One of the most common is the comparison/contrast essay, in which you focus on the ways in which certain things or ideas—usually two of them—are similar to (this is the comparison) and/or different from (this is the contrast) one blogger.comted Reading Time: 6 mins 20/2/ · Crafting a compare and contrast essay is typically much more interesting and fun than working on a dissertation. With this piece of writing, a student gets his chance to be creative. Besides, one doesn’t have to re-invent the bicycle: these essays already have a purpose and a blogger.comted Reading Time: 6 mins 9/11/ · A compare and contrast essay is a piece of academic writing focused on finding similarities or differences between several objects. “Well,” you might think, “it’s the easiest paper ever. Why even bother looking for samples and examples?” Is that what you’re thinking?Estimated Reading Time: 7 mins
How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay (with Pictures)
A complete guide for teachers and students on how to write a compare and contrast essay. essay writing skills, examples, and essay format tutorial.
Essentially, compare and contrast essays ask students to evaluate the similarities and differences between two things. Usually, there will be some meaningful connection between the two things that are to be compared and contrasted. These types of essays are not merely about stating the obvious, instead they challenge the students to explore two or more topics and then to express subtle similarities and understated differences that may not be immediately obvious to the casual reader.
For example, there is little point in asking students to compare and contrast a computer and bicycle. Both are material objects, but apart from that, the extreme differences are obvious. More useful would be to ask students to compare and contrast two different models of computers or two different brands of bicycles, to help decide which to buy. Compare and contrast essays encourage students to make distinctions and evaluate things that largely belong in the same category.
This is an extremely useful and practical skill to develop. In this article, we will explore how to approach the writing of compare and contrast essays in a step by step manner. In following this method, students will soon be able to write a well-structured compare and contrast essay on practically any topic.
Compare and contrast type questions ask students to do one of three things:. Compare asks the students to look at two things in relation to their similarities. Contrast asks the students to examine how the two things differ from each.
It is important that students do both when they are asked a compare and contrast question. It may seem obvious, but very often students do one and neglect to do the other. Practice Activity 1. Students writing compare and contrast essay get into the habit of closely examining the question they are writing the essay in response to, especially in high-pressure situations like exams.
Too often, students under pressure misread essay prompts and either miss out on a crucial aspect of the set question or, worst of all, answer a completely different question to the one that was set. To help students focus on the specifics of the question, encourage them to underline keywords and phrases with a highlighter or a colored pen. Another great way to encourage students to focus attention on the specifics is to have students practice rewriting the question in their own words.
While this may not be practical in an exam situation, it is a great way for students to get accustomed to paying close attention to essay questions in less pressured scenarios such as homework and classwork.
Teach your students to write excellent compare and contrast essays using a proven model of research skills, writing strategies and engaging content. A COMPLETE 58 PAGE UNIT of work: No preparation required including. The starting point for planning this type of essay is to list the similarities and differences between the two things. This can be writing compare and contrast essay simply in table form or, for the more visually orientated, in the form of a Venn diagram.
Venn diagrams are an especially useful form of graphic organizer that allows the student to see the information at a glance. This is extremely helpful while students are writing compare and contrast essay. Brainstorming the similarities and differences can be done by focusing on one subject at a time, or by dealing with common traits or features one by one.
That is, the related features between each of the subjects should be displayed clearly together. Practice Activity 2. Set a compare and contrast question and then instruct your students to use a Venn diagram as a brainstorming tool to help organize their ideas. Students should draw two circles slightly overlapping and write down things the subjects share in common in the intersection of the two circles.
This will enable students to see at a glance areas of commonality and divergence between the two subjects. Choose a Suitable Organizational Structure. Once your students have listed their main points, they need to choose a suitable organizational structure to help present their ideas in essay form. In most instances, one of two structures will best meet the needs of any compare and contrast type essay.
These two possible organizational structures are:, writing compare and contrast essay. In the block structure, each subject is dealt with in turn. That is, the characteristics of Subject 1 are written about first and, in the second half of the essay, the characteristics of Subject 2 are written about. The block structure is generally easier to write as the student need only focus on one subject at a time.
However, the point-by-point structure more often provides a clearer vehicle for comparing and contrasting the various aspects of both subjects. Using the point-by-point structure generally requires more skill from the student in order to weave the similarities and differences of each subject into the fabric of each paragraph.
However, writing compare and contrast essay, it is also the default setting for most compare and contrast essays and students should be practiced in it accordingly. Practice Activity 3. Students can use the information they produced in the previous two activities for this activity.
In this activity, students are going to draft three paragraphs for a compare and contrast essay, using the point-by-point structure. To do this, they will use the traditional five-paragraph essay structure as follows:. Instruct students to make their point focusing on Subject 1 first, and then on Subject 2. This will complete the first paragraph. At the end of this, they will have the three body paragraphs of their compare and contrast essay.
From there, they can then reverse engineer their introduction and then complete their conclusions. This exercise is a useful way to provide students some practice in structuring body paragraphs. This method can often reveal to the writer the best way forward when it comes to writing the introduction and conclusion. There are many different types of evidence that students can use to support the statements in their essays. Some of the most common types of evidence writing compare and contrast essay compare and writing compare and contrast essay essays include statistical evidence, textual evidence, testimonial evidence, and anecdotal evidence.
Statistical Evidence is perhaps the strongest type of evidence that can be used to support an argument. People like numbers! Textual Evidence is often needed to support an argument, especially when writing about a book, a play, a speech, etc. When using textual evidence in an essay, it is important that students state clearly the source of the evidence they use. Textual evidence can come in many different forms, writing compare and contrast essay, including:.
Testimonial Evidence refers to the use of expert opinion to bolster an assertion. Writing compare and contrast essay with the use of statistical evidence, it is important to select sources in question carefully.
When an expert has been chosen to provide testimonial type evidence, students should establish their credibility by stating who they are and why they are considered an expert, before quoting them. Anecdotal Evidence is often considered to be the weakest form of evidence due to its highly personal nature.
Basically, anecdotal evidence takes the form of the retelling of a personal experience, writing compare and contrast essay. Though it is often criticized as a weak form of evidence, it can be a useful type of evidence when used correctly in an essay. Practice Activity 4. Using the points outlined in previous activities, challenge students to produce as many types of evidence in support of each assertion as possible. In groups, students can then present their evidence to each other and discuss which is the most convincing and why given the specific context.
Nothing makes a text staler for a reader than the overuse of favorite words and the endless repetition of pet phrases. Variety is the spice of not only life but of essay writing too. Transition signals are words and phrases that are used to signal the relationship between ideas in a text to the reader. It is helpful to students to have a variety of these to hand and to know which can be used to introduce comparisons and which can be used to introduce contrasts.
Below are a collection of student writing samples of compare and contrast essay. Click on the image to enlarge and explore them in greater detail.
Please take a moment to both read the compare and contrast essays in detail but also the teacher and student guides which highlight some of the key elements to consider before writing.
Please understand these student writing samples are not intended to be perfect examples for each age or grade level but a piece of writing for students and teachers to explore together to critically analyze to improve student writing skills and deepen their understanding of compare and contrast writing.
We would recommend reading the example either a year above and below, as well as the grade you are currently working with to gain a broader appreciation of this text type.
Practice Activity 5. Whether making comparisons or contrasts, students must consider carefully which criteria they are using in regards to the two writing compare and contrast essay they are dealing with. For example, if students are contrasting two subjects, say, two people, they may write something like, writing compare and contrast essay. Alfred is intelligent and handsome, whereas Brian is short and strong.
In writing compare and contrast essay second part of the sentence, two new criteria are introduced, namely height and physical strength. This is one of the most common errors made by students in these types of essays. To help students gain practice in this area, write a few example sentences on the whiteboard using the model sentence above to help.
Then, have students identify the four different criteria and write two separate contrast sentences that avoid the error illustrated. For example, in response to the model sentence, students might write the following two corrections:.
Alfred is intelligent and handsome, whereas Brian is stupid and ugly. Brian is short and strong, while Alfred is tall and weak. You can encourage students to vary the contrast transition signals they use to gain practice in this area too. While there are clearly many technical aspects for students to master on the road to producing well-written compare and contrast essays, the above provides a clear signpost to set them off in the right direction.
Just be sure to offer ample opportunities to practice! Content for this page has been written by Shane Mac Donnchaidh. A former principal of an international school and university English lecturer with 15 years teaching and administration experience, writing compare and contrast essay.
Editing and support content has been provided by the literacyideas team. Text Types Writing Skills Writing Activities Writing Prompts The Writing Process Punctuation, writing compare and contrast essay. Literacy Blog Multiliteracies Literary Devices Elements of Literature Glossary of literary terms.
Point by Point Method - Comparison Contrast Essay - English Writing Skills
, time: 18:58How to write a compare and contrast essay — Literacy Ideas
One of the most common is the comparison/contrast essay, in which you focus on the ways in which certain things or ideas—usually two of them—are similar to (this is the comparison) and/or different from (this is the contrast) one blogger.comted Reading Time: 6 mins Compare and contrast essays seem like a no brainer. However, having a template to follow is important. Like every essay, compare and contrast essay templates include an introduction, body, and conclusion. However, the body needs to be focused in a specific way since you are comparing and contrasting two different topics 20/2/ · Crafting a compare and contrast essay is typically much more interesting and fun than working on a dissertation. With this piece of writing, a student gets his chance to be creative. Besides, one doesn’t have to re-invent the bicycle: these essays already have a purpose and a blogger.comted Reading Time: 6 mins
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