Planning a Comparison and Contrast
So, what does that look like in practice?
Writing a comparison and contrast essay (often called simply a “comparison”) seems easy at first—you’re just trying to find the differences and similarities, right? Well yes, but it’s a little more complicated than that. When writing a comparison, you have to have a clearly identified purpose: why are you finding differences and similarities? Defining your purpose will help you establish your criteria for comparison, and planning your points before you begin drafting allows you to keep your comparison focused and supportive of your purpose.
Your assignment might ask you to compare two texts, movies, perspectives, books (the list could go on and on), but deciding what points to compare depends entirely on your purpose. For instance, if you’ve been asked to compare the writing style of two authors, you might focus on word choice, sentence structure, organization, and/or tone. However, if you’ve been asked to compare the arguments of two authors, you will examine their thesis statements, claims, and supporting evidence.
Once you determine your purpose and main points for comparison, you can write your thesis. Just like all academic thesis statements, a comparison thesis must have the topic (what’s being compared), the evidence (the points of comparison), and your opinion (what you understand as a result of the comparison). An example thesis for comparing two authors’ ethos might look like this:
While they both try to advise writers through their use of language and personal experience, Charles Bukowski presents himself as less trustworthy than Stephen King.
The rest of the introduction will have provided a short summary of each text, explaining its purpose and how the author tries to achieve that purpose. Your thesis, then, outlines the points that you will focus on for comparison and what you have summarized as result.
How do you organize the comparison?
