DEVELOPING A COMPARISON AND CONTRAST ESSAY

There are some strategies that can help writing a comparison or contrast essay:

Choosing a topic. The best strategy in choosing a topic for a comparison or contrast essay is “something that can be compared”. There can be things, events, works of literature, political beliefs, etc. For a good essay you need:

· Two subjects that have something in common;

· They should also have some differences;

· There should be enough information on each subject to make two comparisons.

Brainstorming. Making a list. When brainstorming on the topic of the essay it’s a good idea to make a list of similarities and differences.

Below is the example list on football and ice hockey:

From the list you can see that football and ice hockey have both differences and similarities (they are underlined). These are “links” between two subjects. The writer can use the similarities between two sports to start writing about differences (Although both football and ice hockey are very popular sports, there are certain differences…) or vice versa (Even though football and ice hockey have differences such as the number of players and fields, they share many similarirties…)

Venn Diagram. Make a visual map of your essay. A Venn diagram helps to organize the ideas generated in brainstorming. A Venn diagram is a visual representation of the similarities and differences between two concepts. Here is the Venn diagram of the characteristics of football and ice hockey:

Task 8.

Examine the potential pairs for comparison and contrast essays. Choose the pairs that can be comparedand explain briefly what cane be compared.

1. living in houses/ living in flats (appartments)

2. studying at school/ studying in college

3. the weather in London/ tourist attractions in London

4. wild animals/ animals in the zoo

5. computers/ cell phones

6. Ukrainian food/ Russiam food

Task 9.

A. Brainstorm the list of information on one of the following topics.

Two famous people. Two places. Two sports. Two films. Two celebrations or holidays. Two cars

Topic: _________________________________________________

Subject 1 Subject 2

________________________ ___________________________

________________________ ____________________________

________________________ ____________________________

________________________ ____________________________

B. Make a Venn diagram using the list.

Making an outline helps you develop a more detailed plan for the comparison and contrast essay. An outline much resembles the skeleton that was used for developing a paragraph. Include your ideas into the outline.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 1152