Learn to Write Advanced Compare Contrast Essays
Compare and Contrast essays are befitting the academic essays in your higher education. They are more than the school level ‘similarities and differences’ essay. The exposition required for the essay allows you to learn and practice various comparative analyses and explore subjects beyond their description.
This type of essay writer allows you to make connections between various subjects and unravel relations between various ideas surrounding those subjects. It urges you to think critically about similarities in different subjects and differences in similar subjects, for you don’t write the essay to state the obvious but to show the readers, your audience the links and connections that they might miss otherwise.
Understanding the Compare and Contrast Essay Prompts
Some essay prompts may ask you to compare two subjects, while others may ask you to contrast between the subjects. Make sure you read the prompt correctly and provide the information and analysis that is asked for specifically.
Using Contrast and Comparison as a Prewriting Process
This is the same as the expository analysis. You can see why the compare and contrast prepare the students for larger arguments. Your critical and analytical skills are honed in this type of writing, more than any other type.
Conducting the comparison and contrasting analysis
The optimum way to conduct the analysis is through the use of visuals and charts. The process is largely creative allowing you to mix up different techniques to help you come up with links and relationships.
One of the most commonly used methods is the Venn DIagram. The Venn diagram, the two circles partly overlapping shown below, allows you to separate the distinctions and combine the similarities.
All the things exclusive to A will go under A; all the things exclusive to B will go under B, while the similarities will be set separately in the middle.
Make sure that you give priority of use to the information that is relevant to your course and readings. It can also be given priority if it is a unique analysis, which sets you apart, while also considering which analysis matters the most to the essay, the contrasting parts, or the similarities.
Structuring the Essay Body
The traditional essay structure for this type of essay has two variants:
- Subject by subject comparison
The comparison structure notes down everything that you have come through your analysis, one subject at a time. You will, either in the same or separate paragraphs talk about each point of the subject. Only after covering all the points will you then move to the second subject.
You might add a paragraph listing the similarities but usually following this type of analysis you leave the thinking to the readers.
