Let’s look at another compare-and-contrast essay example,
After listing the characteristics, the next step is organizing the essay’s structure. A Compare and Contrast essay can be organized by differences, similarities, or both. (Grouping them together with bullet points can help make things easier.)
While looking through your list, do you find more similarities or more differences between the two subjects? Whichever you find more of will be the focus of your essay. (If your assignment requires you to compare and contrast, then you will be doing both.)
Yes! Thank you for stating how pointless and boring comparison/contrast essays are when they are not anchored within any meaningful context and serve no argumentative or persuasive purpose or objective. Even if one wanted to compare (just for the purpose of juxtaposing) two seemingly very different or similar things in order to leave the reader with food for thought and contemplation without necessarily making a case or argument, that would be certainly be valid, because the reader can still draw their own conclusions. But as you said, the purpose, whether obvious or suggested, needs to be genre- and context-based.
How to Write a Compare-and-Contrast Essay - Grammarly
(Incidentally, the distinction between compare and contrast has always eluded me: I think we use both words in order to emphasize that students should look for similarities as well as differences, but isn’t that what compare means? Err, . Perhaps we should do this for all the modes: describe and elucidate; narrate and tell; argue and contend … but I wander and digress.)
Throughout this series, I’ve attempted to show how boring and meaningless writing assignments become when rhetorical modes are confused for genres. One way to understand a mode is as a pattern of development. For example, there are writing tasks that call for you to compare stuff, but you rarely do it just for the sake of the comparison: there has to be a purpose to the comparison. That’s where genre comes in.
Signal words such as these help the reader understand the relationships between your sentences, paragraphs, and ideas. In particular, if you are both comparing and contrasting, signal words help sort out what's what. Second only to effective organization, effective use of these expressions will go a long way toward helping produce a good compare/contrast paper.
For a shorter paper, the above might represent three paragraphs; if you are writing a long paper and have a great deal of information, you may choose to write about each point, A, B, and C, in separate paragraphs for a total of six. However you decide to organize, make sure it is clear why you are examining this subject. You might be able to compare apples and oranges, for example, but why would you? Include any insights or opinions you have gathered. And yes, in general, three is the magic number. While there is no hard-and-fast rule that precludes creating a paper based on two points, or four, or five, a three-point discussion is manageable, especially for complex or abstract subjects. At the same time, a three-point structure helps you avoid oversimplifying, especially when addressing controversial topics in which discussions tend to become polarized–right or wrong, black or white, for or against. Three-point treatments encourage discussion of the middle ground.
Compare and Contrast Essay: Topics, Outline, Examples | EssayPro
Once you have a list, decide whether there are more similarities or differences between the topics. If there are more similarities, concentrate your paper on comparing. If there are more differences (or if, as in the example above, the differences are simply more interesting), concentrate on contrasting. If there is a balance of similarities and differences, you might concentrate on discussing this balance.
Compare & Contrast Essay - Excelsior OWL
As you create your list, is it clear why you are comparing and contrasting these two subjects? Do you have a preference for one or the other? If so, make sure you are evaluating each side fairly. A point-by-point list helps you maintain balance.
compare and contrast essay, help sample please?
When writing a thesis for a compare and contrast essay, focus on identifying the key similarities and differences between the two subjects. Your thesis statement should clearly state the main points of comparison and contrast that you will explore in your essay. Avoid vague or general statements; instead, be specific and precise in your thesis. For example, "While both novels depict themes of love and loss, The Great Gatsby explores the consequences of wealth and privilege, while To Kill a Mockingbird examines the effects of racism and injustice on society."
What are some tips for writing a comparison/contrast essay? - Quora
3. Organizing
There are at least two ways to organize a compare/contrast essay. Imagine you are examining Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant, both Civil War generals. In your list you have uncovered important points of dissimilarity between them. Those points are their background, personalities, and underlying aspirations. (Call these three points A, B, and C.) You have decided to contrast the two subjects.
[PDF] compare and contrast essay
One of the biggest obstacles with compare-and-contrast essays is communicating clearly so your reader knows which points relate to which subject, and what conclusion the entire essay is building toward.