You don’t need to do much of anything in advance to prep for class this week. If you can, just before class glance over the essay below.

[Edited to add:

A number of years ago, I assigned students in a class three hard-boiled detective short stories and assigned them to write a comparative essay in response. I no longer remember the exact prompt I gave those students, but they needed to compare the stories. The three stories are all set in Los Angeles: The Big Sleep is one of the originators of the genre, with a white male hardboiled detective in the 1930s; in “Murder is My Business” the protagonist is a lesbian detective in LA of the 1980s; and in Devil in a Blue Dress the protagonist detective is a black man in LA of the 1950s.

Below is a real essay a student wrote in response, which has some good observation in it but the five paragraph structure of the essay seriously undermines the author’s ability to make any kind of argument.]

In class, we’re going to revise this essay from a standard 5 paragraph essay into an inductive essay with an ABT thesis. Since we only have 50 minutes, it would be helpful if you have at least skimmed over the essay in advance.