Read On How To Come Up With Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Many students have to handle the task of writing a compare and contrast essay. This process involves the search for two objects that simultaneously have a sufficient number of common features, as well as differences. You can compare two genres of music, sports teams, forms of government. The main thing is that you can come up with at least 2-3 points and conduct a qualitative analysis. It is also important to make the paper non-trivial so that it seems interesting to the reader. Writing such type of essay is an important skill that will come in handy more than once during your studies or even your future career.

We have prepared useful tips for you, as well as compare and contrast essay topics. Use this information to prepare a killer paper and get an A-grade.

Content Preparation

The most important thing for your essay is the content. This is what will interest readers, attract their attention and hold interest. Therefore, you need to allocate enough time for preparation.

Carefully analyze the question

You may have come up with perfect ideas for your college essay writing, but if they do not exactly match the topic, you will lose points. Read the wording of the assignment, suggestive questions (or a title, if any) and highlight some key phrases you may need. Keep a list of them in front of you throughout your work.
Often the fact that the essay should be comparative is indicated by such words in the task text as “compare”, “contrast”, “similar features”, “differences” and so on. Note if there are any restrictions in the assignment.

Determine what type of essay you need to write

In most cases, the task is pretty simple. You just need to take two objects and compare them. But sometimes the teacher asks to start the paper with a comparison and juxtaposition of similarities and differences, and then develop a deep analysis based on these data. In this case, it will not be enough to simply list what common features and differences the selected objects have. If your student assignment assumes that the comparison is not the whole text, but only part of the work, he will have features that indicate this. For example, “Choose an idea from the list: time, death, love, and think about how these concepts affected the work of poets born in the Renaissance.” You will need to choose two poets of this era and compare them, but not in general, but only on all the items that were listed in the topic. If you still do not understand your task, talk to your mentor to the end. It’s better to ask a few questions right away than to write the wrong essay and get a bad grade.

Make a list of the similarities and differences of the compared objects

To identify signs of similarity is the basic task of comparative work, but you must show that the objects are still different from each other, so that in a good essay the signs of difference will be indicated. Having studied how exactly the objects differ from each other, you can make a deeper comparison. It is best to start by compiling a list of features that are common to the objects in question and that are different.

Check your list to find the arguments you need for your essay

You may not be able to cover everything that you included in the list. Reread it carefully and try to identify a specific topic or pattern. This will help you decide what will serve as a basis for comparison. After this, the main structural units of the essay and its main idea should be outlined. If you want, you can highlight moments in different colors regarding different moments of comparison.

For example, comparing two novels, it is possible to highlight the similarities of the characters in pink, the scene – in blue, the issues affected – in green.

Content Organization

Essays often have a clear and understandable structure. Stick to it, so as not to embarrass your readers.

Sketch an outline

Before you start writing an essay, it is worth planning how it will be organized. The uniqueness of comparative essays is that there are several strategies for building them, and you can choose any. You can make a traditional plan, but even a simple list of items in the order in which you want to state them will be useful. Key points can be written on leaflets or stickers (or typed on a computer, printed and cut out), and then swapped in different ways until you decide on the order of presentation.

Devote each paragraph to a separate aspect

This means that in each paragraph you will write about both objects, comparing them according to a certain criterion. In the first paragraph, you will compare them in one aspect, in the second – in the second and so on, each time placing objects in the same sequence (first characterize the first, then the second, without changing their places).

Writing Process

Make sure you have enough time to write an essay. Then you can give him enough attention and prepare a high-quality paper. Here is a sequence of actions that will help you navigate:

• Start with the body text. Read and analyze all the data you have in order to understand the general context. Only after processing the information will you be able to understand what your text will be.
• After that, you can proceed to completion. You have already coped with writing the most difficult part of the paper, which means you can present its main idea in conclusion. Rephrase the thesis statement and take stock.
• And only now, when your text is ready, can you start the introduction. Knowing what your paper is about, you can make the introduction as interesting as possible. Come up with an original “hook”: fact, statistics, quote, interesting life story, rhetorical question. The beginning determines whether the reader will continue to get acquainted with your essay.

Proofreading Process

If you have enough time, it is best to postpone work for a day. Go somewhere, have a snack, sleep, meet friends. Do something to forget about the essay until tomorrow. When you start checking, remember that the two most important things are identifying problems and fixing them. Do it in two steps.

While reading your essay the first time, find the flaws of the paper. You can correct them during the second reading. No matter how you want to immediately make amends, it is better to check everything first, and only then to fix all the mistakes. So you will be sure that you have checked everything and will make the process faster and more efficient.

Even professional writers know that a good paper cannot be written without editing. Making every effort to write an essay means thoroughly checking it and making corrections.

If possible, ask a friend to read your essay: perhaps he or she will notice errors that you missed. If you are writing on a computer, it is sometimes useful to enlarge or reduce the font during a performance check to change how the text looks visually. If you look at the same thing for a long time, the brain begins to see what is expected, not what is real (the eye is “blurred”), and you may miss some mistakes.

Some Useful Tips For Your Essay

• The title and introductory part should attract the attention of readers so that they want to read your work. Come up with a name that will interest the reader.
• The key principle that you must remember when writing a comparative essay: you must determine exactly what you are comparing, and this comparison should go through all the work.
• Quotes should be used sparingly and carefully chosen to accurately illustrate the thought to which they relate.
• Avoid the conclusion that the two objects are “similar, but still different.” This often-encountered conclusion often spoils the entire comparative essay, since it does not say anything about the comparison. Most things are somewhat similar but different in some ways. Just show them.
• Do not write an empty conclusion, which simply lists what was said in the main part of the work. In conclusion, your arguments should be briefly summarized, but besides this, you need to express a firm point of view, moreover, originally and convincingly, so that the reader will surely remember it. If you see how to develop a solution to a problem or dilemma, include this in conclusion.
• Some believe that an “unbalanced” essay that focuses on one of the two questions is always weaker, and the author should strive to distribute attention between the objects or texts in question 50/50. However, others believe that in the essay the ability to highlight what is especially important to substantiate its purpose or thesis statement. One of the texts may simply provide context or provide historical/artistic/political explanations for the main text, and then there is no need for him to devote half of the essay. In this case, a “weak” essay will be one in which equal attention will be paid to unequal texts, instead of concentrating mainly on the main text.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics Ideas

• Which operating system to prefer: iOS or Android.
• Which is more convenient: email or regular mail?
• Who buys clothes online and who buys in the mall?
• What to choose, telephone communication or skype?
• Why did smart home replace ordinary home?
• Buy things online or shop at malls.
• Which company is more popular: Apple or Samsung?
• European culture versus Asian culture
• Why is Christmas more important than the New Year?
• Prefer silver or gold?
• Who will win the battle: long or short hair?