This complete lesson will guide you to write a full, 5-paragraph ‘compare and contrast’ essay on a topic related to deep space travel (fiction). It includes full instructions, a list of possible topics, worksheets and all necessary primary texts.

This assignment will take at least one week to complete.

Make the most of this easy and efficient way to practice essay writing, without having to commit to reading an entire novel or play before getting started!

Stories:

. . . So They Baked A Cake

A bitter, hardened journalist joins an elite space crew for an experimental voyage into deep space, a daring mission to find a planet that humans could colonize. They are travelling at one tenth the speed of light but the journey will still take 42 years one way in Earth time. The protagonist’s pessimism about humanity, and the crew’s growing despair due to the implications of the ultra-fast travel, are both confounded by an unexpectedly happy conclusion to their journey.

The Lonely Ones

A space crew is on an exploratory mission to find life on another planet – human or alien, they don’t care which. Discouraged by the lifeless landscapes of the planets in the solar system, they finally reach a new planet and land. Faced with an advanced society in which they will be treated as insignificant underlings, they decide to continue their journey further into space, though in a changed frame of mind.

*Note: *The stories contain mild expletives, such as ‘what the hell’, and include mature themes such as references to drinking alcohol.

TIP! This may be a good choice for a student with an interest in science fiction or futuristic literature.

Need some extra essay writing practice? Check out our Beginning and Concluding Paragraphs resource!