Apr 16, · Compare and contrast essays are taught in school for many reasons. For one thing, they are relatively easy to teach, understand, and format. Students can typically understand the structure with just a short amount of instruction Recognizing comparison/contrast in assignments. Some assignments use words—like compare, contrast, similarities, and differences—that make it easy for you to see that they are asking you to compare and/or contrast. Here are a few hypothetical examples: Compare and contrast Frye’s and Bartky’s accounts of oppression History and Political Compare and Contrast Essay Topics. Comparison of Lincoln's and Washington' Ideas; Renaissance vs. Baroque Epoch; Anthropology vs. Religious Studies; American Government vs. Soviet Government; US President vs. UK Prime Minister; North and South Before the Civil War in the US; Henry VIII vs. King Louis XIV
Strong Compare and Contrast Essay Examples
By assigning such essays, comparison and contrast essay examples, your instructors are encouraging you to make connections between texts or ideas, engage in critical thinking, and go beyond mere description or summary to generate interesting analysis: when you reflect on similarities and differences, you gain a deeper understanding of the items you are comparing, their relationship to each other, and what is most important about them.
Here are a few hypothetical examples:. You may want comparison and contrast essay examples check out our handout on understanding assignments for additional tips.
Making a Venn diagram or a chart can help you quickly and efficiently compare and contrast two or more things or ideas. In the central area where they overlap, list the traits the two items have in common, comparison and contrast essay examples. To make a chart, comparison and contrast essay examples, figure out what criteria you want to focus on in comparing the items.
Along the left side of the page, list each of the criteria. Across the top, list the names of the items. As you generate points of comparison, consider the purpose and content of the assignment and the focus of the class. How does it fit with what you have been studying so far and with the other assignments in the course?
Are there any clues about what to focus on in the assignment itself? Here are some general questions about different types of things you might have to compare. You may want to begin by using the questions reporters traditionally ask: Who? By now you have probably generated a huge list of similarities and differences—congratulations!
Next you must decide which of them are interesting, important, and relevant enough to be included in your paper. Ask yourself these questions:. Suppose that you are writing a paper comparing two novels. However, if you were writing a paper for a class on typesetting or on how illustrations are used to enhance novels, the typeface and presence or absence of illustrations might be absolutely critical to include in your final paper. Sometimes a particular point of comparison or contrast might be relevant but not terribly revealing or interesting.
Talking about the different ways nature is depicted or the different aspects of nature that are emphasized might be more interesting and show a more sophisticated understanding of the poems, comparison and contrast essay examples. Be careful, though—although this thesis is fairly specific and does propose a simple argument that atmosphere and delivery make the two pizza places differentcomparison and contrast essay examples instructor will often be looking for a bit comparison and contrast essay examples analysis.
Again, thinking about the context the class provides may help you answer such questions and make a stronger argument. You may find our handout on constructing thesis statements useful at this stage. The danger of this subject-by-subject organization is that your paper will simply be a list of points: a certain number of points in my example, three about one subject, then a certain number of points about another. This is usually not what college instructors are looking for in a paper—generally they want you to compare or contrast two or more things very directly, rather than just listing the traits the things have and leaving it up to the reader to reflect on comparison and contrast essay examples those traits are similar or different and why those similarities or differences matter.
Thus, if you use the subject-by-subject form, you will probably want to have a very strong, analytical thesis and at least one body paragraph that ties all of your different points together. Rather than addressing things one subject at a time, you may wish to talk about one point of comparison at a time.
There are two main ways this might play out, comparison and contrast essay examples on how much you have to say about each of the things you are comparing. Be aware, too, of the placement of your different points. Our handout on organization can help you write good topic sentences and transitions and make sure that you have a good overall structure in place for your paper.
The following words may be helpful to you in signaling your intentions:. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4. You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Make a Gift.
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Compare and contrast essay structure
, time: 5:25Comparing and Contrasting – The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Compare And Contrast Essay Examples. As the name suggests, you need to choose subjects where two different theories or ideas can be discussed. This could be by anything ranging from events, ideas, people, books, sports (similar ones), music (of the same genre), etc. For instance, you can describe and compare/contrast Edison and Tesla History and Political Compare and Contrast Essay Topics. Comparison of Lincoln's and Washington' Ideas; Renaissance vs. Baroque Epoch; Anthropology vs. Religious Studies; American Government vs. Soviet Government; US President vs. UK Prime Minister; North and South Before the Civil War in the US; Henry VIII vs. King Louis XIV Feb 06, · To compare means to explore similarities between subjects, while to contrast means to look at their differences. Both subjects of the comparison are usually in the same category, although they have their differences. For example, it can be two movies, two universities, two cars etc
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