The Ins and Outs of Compare and Contrast Essays

Compare and contrast essays are some of the most interesting essays to write. We will provide useful information that’s meant to guide a writer in completing his or her task in a manner that’s interesting and fulfilling.

The Function of these Essays

Notes within this article are meant to aid one in determining the comparability that may be the aspect of a given assignment. Before generating a menu that has a number of diverging and agreeing points, it is imperative to make a decision on points of focus on whether the former or the latter. It is important that you pause for a moment and interrogate reasons informing your claim before coming up with one. Additionally, such comparisons should not just be lacking in depth .i.e. contents that only pity two angles that is not well grounded against each other. Make a strong and convincing argument. Transcend basic argument such as item 1 supersedes item 2 or item 1 and 2 shares similar qualities.

The Beginning

As a learner in an institution, you are bound to be accomplishing a lot of writings which differ in so many aspects including what is demanded of them. However, those commonly adopted by such institutions include the ones one has to weigh against each other in terms of the thoughts informing them, their structural arrangements and things that are either the same or different about them. Remember that what is mostly required of one by the teachers is to demonstrate the ties in contents and concepts, to critically think or indulge in that process, as well as to analyze the content beyond just describing or summarizing them. An intensive synthesis and appreciation of an article are only gained via reflection of similar and different aspects.

Recognition of Comparable or Contrastable Aspects of a Task

Instances of comparisons, contrasts, resemblances, and variances;
  1. Equate and differentiate interpretation of oppression by Frye and Bartky
  2. Contrast the two world wars, their reasons, progressions, and results
  3. Tell the difference between Wordsworth and Coleridge; poetically, indicate their departure points.
You will realize that not all topics ask for comparisons. Telling the requirements of an assignment in terms of equating and differentiating may not be a simple task. Quite often, some tasks may require the two aspects but leave out the evaluation aspect for the writer to do. Instances listed below may be helpful in consideration of the fact that they employ equate or differentiate tone. The question, in this case, would be, are the two expressly contained in the tasks?
  1. Working on poems of romance, decide on one idea that might be based on demise, intimacy, and life naturally as you also check on their treatment.
  2. The definition and description of tyranny by various writers studied Compare Frye’s and Bartky’s accounts of oppression.
  3. The implications of collusion by women in abetting tyranny. Is there accuracy?
  4. As contained in the study, different stories are told by the war heroes in as far as how they felt as well as the challenges they faced. What are the similarities in their testimonies plus what are the factors that are warranting their divergence?

Application of Contrasting or Comparing for Various Tasks

Often, the two styles that are equating and differentiating may be applicable in an initial writing task for the purposes of generating ideas for use in ones work despite the fact that they were not a requirement for that particular task. If, for instance, the argument is that testimony of tyranny as projected by Frye’s supersedes those of de Beauvoir and Bartky as one does a comparison and a contrast on key arguments as expressed by all the authors. The evaluation might be created on the basis of this task even though it may not expressly require one to equate or differentiate. This implies that such tasks may not be contained in the rough work that is done.

Finding Correspondences as well as Variances

Construction of charts is helpful and very efficient in comparing plus contrasting dual items or thoughts. Making set diagrams involves loops that overlap with various considerable items contained within them. At their center of the intersection, the commonalities are placed thereafter, putting in the different area’s items that separate them. Importantly, it is not advisable to take into account the assignment’s intent as well as its words. The expectation by the lecturer on what the student should learn is very important its commonalities or relevance to one’s current field. A question that should be answered is to the effect that there is either hint on the area of focus or in the task. Generally, a list of examples of comparable and contrastable questions has been presented below. They are incomplete and indefinite but meant to paint some thoughts that might be useful in begin. Additionally, the ideas here do not bar one from generating their questions for various comparisons. One might be by applying the 5 W’s and 1 H that is synonymous with the media personalities. Considerations could be made on duration, numbers, location sound, weight, and even shape.

Events and the Ancient Duration

  1. The occurrence date and period, changes and their significance.
  2. People’s tasks, the kind of relationship they had plus their values
  3. The governments by then and the prominent personalities involved by then.
  4. The cause of event during the times plus their later results

Dual Inklings or Concepts

  1. Their focus
  2. Their origin specific phases
  3. The creators and their defenders
  4. Theme, hypothesis, and aim not forgetting the summaries they give
  5. Their relevance and applications to daily life events and situations
  6. The appropriate one and reasons for ones trust on either of them
  7. Testimonies, proofs, and credibility they offer.

Art or Pieces of Writing

  1. Topics and describable aspects
  2. Tonality, disposition plus the format
  3. Their creators, time of creation, reasons behind their creation, their claims and message.
  4. Their quality and qualification
  5. Pieces of articles must contain characters; settings tell stories.

People

  1. Their background, their age, their sex, gender, and social class as well as race.
  2. Their prominence, their celebrity status, their relations
  3. Their personalities, their acts, their belief systems their interests
  4. Their uniqueness and outstanding points

The Focus Area

Probably, the information already provided will help in producing aspects that are the same and those that are different. Now, a decision has to be made on the ones that are applicable, good, drawing attention and understandable as the writing process begins.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Important things to the task;
  1. The important things to the course
  2. Attention-grabbing and educational aspects
  3. The basis of the claim made
  4. The foundation, if any
If one is asked to write a comparative piece that is composed of two fictional stories, the fact that they share fonts could not be so important neither are their graphical artworks nor the number of pictures appearing in either of them. The key area of focus is the quality of the content plus the subject addressed. However, fonts and illustrations can still pass in typesetting classes. Occasionally, some areas or aspects of comparing as well as contrasting can be applicable and not entirely given that they might fail to interest or disclose more information as expected. In an instance whereby one is tasked with presenting a paper on Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight,” indicating what they possess in common in terms of the idea is applicable (poems are contrasted on the basis of their theme or the underlying idea) rather not uninteresting; one might have covered several poems that addresses romance and their affinity to what is natural. Exposing various angles covering nature or varying ways or its key emphasis could ignite more interest hence be indicative of one’s knowledge of poetry.

The Claim

A claim to one’s paper in terms of one’s contrasting or comparing is crucial given that it serves to strengthen a contestation as well as offering a way to avoid being stuck in the content for the readers. There is always a desire by the writer to substitute reports that are ambiguously filling up their area of discussion. Great care should be taken to ensure that such ambiguity is not ignored and that the work is properly. Putting into consideration the classes’ contextualization could be helpful in answering questions as well as putting up ideas that are strong enough. For example: KFC and Wingstop are both offering various services as compared to other restaurants such as Starbucks, however, the serenity and ambiance at the Starbucks puts it much higher and classy to take out someone out on a date.

Organization of the Paper

A comparing and contrasting paper can be arranged in several ways such as:

Subject-by-subject

Start the task by telling all that you need to tell concerning the preceding topic of discussion. Thereafter, embark on making the points in their entirety concerning the area to be addressed in the subsequent area of concern. This should be replicated in all other topics until the last one is done with. Fitting all the points in one paragraph might be dictated by the length of the task. Normally, the task is always long enough to give one space to put his or her key points. Applying the KFC and Wingstop instance, after the beginning sentence, give the writer an opportunity to have a paragraph detailing all the available services its staff and probably how good their food is. All these will be contained in different paragraphs before a summary which will as well have all the key issues. The demerit of this approach is that the task will only contain listed points far from the expected approach in learning institutions. The expectations always concern direct comparison and contrasting of various items or ideas instead of putting them down in terms of a list and their commonalities. There should be a clear indication of how much they are alike or dissimilar. The escape route is however based on the strength of a claim that one puts forth and how well it is connected to the item.

Point-by-point

This is a departure from the above in that it explains in details comparable points independently. Strategies that may come into play based on the amount of information one would wish to relay include: first by the virtue of having little information, one paragraph might just be enough to discuss the relationship and the deviations of the key areas, e.g., describing the prices of services offered by Starbucks, KFC and Wingstop thereafter comparing their relationship with their employees in the subsequent paragraph and in the other paragraph contrasting the serenity. Secondly, having much to speak about may present you with an opportunity to allocate the paragraph in its entirety to discussing the relationships of the services such as the security at the inns, moving to the next point being approached in a similar way in subsequent paragraphs.

Hinting Words

Assisting the audience in keeping up with one’s position and progression with the task of comparing and contrasting, it is imperative that the connections between sentences of the topic are firm enough. Additionally, the claim must as well be hinged on facts strong enough to offer the audience with a tip or tips of the intention as well as the order of the paper. Listed below are some of the wordings that are helpful in putting forth the aim to the audiences: Furthermore, same to, unlike, and, similarly, again , likewise, in comparison to, contrasting, in such a manner, contrasting to, contrary-wise , yet, however, although, even, albeit, although, but, conversely, nevertheless, jointly, separately, despite of , regardless, while, whereas, in line with,etc. An instance could be: Despite the fact that Starbucks offers a serene environment, KFC and Wingstop are still more affordable jointly. However, the three restaurants remain popular and are preferred by the customers as compared to other restaurants that are pocket-friendly. Starbuck caters for a wider demographic though, ranging from dating couples and families to college kids and corporates.

Conclusion

A good document that compares and contrasts must be based on items that bear information the audience can trust, relate with and put their interest into. Additionally, the universities and the instructors expect a good organization with every paragraph highlighting key points. These types of documents are not easy to write, and for that reason, they require the student to read widely and do extensive research.