Essay 2: Research Essay Guidelines

Essay 2: Compare and Contrast Research – Diaspora (100 pts)

Important Dates:

1) Workshop of Essay 2: Thursday, April 9th
2) Final Draft of Essay 2, due: Thursday, April 16th

Essay Prompt:

We introduced the terms “Diaspora” and “transnational” last week in class, connecting A Long Way Gone as a tale fitting into the category. You will use compare and contrast strategies to discuss two texts on Diasporas. You will first research and then connect another Diaspora or Diaspora-related tale to our main class text, A Long Way Gone.

You are required to use at least two other sources in this essay in addition to A Long Way Gone. One must be the text in which you compare and contrast Beah’s journey to another, specific tale of Diaspora (which, reluctantly, includes film).

The second research resource/text must be an academic article that will help you in analysis of Diaspora themes. There are plenty of academic articles in our Columbia library and its database that will help you in your essay.

Very importantly, understand that you are not simply identifying themes seen in both A Long Way Gone and this other text. You are pushing towards analyzing the subject of Diaspora through the comparison and contrast of these texts.

Rather than focus on “everything” that deals with Diaspora, you were already asked to find one theme/subject within the general subject of Diasporas to focus on. For instance, perhaps music plays a role in each Diaspora; you can analyze the role of music in each of the two tales, and in Diaspora as a whole.

To help out, here are some possible texts that deal with Diaspora that might interest you:

1. Blood Diamond (movie)
2. Hotel Rwanda (movie)
3. The Giver (book)
4. Exodus (excerpt given out upon request)
5. The Book of Wilson (essay given out upon request)
6. What is the What (available in the library)
7. Echoes of the Lost Boys (graphic novel)
8. Heart of Darkness (novella)
9. Things Fall Apart (novel)
10. Sierra Leon Refugee All Stars (documentary)
11. Maus (graphic novel)
12. When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine (From The Interpreter of Maladies)
13. The Kite Runner (book or movie)
14. The Grapes of Wrath (movie or book)

Requirements:

4-5 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman; 12-pt. font; WORK CITED page, with at minimum 3 sources used (2 outside sources and A Long Way Gone)