the key
connection and changes between the two texts that you are comparing. Aim to try and pin down
why those changes matter in the larger sense of the revision or rewriting that the second text does
of the first.
Be as precise as you can. Do not write a thesis like this:
While both the Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes are essentially the
same character, they have some major differences.
Instead, try to make an argument about how Doyle’s Holmes departs from
Poe’s Dupin and how that change affects the detective’s role in the stories.
Quotations: To explore the connections, you will need to quote frequently from the story,
television program, or play. Sometimes you may want to quote only a word or a phrase at a time
as you explain it. Please remember to enclose all of the texts' words within quotation marks.
Also remember to explain what you want us to grasp about that quotation. Avoid ending a
paragraph on a quotation.
Audience and Vocabulary: Obviously you are writing this paper for me to read, but it should
also be comprehensible to your classmates. Aim to write for an educated audience. As you did
when you wrote the first paper, try to incorporate genre appropriate vocabulary and terms into
your discussion. Plays, for example, have characters who speak in dialogue and stage directions
that alert us to the characters’ actions. Television shows may make use of certain camera shots.
Refer back to the Wiki Terms Glossary for help.
Outside Sources: You may use a dictionary or another source to help you define words or
unfamiliar phrases. But you may NOT use outside sources to help with your analysis. In other
words, it would be perfectly acceptable to look up a reference to a person or an animal or a kind
of clothing or an event that you are unfamiliar with. It would not be acceptable to try and find
some analysis of the texts. I do not want to read what eSparkNotes has to say about Sherlock
Holmes. Any source you use as a reference must be cited within the paper and included on your
Works Cited page.
Works Cited: Please prepare a Works Cited page for the texts you have selected. Follow MLA
format for periodicals in your Bedford Handbook. Links to resources are also available on our
course Blackboard site under Formatting.