How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay?
Important tip: make sure that your transition from one point of a topic to another is smooth and free-flowing. You wouldn't want the reader to get baffled by vague sentencing and improper structuring. We are , native English professional writers. We hold graduate and professional degrees from major universities (Princeton, Stanford, UCLA,Georgetown, Dartmouth, Penn, Northwestern). This is all that we do. We are accountable to our clients, and are proud to serve their needs on a return customerbasis. All types of essays use this basic outline. All the brainstormed ideas and the gathered information is divided among these three parts to give a structure to the essay. No matter what the subject is or what field you are writing your essay for, the basic outline will work for every piece.
This is why its important to clarify the point of your comparisons by writing a focused thesis statement. Every element of an essay should serve your central argument in some way. Consider what youre trying to accomplish with any comparisons you make, and be sure to make this clear to the reader. While Callaghans All the Years of Her Life and Mistrys Of White Hairs and Cricket both follow the conventions of the coming-of-age narrative, Callaghans story adheres more closely to these conventions by allowing its central protagonist to mature. In Mistrys story, by contrast, no real growth occurs. When you have your intro and body ready, you can move on to shaping your compare and contrast essay conclusion. As a rule, this is the simplest part to write. A conclusion in compare and contrast essay should wrap up everything discussed throughout the paper and give it a sense of completion. Many business presentations are conducted using comparison and contrast. The organizing strategiesby subject or individual pointscould also be used for organizing a presentation. Keep this in mind as a way of organizing your content the next time you or a colleague have to present something at work.
Writing compare and contrast essay - Comparing and contrasting can be a useful tool to help organize your thoughts before you begin writing any type of academic text. You might use it to compare different theories and approaches youve encountered in your preliminary research, for example.
Drafting a Compare and Contrast Essay Outline - Students dont have to write an entire essay every time you want them to practice comparing and contrasting within their writing students can practice this skill just by writing a paragraph, or even a sentence!
Such an essay requires upfront planning to ensure the writer has
a firm grasp on both subjects. One way to plan for a compare and
contrast essay is to create a Venn diagram to show how two
subjects are similar and different, such as this one. Heres an
example: As you can see, each body paragraph investigates a
single item, spanning all the criteria that make it different
from other items. If you pick this method, the main rule to stick
to is to only mention one item per paragraph and always use
connectors to ensure smooth transitions from one item to
another.
In any assigned essay, the basic outline is divided into the
introduction, three body paragraphs and lastly, the conclusion.
This outline will form the skeleton of the essay and will help in
structuring all the ideas and thoughts as well as organizing the
main points of your topics. Note that these two methods can be
combined; these two example paragraphs could both be part of the
same essay, but its wise to use an essay outline to plan out
which approach youre taking in each paragraph. The subjects of a
compare/contrast essay can vary from some physical objects to
historical figures and events. The core thing to remember when
choosing compare and contrast topics is that the subjects you
will compare must be different.
But, at the same time have some common features. For example, you may compare Democrats and Republicans, Extroverts and Introverts, etc. Once your list has been made, figure out if your topics have more similarities or differences in them, because then a basic outline can be created. If you find that there are more similarities than differences, focus on comparing the two topics, and if there are multiple and more interesting differences, you should choose to contrast the ideas in your essay. Give each topic equal time and information since the goal for this type of essay is to find similarities and differences between two subjects. Hence, if Topic A has 4 statements, make it a point to have 4 statements for Topic B as well. When it comes to the question of how to structure a compare and contrast essay, there are a few strategies that students can stick to. Namely, the two methods of organizing your paper are called a Point-by-Point Method and Block Method. To start a compare and contrast essay, you will need to write a solid introduction that transitions into a clear and specific thesis sentence. The introductory paragraph should outline the topic you want to cover and provide insight into your main idea. It should mention what mattersthe people, ideas, events, or other subjects you are going to compare and contrast in the body of your essay.
How to Write a 5-Paragraph Compare and Contrast Essay: 6 Winning Strategies
Choose one of the outlines you created in Note Exercise 3, and write a full compare-and-contrast essay. Be sure to include an engaging introduction, a clear thesis, well-defined and detailed paragraphs, and a fitting conclusion that ties everything together. For this purpose, you can get help from the compare and contrast essay examples to write your essay effectively. You can get free essay examples and samples at and also get assistance from expert writers. For example, you might decide that in Great Expectations, being a true gentleman is not a matter of manners or position but morality, whereas in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, being a true gentleman is not about luxury and self-indulgence but hard work and productivity. Although Darwin and Lamarck came to different conclusions about whether acquired traits can be inherited, they shared the key distinction of recognizing that species evolve over time. What conclusion can be drawn from these pros and cons? Obviously, there is nothing healthy about energy drinks. Their contents do not differ much from everyday tea, coffee, and cocoa. Moreover, they exhaust the energy reserves of our bodies. When the stimulating effect is over in three or four hours, a person goes for another can, turning into an energy drink addict, losing the ability to restore energy in a natural way.
We know that writing an essay isn't a piece of cake and requires proper research, accurate structure and a certain methodology. Here are some important guidelines that will help you craft that perfect 5-paragraph compare and contrast essay. As you have finished brainstorming topic ideas for comparing and contrasting, organize your points according to the subject and highlight important characteristics from both the topics. Look for motives, consider major themes and select points that are central to the identity of both the topics. This will help you in writing a compelling, well-researched essay. After you finish analyzing the subjects, write a conclusion that summarizes the main points of the essay and reinforces your thesis. See Chapter 15 Readings: Examples of Essays to read a sample compare-and-contrast essay. The compare and contrast essay format is similar to that of other essay types. The writer must state a thesis in the introduction, argue the thesis in the body, and then form a conclusion. However, with a compare and contrast essay, the goal is to show how one subject is similar to another (i. e. , compare them), as well as how it is different (i. e. , contrast them).
After students have been successful at writing sentences that
compare and contrast, expand to short paragraphs. Provide
scaffolding similar to the sentence frames to help your 3rd
grade, 4th grade, or 5th grade students be successful.
Example Paragraph Frames
1. _______________ and _______________ have many differences. The
most important difference is ______________________________.
Another difference is ______________________________. Finally,
______________________________. Pro tip: Feel free to use
connector phrases (e.g., both, likewise, compared to, in
contrast, unlike, etc.) and words in your comparison to give your
paper a logical flow and ensure the cohesion of all your points.
A point-by-point method is an organizational pattern that
attempts to analyze a certain feature of each object or subject
one by one. If you are using a 5 paragraph format to write your
compare and contrast essay, the following will be the format of
your body paragraphs: In the thesis, provide one idea or a
statement that unites both subject matters. Even if you have
discovered more differences than similarities between your
subject matters, you should be able to find at least one element
that they have in common and include it as part of your main
idea.