Comparison essay
Comparison and contrast are ways of looking at objects and thinking about how they are alike and different.
For instance, all of these items are alike because they are kinds of food, but there are many ways that they are different. For instance, they belong to different food groups. Some must be cooked before eating, and some can be eaten raw.
When you write comparison and contrast, you will pay attention to these kinds of details.
When you choose items to compare and contrast, make sure that you choose items that have similarities.
You have to choose things that will make sense for comparison and contrast. For instance, it wouldn’t make sense to compare a truck with crayons or crayons with a birdhouse.
Be sure to compare things that belong together. Compare crayons to pencils or pens, or compare trucks and car
Whole-to-Whole comparison and contrast uses a separate section or paragraph for each item you’re discussing.
For a paper comparing and contrasting a book to a movie, the section for Item #1 would include everything about the book and the section for Item #2 would cover everything about the movie.
The points in each of the sections should be the same and they should be explained in the same order (for instance, you might discuss character, setting, and plot for both, and in that order for both).
Separate section or paragraph for
There are two main reasons that people use comparison and contrast:
1. To Explain–You might compare and contrast kinds of food, for instance, to help someone understand which food need to be refrigerated and which can be stored in a cabinet or in a bowl on the counter.
2. To Evaluate–You might compare and contrast kinds of food to show why one kind of food or brand of food is better than another. For example, apples are a better snack than butter.
When you compare items, you look for their similarities–the things that make them the same.
For example:
Apples and oranges are both fruit.
They’re both foods.
Both are made into juice.
Both grow on trees.
Comparison
When you contrast items, you look at their differences.
For example:
Apples are red. Oranges are orange.
The fruits have different textures.
Oranges need a warmer place to grow, like Florida. Apples can grow in cooler states, like Washington.
Contrast
You probably use comparison all the time. Maybe you want to buy some candy, so you go to the store and look at all of the candy that is available.
You can’t buy all the candy, so you have to narrow down your choices.
You compare and contrast the different kinds of candy so that you can make your decision.
Comparison and contrast guide
You can compare the kinds of candy by looking at the things that makes the candy alike.
All these kinds of candy are sweet. None of them are sour.
All these kinds of candy are medium-sized. None are big or small.
Comparison
You also look at the things that make the candy different.
Some of the candy is chocolate. Some is hard candy.
Some pieces of the candy have a filling, like caramel or cookies. Some do not.
Some of the candy can be broken into smaller pieces while the others are harder to divide if you want to share.
Contrast
Now it’s time to make your decision.
If you’re in the mood for chocolate, you wouldn’t choose the jelly beans or peppermint candy.
If you wanted to share the candy, one of the pieces that can be broken into smaller pieces would be better.
So you could decide on the plain chocolate candy, because it was closest to what you wanted.
Evaluation
Comparison and contrast are used in your writing to organize an individual paragraph as well as to organize entire papers.
For instance, you might write a paper that compares a movie and a book about the same topic. In your paper you can compare and contrast the movie version with the book version.
Organizing ideas
As you begin to organize your writing, it’s important to make sure that you balance the information about the items that you’re comparing and contrasting.
You need to be sure that you give them equal time in what you write.
If you cover character, setting, and historical accuracy for the book, for instance, you need to be sure that you cover the same elements for the movie.
Balancing ideas