Apr 17, · In academic writing (as in life!) we frequently need to compare and contrast things. Sometimes this will be the subject and focus of the whole essay ; other times it may just be a means of providing evidence and material for your argument. Either way, what you are doing is zooming in on the key similarities (compare) and differences (contrast).Author: Aaron Burrell This resource provides students with a guide for writing comparative essays. The portfolio explains the different features/sections of a comparative essay and provides the students with 4 colour-coded worked examples. The portfolio is ideal for senior English students who are comparing two texts, bu A comparative analysis essay is an essay that compares two different subjects such as people, texts, events, and theories. The focus of a comparative analysis essay is mainly on identifying the main similarities or differences between the subjects. With all these skills you are good to go when it comes to writing a comparative essay
Comparative Essay Writing - Format, Outline & Example
Throughout your academic career, you'll be asked to write papers in which you compare and contrast two things: two texts, two theories, two historical figures, two scientific processes, comparative writing, and so on. In comparative writing "lens" or "keyhole" comparison, in which you weight A less heavily than B, you use A as a lens through which to view Comparative writing. Just as looking through a pair of glasses changes the way you see an object, using A as a framework for understanding B changes the way you see B, comparative writing.
Lens comparisons are useful for illuminating, critiquing, or challenging the stability of a thing that, comparative writing, before the analysis, seemed perfectly understood. Often, lens comparisons take time into account: comparative writing texts, events, or historical figures may illuminate later ones, and vice versa. Faced with a daunting list of seemingly unrelated similarities and differences, you may feel confused about how to construct a paper that isn't just a mechanical exercise in which you first state all the features that A and B have in common, and then state all the ways in which A comparative writing B are different, comparative writing.
Predictably, the thesis of such a paper is usually an assertion that A and B are very similar yet not so similar after all, comparative writing. To write a good compare-and-contrast paper, comparative writing, you must take your raw data—the similarities and differences you've observed—and make them cohere into a meaningful argument. Here are the five elements required, comparative writing. Frame of Reference. This is the context within which you place the two things you plan to compare and contrast; it is the umbrella under which you have grouped them.
The frame of reference may consist of an idea, theme, question, problem, or theory; a group of similar things from which you extract two for special attention; biographical or historical information.
The best frames of reference are constructed from specific sources rather than your own thoughts or observations. Thus, in a paper comparing how two writers redefine social norms of masculinity, you would be better off quoting a sociologist on the topic of masculinity than spinning out potentially comparative writing theories of your own. Most assignments tell you exactly what the frame of reference should be, and most courses supply sources for constructing it, comparative writing.
If you encounter an assignment that fails to provide a frame of reference, you must come up with one on your own. A paper without such a context would have no angle on the material, no focus or frame for the writer to propose a meaningful argument. Grounds for Comparison. Let's say you're writing a paper on global food distribution, and you've chosen to compare apples and oranges.
Why these particular fruits? Why not pears and bananas? The rationale behind your choice, the grounds for comparisonlets your reader know why your choice is deliberate and meaningful, not random.
For instance, in a paper asking how the "discourse of domesticity" has been used in the abortion debate, comparative writing, the grounds for comparison are obvious; the issue has two conflicting sides, pro-choice and pro-life.
In a paper comparing the effects of acid rain on two forest sites, your choice of sites is less obvious. Comparative writing paper focusing on similarly aged forest stands in Maine and the Catskills will be set up differently from one comparing comparative writing new forest stand in the White Mountains with an old forest in the same region. You need to indicate the reasoning behind your choice. The grounds for comparative writing anticipates the comparative nature of your thesis.
As in any argumentative paper, your thesis comparative writing will convey the gist of your argument, comparative writing, which necessarily follows from your frame of reference. But in a compare-and-contrast, the thesis depends on how the two things you've chosen to compare actually relate to one another.
Do they extend, corroborate, complicate, contradict, correct, or debate one another? In the most common compare-and-contrast paper—one focusing on differences—you can indicate the precise relationship between A and B by using the word "whereas" in your thesis:. Whereas Camus perceives ideology as secondary to the need to address a specific historical moment of colonialism, comparative writing, Fanon perceives a revolutionary ideology as the impetus comparative writing reshape Algeria's history in a direction toward independence.
Whether your paper focuses primarily on difference or similarity, you need to make the relationship between A and B clear in your thesis. This relationship is at the heart of any compare-and-contrast paper. Organizational Scheme. Your introduction will include your frame of reference, grounds for comparison, comparative writing, and thesis. There are two basic ways to organize the body of your paper.
If you think that B extends A, you'll probably use a text-by-text scheme; if you see A and B engaged in debate, a point-by-point scheme will draw attention to the conflict. Be comparative writing, however, that the point-by- point scheme can come off as a ping-pong game. You comparative writing avoid this effect by grouping more than one point together, thereby cutting down on the number of times you alternate from A to B.
But no matter which organizational scheme you choose, comparative writing need not give equal time to similarities and differences.
In fact, your paper will be more interesting if you get to the heart of your argument as quickly as possible. Thus, comparative writing, a paper on two evolutionary theorists' different interpretations of specific archaeological findings might have as few as two or three sentences in the introduction on similarities and at most a paragraph or two to set up the contrast between the theorists' positions.
The rest of the paper, whether organized text- by-text or point-by-point, will treat the two theorists' differences. You can organize a classic compare-and-contrast paper either text-by-text or point-by-point. But in a "lens" comparison, in which you spend significantly less time on A the lens than on B the focal textcomparative writing, you almost always organize text-by-text.
That's because A and B are not strictly comparable: A is merely a tool for helping you discover whether or not B's nature is actually what expectations have led you to believe it is. Linking of A and B. All argumentative papers require you to link each point in the argument back to the thesis. Without such links, your reader will be unable to see how new sections logically and systematically advance your argument.
In a compare-and contrast, you also need to make links between A and B in the body of your essay if you want your paper to hold together. As a girl raised in the faded glory of the Old South, amid mystical tales of magnolias and moonlight, the mother remains part of a dying generation. Surrounded by hard times, racial conflict, comparative writing, and limited opportunities, Julian, comparative writing the other handfeels repelled by the provincial nature of home, and represents a new Southerner, one who sees his native land through a condescending Northerner's eyes.
CopyrightKerry Walk, comparative writing, for the Writing Center at Harvard University, comparative writing.
Skip to main content. Main Menu Utility Menu Search. Comparative writing College Writing Program HARVARD, comparative writing. Home FAQ Writing Support Schedule an appointment English Grammar and Language Tutor Senior Thesis Tutors Departmental Writing Fellows Writing Resources Writing Resources Writing Advice: The Barker Underground Blog Meet the tutors. In the most common compare-and-contrast paper—one focusing on differences—you can indicate the precise relationship between A and B by using the word "whereas" in your thesis: Whereas Camus perceives ideology as secondary to the need to address a specific historical moment of colonialism, Fanon perceives a revolutionary ideology as the impetus to reshape Algeria's history in a direction toward independence, comparative writing.
In text-by-textyou discuss all of A, then all of B. In point-by-pointyou alternate points about A with comparable points about B. Writing Resources Strategies for Essay Writing How to Read an Assignment Moving from Assignment to Topic How to Do a Close Reading Overview of the Academic Essay Essay Structure Developing A Thesis Beginning the Academic Essay Outlining Counterargument Summary Topic Sentences and Signposting Transitioning: Beware of Velcro How to Write a Comparative Analysis Ending the Essay: Conclusions Revising the Draft Editing the Essay, Part One Editing the Essay, comparative writing, Part Two Tips on Grammar, Punctuation and Style Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines.
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Writing a Comparative Essay What is it
, time: 8:04How to Write a Comparative Analysis |
Here are examples of the two main cases: Differences outweigh similarities: While Callaghan’s “All the Years of Her Life” and Mistry’s “Of White Hairs and Similarities outweigh differences: Although Darwin and Lamarck came to different conclusions about whether acquired Apr 17, · In academic writing (as in life!) we frequently need to compare and contrast things. Sometimes this will be the subject and focus of the whole essay ; other times it may just be a means of providing evidence and material for your argument. Either way, what you are doing is zooming in on the key similarities (compare) and differences (contrast).Author: Aaron Burrell A comparative analysis essay is an essay that compares two different subjects such as people, texts, events, and theories. The focus of a comparative analysis essay is mainly on identifying the main similarities or differences between the subjects. With all these skills you are good to go when it comes to writing a comparative essay
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