Ultimate Compare and Contrast Essay Guide

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Ultimate Compare and Contrast Essay Guide
Table of Contents
  1. Ultimate Compare and Contrast Essay Guide
  2. What Is a Compare and Contrast Essay?
  3. What Should a Compare and Contrast Essay Identify?
  4. How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay?
  5. How to Start a Compare and Contrast Essay?
  6. Compare and Contrast Essay Structure
  7. Conclusion

An assignment to write a good compare and contrast essay causes contradictory feelings in most students. When writing a descriptive or narrative essay, you need to focus on one subject. On the contrary, the main distinctive feature of a comparative essay is that you need to keep in mind two subjects.

How to write a compare and contrast essay? How to make it valuable for your readers? What is the primary purpose of comparing and contrasting in an essay? And who can do my essay for me online? Here we're going to answer these questions for you to have a clear picture of how an A-grade comparison-contrast essay must look.

What Is a Compare and Contrast Essay?

Before you get started, you need to make sure that you understand what a compare and contrast essay is. This essay's key idea is to find two different subjects which you would like to compare. But it is not only about differences and similarities. There is one more thing to consider when you are going to write such kind of essay.

The right choice of the topics is of the utmost importance here. You should conduct careful research before choosing two subjects for comparison. Your paper should be useful for the reader. It means that you need to find those writing topics, which others have never compared. Or you can also argue with the already existing opinions, but consider introducing a new approach that would be new for your audience. The comparison aims to provide the reader with a new understanding of the compared subjects' roles.

Do not forget to browse our blog with comparative essay topics before writing this essay type. It will save you time and inspire you with some interesting ideas.

What Should a Compare and Contrast Essay Identify?

A properly written contrast paper should determine similarities and differences between two or more ideas. First of all, you should figure out the basis of the comparison. It is essential to ensure that the two subjects you will compare and contrast have enough in common. Compare and contrast papers reveal two different subjects' features by holding them up against each other for further exploration.

At the same time, a compare and contrast essay should identify intricate details of your topics. You shouldn't pay much attention to irrelevant or straightforward things that your reader can figure out independently. If you talk about complex aspects only, you will successfully address your chosen topics' similarities or differences.

How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay?

Now that you know what a comparing and contrasting paper definition is, let's talk about the actual essay structure and other details.

How to Start a Compare and Contrast Essay?

The beginning of any academic paper plays a significant role in the overall success. So, you should do your best to start an essay on the right foot. Do you have a lot of ideas and can't choose the best one? Or vice versa, you can't understand where to get started? Check useful tips that will help you to make the right decision on how to start your essay.

  • Introduce your subjects. Don't plunge into contrasting topics from the very first lines. Explain to the reader why you have chosen these ideas. Provide them with some background information.
  • Explain what the key point is. Use an introduction to inform your reader about the central question of your essay. Make sure to include relevant information regarding your subject.  
  • Write a powerful thesis. Remember that the thesis should express the most crucial idea of the whole paper. It is just one sentence or a maximum of two sentences, which should be hooking.

A helpful addition to starting a compare-contrast process is to come up with a Venn diagram. It's a great brainstorming tool that will help you quickly and efficiently compare and contrast different subjects, events, or personalities.

To create a Venn diagram, you need to draw overlapping circles depending on the number of things you compare. Title the circles so they could reflect each topic for comparison. After that, write the features that your main points have in common inside the overlapping area. As for the features specific to a particular subject, make sure to list them in the part that is outside the overlapping area.

Compare and Contrast Essay Structure

There are two approaches to the compare and contrast essays' organizational structure discussed below.

01. Block method.

This method of organizing your assignment is most efficient when used on short essays (500 words essay). The body of such an essay is arranged by discussing one issue in detail before moving to the next one. You should select arguments that will help you examine both of the subjects. The number of points you will discuss in an essay should determine the number of body paragraphs you need to include.

  • Introduction. Introduce two subjects (or more) that you will compare and make a transition to the thesis statement.
  • First Body Paragraph. Discuss the first argument of the first subject.
  • Second Body Paragraph. Review the first subject's second argument.
  • Third Body Paragraph. Make a changeover to the discussion of the first argument of the second subject. Outline the similarities and differences with the first argument of the first subject.
  • Fourth Body Paragraph. Discuss the second subject's second argument and show what is similar and different from the second subject of the first argument.
  • Conclusion. Emphasize the similarities and differences between the two subjects. Make sure not to repeat any claims and don't introduce new information.

02.   Point-by-point method.

This approach to structuring your compare and contrast essay is most effective if you use it on long essays. The body of such a paper is divided into specific parts. Each part aims to review one point at a time and show how it connects to each subject. As soon as you do this, you may move on to the next point. Keep in mind that this pattern will probably require you to use more than 1 paragraph for each of the issues you will discuss.

  • Introduction. Introduce two subjects that you will compare and make a transition to the thesis statement.
  • Point One. Discuss the first point of both subjects. Compare and contrast arguments of these points in each subject.
  • Point Two. Repeat Step One but use the second point of your subjects while comparing and contrasting.
  • Point Three. Review the third point of your subjects and make a comparison of their arguments.
  • Conclusion. Emphasize the similarities and differences between the two subjects. Make sure not to repeat any claims and don't introduce new information.

Conclusion

After you have chosen the most effective way to hook your reader, move to the next step. You have managed to intrigue them, and now they want to learn more about the issue. It is high time to share some useful and interesting background information on both subjects. You can tell a story or write about the common misconception about topics you've chosen for comparing and contrasting. Do your best to be objective and avoid being emotional. You shouldn't pay much attention to one issue and ignore another one. Remember that both subjects are valuable for your research.

In case you are having trouble with researching for your compare & contrast essay, you may trust us to do the job for you. Our experts will execute a perfect paper that will meet your expectations!