Many English teachers pair Tex with The Outsiders because both books come from S.E. Hinton and share a focus on teenagers facing hardship without much adult support. The pairing offers plenty of material for comparison, but it also creates a grading challenge. Students often write two separate summaries stacked together, and the comparison itself, which is the actual skill being assessed, gets lost.

To prevent that, tell students from the beginning that the essay must make a claim about the two books together. A useful claim might argue that both novels show young people building family out of friends, but that Tex does so with more focus on loyalty to blood relatives. That kind of thesis forces the writer to look at both stories at once instead of describing one and then the other.

Your rubric should reward the comparison structure directly. Instead of a single category for organization, include a row for how well the student moves between texts, using phrases and paragraph design that put the books in conversation. Students who write one paragraph on Tex followed by one on The Outsiders should earn a lower score in that category than students who organize around shared ideas.

Choose Comparison Points That Are Worth Making

Not all similarities between the books carry equal weight. Noting that both stories feature teenage boys is true but shallow, while comparing how each protagonist handles the absence of a parent says something about character and theme. Offer students a short list of productive comparison angles, such as family responsibility, class pressure, friendship, or violence, so they can pick one and develop it rather than hunting for surface connections.

• Family structure and who takes on responsibility when parents are absent
• How each narrator views money, class, and opportunity
• The role of friendship and loyalty in shaping decisions
• How each novel treats violence and its consequences
• What each ending suggests about the narrator's future

Check for Balanced Evidence

A common problem in comparative essays is lopsided evidence, where the student knows one book much better than the other. A paper that quotes Tex heavily but only gestures at The Outsiders signals that the writer is relying on memory, or perhaps did not finish the second novel. Add a rubric line that asks for at least comparable evidence from both texts, and check this first because it is quick to spot.

You can also look at whether evidence is used to compare or only to illustrate. Quoting a scene from each novel in separate paragraphs is not yet a comparison, since the student has not said what the two scenes have in common or where they differ. The explanation that sits between the quotations is where most of the score should come from.

Give Feedback That Pushes Toward Deeper Comparison

Feedback on comparison essays works best when it points to a specific place where the student could connect the books more strongly. A note saying you describe the horse sale here, but how does this compare to the way Ponyboy handles loss in his own story, gives the writer a clear next move. Generic advice to compare more tends to produce more words but not more insight.

Pay attention to the conclusion as well. Strong comparison essays often end with an observation about what readers learn by seeing the two books together, such as how Hinton changes her approach to family over time. Weak conclusions simply restate that both books are about teenagers, so a rubric criterion for insight can help students push beyond the obvious.

Manage the Workload of Longer Essays

Comparative essays tend to run longer than single-text papers, and a class set can take much more time to read. Consider requiring an outline or a thesis checkpoint before the full draft, since catching a weak comparison plan early saves you from reading a long paper that misses the point. A quick yes or no on whether the plan compares rather than summarizes can prevent hours of rework.

Using the same rubric language for drafts and finals also helps. When a student receives feedback tied to the exact criteria that will later determine the grade, revisions become more focused and your final grading moves faster. Tools that apply a rubric consistently can support this process, especially when you are comparing dozens of essays against the same set of expectations.