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Compare and Contrast Essay

There are many kinds of essay; one of the most common is the Compare and Contrast Essay in which you focus on the ways in which certain things or ideasusually two of themare similar to (this is the comparison) and/or different from (this is the contrast) one another. With this kind of essay, you are encouraging 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.

How to Write a Compare/Contrast Essay

Compare and contrast essays are the other big essay types in academic writing. These essays will follow a specific question and are fairly easy to complete. There are several ways to write this type of essay. The most important thing to remember is structure. Many wonderful essays fall victim to the woes of bad structure, making any ingenuity to fall by the wayside. Go over the rules on how to write a general essay, and then structure your compare/contrast essay in one of the following format: Introduction Your introduction like the five-paragraph-essay, should open generally (with a quotation, anecdote, generalization), and lead into the thesis statement. Topic 1 This next portion of your essay (which may consist of one paragraph or several) should cover only the first topic of the comparison and contrast. Compare/Contrast essays take two topics and illustrate how they are similar and dissimilar. Do not mention topic 2 in this first portion. Topic 2 This next portion of your essay (which may also consist of one or more paragraphs) should cover the second of the two topics. Do not discuss Topic 1 in this section. Since you have already gone into great detail about it, you may allude to Topic 1 briefly; however, do not analyze Topic 1 in this section. This portion of the paper is to discuss Topic 2 in great detail. Topics 1 and 2 Together Now that you have analyzed both Topic 1 and Topic 2 independently, now it is time to analyze them together. This section may also be one or several paragraphs. Conclusion The conclusion like the introduction should be a generalization of the thesis. This paragraph should express your certainty and absolute

knowledge on the subject matter. You should reaffirm your thesis (essentially restate it in new words) and show how you've proven it.

Using comparison and contrast for all kinds of writing projects

Sometimes you may want to use comparison/contrast techniques in your own pre-writing work to get ideas that you can later use for an argument, even if comparison/contrast isn't an official requirement for the paper you're writing. Even though the topic may not have asked for comparison/contrast and the lists of similarities and differences you generate may not appear anywhere in the final draft of your paper. Tips for Writing a Compare and Contrast Essay

Writing a compare and contrast essay is a great exercise for your mind in critical thinking. It is a journey of analysis that you embark upon to reach a conclusive opinion about things. Here are some guidelines on writing the perfect compare and contrast essay. Choose a Topic Close to Your Heart If you have the liberty of selecting a topic, then choose one that is close to your heart. Choosing a topic you are interested in, is half the battle won as you don't need to be motivated to put it in the hard work that writing requires. If you are not given a choice, I am sure that you can make the topic interesting enough to analyze, by thinking differently. Define Purpose of the Comparison Your comparison between the two chosen entities of the topic needs to have a purpose. Even before you begin researching, you need to know what it is that you are going to attempt unraveling through the essay. That will provide a direction to your research and writing. Thorough Research is the Key Any piece of writing needs two key ingredients, which are experience or research to fill up the lack of it. Even if you already know a lot about the topic, research can reveal a lot more, that you never thought about. Read and note down as much as you can about the two entities you plan to compare through the essay. By knowing the true nature of things, you are in a better position to compare and see the contrast between them. Use technique: Before or after write an essay you can use a different kind of technique that could help you start in a correct way your essay, for example: Brainstorm & Make a List of Similarities and Differences After you have adequate information about both; you can begin to scrutinize the similarities and differences between the two. Make a list of the similar points which you perceive. Note them down, one after the other. Consequently, you can identify things which are strikingly different. The things that are not similar are automatically different anyway! Depending on the topic, you can unravel the similarities and differences at various levels, which could be factual and philosophical.

Venn diagram Making a Venn diagram or a chart can help you quickly and efficiently compare and contrast two or more things or ideas. To make a Venn diagram, simply draw some overlapping circles, one circle for each item you're considering. In the central area where they overlap, list the traits the two items have in common. Assign each one of the areas that doesn't overlap; in those areas, you can list the traits that make the things different. Here's a very simple example, using two pizza places:

To make a chart, 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. You should then have a box per item for each criterion; you can fill the boxes in and then survey what you have discovered. Here is an example, this time using three pizza places:
Pepper's Location Price Delivery Ingredients Service Seating/eating in Coupons Pizza Hut Papa John's

Reach a Consensus: You need to analyze the similarities and differences, until you can reach a consensus about the objective that you began writing the essay with. Don't stop brainstorming until you can reach a conclusion. Write down your thought process; make a mind map of the various connected aspects of the essay if you wish, to clarify things. Only after you reach a conclusion after research, can actual writing begin. Decide on Your Essay's Architecture: Once you are clear about what you want to say through the essay and what you intend to prove, you can begin structuring the essay. After introducing the reader to the motivation behind the comparison, you can alternatively point out the similarities and differences between the two compared entities, before moving towards the conclusion.

Begin Writing By Expanding Each Point: Set out clear points of comparison that emerge from your research and begin expanding each point at length using your research material. Craft a solid argument which is backed by evidence, spread out point wise and leads deftly towards the conclusion. The Cue Words: Another technique in writing the compare and contrast essay is to use cue words that links one paragraph to the next.cue words. Cue words are clues to whether you are comparing your subjects or contrasting them and make it easier for your reader to understand your points. Like in any essay, finish your essay by summarizing the points you made in the body. Appropriate use of transitions and cue words help make your essay conclusion easy to summarize. Cue Words Similarities Differences Is similar to On the other Both hand Also However Too But As well Although Like Unlike While

Keep Rereading and Making Improvements: There is nothing like the perfect essay and there is always room for improvement. Write and read what you wrote. Read the whole thing again after you are done with as unbiased an eye as possible and decide whether you have been convincing enough. Keep improving still you think, you could not have done it even better! With that, last of tips for writing a compare and contrast essay, this write-up draws towards a close. Let your own original thought and analysis shine out through the essay. Try to see beyond the obvious and think out of the box, when analyzing the similar and contrasting threads related to a topic. If you enjoy the writing process, the product is always going to be insightful.

Example of compare and contrast Essay: Australia and Nauru There are different types of countries, each one with their own characteristics that differentiate them from the rest; these characteristics allow their classification in developed or developing countries. Oceania is no exception; this continent has countries with big differences both politically and economically. This is the case of Australia and Nauru; two countries very close geographically but very uneven with different realities. In 1901 Australia became a federation, their reliance on England and going to have their own laws and self-government. There was no lightning independence, but a gradual and smooth transition of power from England to the new independent Australia. It is a developed country with a System of Government Parliamentarian fairly stable throughout history. The island of Nauru was discovered around 1542 by Portuguese, but was not settled then. Until 1888, the German government Nauru annexed as a protectorate. Although it is a country "independent, this is one of the poorest countries in Oceania that has not any kind of productive activity, just fishing. The primary difference between these countries in terms of physical appearance is its land area, Australia has a little over seven million square kilometers, Nauru has 21 square kilometers only, by the other hand its natural resources are very different as Australia has to operate many minerals including diamonds and oil unlike Nauru has only phosphate. The second of the major differences between the two countries is the economic aspect, in this area affects the population, Australia has approximately 22 million of people and Nauru has 10,000 people only, so the Australian GDP is about $ 2 trillion again Nauru's GDP is $60 million. The third and final difference between these countries is their military power. Australia has a strong and organized ARMY, which is divided into four areas: Army of Australia, Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force and Special Operations Command, unlike Nauru only has a kind of "security force" of 90 men. In conclusion, the differences between developed and developing countries are many and varied, Australia and Nauru are clear examples of that (even if within the same continent) not all countries have access to development and international cooperation which spoken documents or forums are not actually implemented.