You can then include a final section where you highlight what comparing the subjects tell us. Divide by subject – Cover each subject in turn, looking at the key features you’ve identified in the previous step.Decide which approach to take before you write your essay outline: Beyond this, most compare and contrast essays are structured in one of two ways. Choose a Structure for Your EssayĪs with any essay, you will want to start with a short introduction where you introduce your topic and what you will argue. The key is to pick points of comparison that help us to understand each thing better, or where the similarities and differences show us something that we might not have expected or noticed otherwise. Otherwise, look for features that seem surprising or interesting and plan your essay around these. If you were assigned a question, use this to guide your choices. Once you’ve listed characteristics, you’ll need to pick out the similarities and differences relevant to your essay. You can then add characteristics to each circle, with anything your subjects have in common going in the overlapping bit in the middle.Ī simple Venn diagram for two philosophical ideas. This is a set of overlapping circles, each of which represents one subject. You can do this as a simple list, but you could also use a Venn diagram. The next step is to brainstorm similarities and differences between your chosen subjects. Brainstorm Their Similarities and Differences But you could compare hamburgers and pizzas since both are forms of fast food but they differ in other respects.Īs such, if you need to pick the subjects of your essay, read your assignment question carefully and try to find two things that will produce a helpful comparison. Were you asked to compare the calorific content of two types of fast food, for example, it might not make sense to compare hamburgers and cheeseburgers as they are too similar. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Not a sports car.Īt the same time, the things you pick should be different enough that you can find points of contrast. But comparing Mozart to a Ferrari SF90 Stradale would just be confusing: one is a renowned composer and musician, the other is a high-end sports car, so they have very little in common that we could usefully compare. This means there will be lots of points of comparison between them. In this case, you will want to pick two things that are similar enough to make a useful comparison.įor example, comparing Mozart and Beethoven makes sense because both are classical composers. Other times, you will have a choice of what to compare. For instance, if the assignment says “Compare how Mozart and Beethoven use melody,” you will have a very clear sense of what to write about! In some cases, the assignment question will make this clear. Pick Two Subjects to Compare and ContrastĪ compare and contrast assignment will ask you, unsurprisingly, to compare and contrast two things.
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