You must decide how many paragraphs your essay will have. This depends largely on the length of your text. If you are going to write about 4000 words, you need to create many paragraphs. However, if the text is going to be brief, you don’t need that many paragraphs in it. Your structure can vary widely.
A compare and contrast essay is frequently assigned in college and high school. In this paper, you look at two or more different ideas and compare them. Let’s look at how to start compare-and-contrast essays.
Before you begin your compare and contrast essays, do research on your topic to become more knowledgeable about your writing topic. While researching, you need to gain a thorough understanding of your topics. A good strategy to use is to make two lists for the subjects and then write down the information in the correct categories. This graphic organizer will allow you to clearly see the similarities and differences between the two things you are comparing. It’s also important to utilize good transition words when writing your compare and contrast essay. While researching, search for uncommon knowledge so that your readers will want to read your compare-and-contrast essay with greater interest.
When starting a compare and contrast essay, it is good to begin with a question you will answer in your work and/or a fact that will draw in your audience.
2. Think of Your Text’s Structure
In a compare and contrast essay, students must think critically and to look at topics from different perspectives.
You should begin your compare and contrast essay with a strong introduction that catches the readers’ attention and clearly introduces your topic.
In your conclusion, you need to wrap up the text that you have written with a clear summary of your paper that emphasizes the main ideas.
Last but not the least, proofread the essay after you’ve completed it. You have worked so hard on this essay, the last thing you need is for some grammatical errors or spelling mistakes to bring your essay down, therefore proofreading and editing wherever required is extremely necessary.
In any assigned essay, the basic outline is divided into the introduction, three body paragraphs and lastly, the conclusion. This outline will form the skeleton of the essay and will help in structuring all the ideas and thoughts as well as organizing the main points of your topics.
So, look for credible sources, make notes of whatever information is available and highlight points that are important and are needed to be remembered. Making this draft will provide you with a proper lead in creating a thorough essay.
By following all the above mentioned methods, the entirely daunting process of crafting a stellar essay would not be so intimidating anymore.
5. Use supporting evidence
Important tip: make sure that your transition from one point of a topic to another is smooth and free-flowing. You wouldn't want the reader to get baffled by vague sentencing and improper structuring.
Each similarity or difference for one topic is examined and is subsequently followed by a study of the similarities or difference for the other.
We know that writing an essay isn't a piece of cake and requires proper research, accurate structure and a certain methodology. Here are some important guidelines that will help you craft that perfect 5-paragraph compare and contrast essay.
This will not only improve your own analytical skills and written expression, but also elevate your standing in the eyes of the faculty.
However, there are clearly many differences in the way we communicate over long distances, the most notable of which is speed. This is most evident in relation to written forms of communication. In the past, letters would take days to arrive at their destination. In contrast, an email arrives almost instantaneously and can be read seconds after it was sent. In the past, if it was necessary to send a short message, for example at work, a memo could be passed around the office, which would take some time to circulate. This is different from the current situation, in which a text message can be sent immediately.
Title: There have been many advances in technology over the past fifty years. These have revolutionised the way we communicate with people who are far away. Compare and contrast methods of communication used today with those which were used in the past.
- Aaron is tall and strong. In contrast, Bruce is handsome and very intelligent.
Another significant difference is the range of communication methods. Fifty years ago, the tools available for communicating over long distances were primarily the telephone and the letter. By comparison, there are a vast array of communication methods available today. These include not only the telephone, letter, email and text messages already mentioned, but also video conferences via software such as Skype or mobile phone apps such as WeChat, and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
Criteria for comparison/contrast
Before the advent of computers and modern technology, people communicating over long distances used traditional means such as letters and the telephone. Nowadays we have a vast array of communication tools which can complete this task, ranging from email to instant messaging and video calls. While the present and previous means of communication are similar in their general form, they differ in regard to their speed and the range of tools available.
There are two main ways to structure a compare and contrast essay, namely using a block or a point-by-point structure. For the block structure, all of the information about one of the objects being compared/contrasted is given first, and all of the information about the other object is listed afterwards. This type of structure is similar to the block structure used for cause and effect and problem-solution essays. For the point-by-point structure, each similarity (or difference) for one object is followed immediately by the similarity (or difference) for the other. Both types of structure have their merits. The former is easier to write, while the latter is generally clearer as it ensures that the similarities/differences are more explicit.
When making comparisons or contrasts, it is important to be clear what criteria you are using. Study the following example, which contrasts two people. Here the criteria are unclear.
One similarity between current and previous methods of communication relates to the form of communication. In the past, both written forms such as letters were frequently used, in addition to oral forms such as telephone calls. Similarly, people nowadays use both of these forms. Just as in the past, written forms of communication are prevalent, for example via email and text messaging. In addition, oral forms are still used, including the telephone, mobile phone, and voice messages via instant messaging services.
The main body of an essay is the section where all the gathered information is presented in a very structured way. The body paragraphs are written to prove the thesis statement and the stance that a writer made about the topic.
After taking all the mandatory pre-writing steps, start writing your compare and contrast essay in the following manner.
In concluding paragraphs of an essay, the major points are summarized and the thesis statement is restated. Make sure that you slowly and gradually build the conclusion of your essay.
To start writing an essay, you should have a topic. Generating a topic can be very time taking and daunting. You cannot just randomly come up with a topic and start writing your essay.
Introduction
- Differences in the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
- How distance-based learning is similar to a college education?
- Draw a comparison between creative writing and writing a research paper.
- College life Vs High School life - Similarities and differences
- Traditional education Vs Remote learning - A better option?
- Differences between the British and American English
- Marriage Vs Live-in relationship - How are they different?
- Reading from an Ebook vs Paper book - Similarities and differences.
- Similarities in adulthood and childhood.
- Movies Vs Books - a better timepass?
- How are education and employment similar?
- How persuasive essay is different from the argumentative essay?
- The difference in events of WWI Vs WWII
- How are we different from animals?
- The risks in online dating Vs real life darting
- How are cats and dogs similar?
- Introduction
- Body Paragraphs
- Conclusion
After gathering information that you think is enough for your essay, find an approach that you will use to present the gathered data. There are two common approaches used to draft a compare and contrast essay: the block method and the alternating method.
Once you have a topic in hand, start gathering ideas and information. Roughly list down the similarities and differences that are obvious and you already know. After you have done writing them, expand your research and gather information from books, the internet, etc. related to the topic.
Now that you know what a compare and contrast essay is, let’s check out the steps for writing this type of essay.
- An introductory paragraph- Mention only the most important facts about both the subjects in this section. Also, do not forget to state the importance of the comparison that you intend to do in the rest of the paper.
- At least four body paragraphs(2 for each subject of comparison and contrast)- This is where you need to discuss the facts about your subjects. Use supporting evidence to make the essay credible.
- Conclusion- Briefly summarise the crucial points of your essay in this section. Do not include any new details in the conclusion since that may confuse your readers.
- Write the essay
- Note down the similarities and differences
Use the tips discussed above to start writing the paper finally. Embrace the method as per your convenience and complete the essay easily. Here is an image of what your compare and contrast essay will look like if you follow the Point-by-Point method.
Compare and Contrast Essay: Everything You Need To Know
This is the most important step since it will determine the overall structure of your paper. You can create a Venn Diagram to highlight the similarities and differences between the two subjects. Write the differences in the separate space and similarities in the overlapping space. Say you have been asked to compare and contrast humans and persons.
At times, students are unable to understand if they have been asked to write a compare and contrast essay. In that case, you must always look out for these process words in your essay topic. These words indicate that you need to write a compare and contrast essay.
- Compare
- Contrast
- Similarities
- Differences