Compare and Contrast Essays: Everything You Need To Know
Students can easily get stumped when asked to write a compare and contrast essay. This makes compare and contrast essay to be a highly difficult task. However, one of the key reasons is lack of understanding about these essay in essay writing. The first thing that a student needs to understand is that there are two elements in a compare and contrast essay. The first one is compare that involves discussion of similar elements. The second element is contrast that involves discussion of dissimilar elements. Thus, a compare and contrast essay is known to analyse two subjects by both comparing and contrasting them.
If you want to come up with an effective compare and contrast essay, you need to select two or more topics that can be connected in a purposeful manner. The goal is not to conduct contrast or comparison for stating the obvious but to reveal similarities or differences that are unexpected and subtle. It means that it is not meaningful to write a compare and contrast essay on oranges and apples. This is because the similarities and differences in both the subjects are known to all. However, an effective compare and contrast essay can be written on two varieties of apples or oranges. It is going to result in a more focused and informative essay as subtle differences will be highlighted. The readers are going to understand more about a particular category when two subjects from that category are discussed in a compare and contrast essay. A compare and contrast essay should be choosing two subjects, which are considered to be highly unrelated.
How to Structure a Compare & Contrast Essays Outline?
One of the key things that you must remember is to start a compare and contrast essay outline with a thesis. This thesis should be able to inform about the subjects to be compared and contrasted in the compare and contrast essay. It can focus on contrast, compare, or both of these elements. You should remember that the purpose of a compare and contrast essay outline is to offer valuable knowledge to the readers. The thesis statement of the compare and contrast essay outline should be able to set up the purpose of the essay. In addition to this, it should be able to make a claim regarding the outcomes of the compare and contrast essay. It will be highly insightful for the readers.
A compare and contrast essay outline can be arranged in two ways. First, the compare and contrast essay can discuss one subject and then the other one. The other way to arrange a compare and contrast essay outline is on the basis of individual points wherein each subject of the compare and contrast essay is discussed with regards to a certain point.
How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay?
There are several things to be understood before writing a compare and contrast essay. The first step in writing a compare and contrast essay is to decide if you have to compare and contrast subjects, contrast similar subjects or contrast unrelated subjects. Then, you should decide on a topic for the compare and contrast essay. The next step is to start with the compare and contrast essay. The opening paragraph of the compare and contrast essay should be highly engaging. The thesis statement of the compare and contrast essay should be placed at the end of the introductory paragraph. In addition to this, it should inform the readers about the purpose of the compare and contrast essay. As mentioned before, the body of a compare and contrast essay outline can be structured in two manners, by individual points or subject. The organization of the compare and contrast essay will be depending on your purpose and audience. There are pros and cons to both the structures of the compare and contrast essay.
You must ensure using contrast and comparison phrases in your compare and contrast essay for making things easy for the readers. After the analysis of subjects, conclusion part of the compare and contrast essay needs to be written. It should be able to summarize the key points of the compare and contrast essay while reinforcing the thesis. These points are going to help you in writing a meaningful compare and contrast essay. A compare and contrast essay must be able to impact valuable knowledge to the readers. Just stating the facts is not going to result in an effective compare and contrast essay. These points will assist you in completing your compare and contrast essay with the highest quality. Once a compare and contrast essay has been written, make sure to proofread the paper. It is going to ensure that no points are left out from the compare and contrast essay.
All about Compare and Contrast Essay Outline
Compare and contrast essay outline is one of the key elements of the essay. This is because an ineffective compare and contrast essay outline can disengage the readers from the paper. In addition to this, the essay may also lack clarity and effective flow of information. The goal of the essay is to evaluate, explore and research both differences and similarities of the elements belonging to a single category. There are two types of compare and contrast essay outline. They have been mentioned below:
Compare & Contrast Essays Outline 1
- Introduction- It is known to be a general paragraph that includes all the background about the subjects. In addition to this, it reveals the purpose of the compare and contrast essay topics.
- Subject 1- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, first subject is discussed. It has to be remembered that there should be no mention of the second subject.
- Subject 2- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, second subject is discussed. It has to be remembered that there should be no mention of the first subject.
- Combined subject 1 & 2- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, both the subjects are analysed together.
- Conclusion- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, the paper is summarized. In addition to this, you should be reaffirming the thesis.
Compare & Contrast Essays Outline 2
- Introduction- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, the thesis statement has to be introduced.
- Topic 1- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, the similarities of both the subjects are to be discussed.
- Topic 2- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, the differences between both the subjects are to be discussed.
- Conclusion- In this section of the compare and contrast essay outline, the entire paper is summarized. The thesis statement is to be stated again with results and implications.
On the basis of structure, you can develop the essay in a different manner. You are always going to have differences or similarities for discussion. Similarities are to be mentioned in the compare paragraphs while differences are to be mentioned in the contrast paragraphs. In addition, you should make sure that transition words are used in the essay. This is going to help you in arranging your thoughts in a comprehensible manner.
In order to evaluate similarities of different subjects, one needs to compare them as per a specific criteria. You need to mention what makes the two subjects similar. In relation to contrast essay, you need to focus on the differences of the two subjects. These are going to be the body paragraphs of your essay. Thus, the next and last step is conclusion. You should be able to summarize the essay in 3-6 sentences while providing the solution or your opinion in relation to the topic. One thing must be kept under consideration that the conclusion part is related to the thesis statement of the essay.
What are Compare and Contrast Signal Words?
Compare and contrast signal words are known to be the transitions, which are used for combining two parts of a sentence. Compare and contrast signal words help in clarifying the thought pattern of the writer. There are several kinds of compare and contrast signal words. One of the key compare and contrast signal words is emphasis words. There are some ideas in the compare and contrast essay outline that are highly important. Thus, these kinds of compare and contrast signal words help readers to understand whats important for the writer. Such compare and contrast signal words focus on ideas that are important for the readers.
Compare and contrast signal words include addition words that help a writer to present several thoughts on a single issue. The examples of these compare and contrast signal words include for one thing, first of all and first. Compare and contrast signal words also include comparison and contrast words for pointing out differences and similarities between two subjects. The examples of such compare and contrast signal words include just as, equally and likewise. There are some compare and contrast signal words that are known as illustration words. These compare and contrast signal words signal the intentions of the writer by providing an example for showing the thought that is being discussed. The examples of such compare and contrast signal words include to illustrate, such as, for instance and for example.
Cause and effect words are also used in the form of compare and contrast signal words. These compare and contrast signal words shows that the writer is about to discuss the outcomes of the impact already mentioned. The examples of such compare and contrast signal words include therefore, as a result and because. Thus, it can be seen that compare and contrast signal words are named suitably as their role is to signal towards the thought process of the writer. Compare and contrast signal words help the readers to absorb and follow your thoughts. In addition to this, compare and contrast signal words assist in clarifying your thoughts.
Best Compare & Contrast Essays Topics
There are several compare and contrast essay topics with each one being highly quality. Thus, students often get confused on seeing a list of compare and contrast essay topics. Compare and contrast essay topics allow expression of thoughts in relation to certain contradictive topics. There is more sense in drawing parallels between two subjects rather than discussing a single subject. For this purpose, you need to select the best topic from multiple compare and contrast essay topics. Choosing a topic from compare and contrast essay topics is not an easy task. There are countless compare and contrast essay topics to choose from. In addition to this, several compare and contrast essay topics are tough to carry out.
Before starting, you should choose compare and contrast essay topics that you already understand. Generally, you should be going with compare and contrast essay topics that have multiple similarities and differences. For example, comparing two pets will make effective compare and contrast essay topics. But, comparing music with a food item would make illogical compare and contrast essay topics.
You can go with uncommon parallelism if you course demands it. In addition to this, it is seen that unexpected and original compare and contrast essay topics can get you into premier universities of Art. Such compare and contrast essay topics are going to your enrolment chances in those universities. Also, compare and contrast essay topics demand creativity and full attention. You should use facts and reliable sources in your essays. It can reflect in your compare and contrast essay topics. Research on the secondary and primary sources as soon as you receive compare and contrast essay topics. It would be better if the sources are as recent as possible. Make sure to use reliable sources for revealing your compare and contrast essay topics.
To choose compare and contrast essay topics, learning more about the audience is going to be highly helpful. Your compare and contrast essay topics should attract and engage the readers. You need to brainstorm ideas for compare and contrast essay topics. One of the key things is to select objects that belong to one sphere. Make sure to use every evidence for supporting your compare and contrast essay topics. Selecting compare and contrast essay topics involves evaluating both differences and similarities of the involved subjects. If you are not able to find suitable compare and contrast essay topics, you can always search on the Internet. However, you need to check if you have relevant knowledge about the selected compare and contrast essay topics.
For college students, some examples of compare and contrast essay topics include:
- Appel vs. Samsung
- Normal house vs. Smart house
- Phone calls vs. Skype
- Offline shopping vs. Online shopping
- Normal Post vs. Email
- Android vs. iOS
Some examples of easy compare and contrast essay topics include:
- University professor vs. School teacher
- Rap vs. Rock music
- Chinese vs. America culture
For beginners, some of the compare and contrast essay topics include:
- Fiction vs. Documentation
- Winter vs. Autumn
- Christmas vs. New Year celebration
- Tangerines vs. Oranges
- Physics vs. Biology
For High School, some of the compare and contrast essay topics include:
- Donald Trump vs. Obama
- Stalin vs. Hitler
- Bikes vs. Cars
- Paper books vs. Audio books
- Gold vs. Silver
For Middle School, some of the compare and contrast essay topics include:
- Twitter vs. Facebook
- Tea vs. Coffee
- Dogs vs. Cats
- Pear vs. Apple
