Compare and Contrast Essay Writing Guidelines

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Writing a compare and contrast essay could be a nightmare for many students. Regardless, this type of essay is assigned to every student by their instructors. The fundamental purpose of compare and contrast essays is to look at the similarities and dissimilarities between two or more things. You can be asked to focus only either on similarities or dissimilarities but sometimes on both. To make your essay fetch you an A grade, you should go beyond just comparing and contrasting and make meaningful arguments.

If you are intimidated by the compare and contrast essays, this article is for you. I will share a guideline involving compare and contrast essay examples that will help an essay writer to write an outstanding compare and contrast essay. Let’s get to it.

• Pick a topic: It is the most defining step in the process of writing a compare and contrast essay. You should keep in mind that your topic must have at least two subjects in it. The two subjects must be different from each other but also could be compared easily. You should keep the following points in your mind while choosing the topic:
  • The two subjects must be from the same category but should be different enough that you can contrast. For example, you could not choose Pizza vs Bike but pizza vs lasagna would make a great essay topic.
  • You can also pick those topics that seemingly have nothing in common but have some hidden similarities and vice versa. Like Bats and whales both use sonar.
  • Subjects could easily be discussed in a logical and meaningful way.
• Brainstorm: After selecting a topic, you should take some time to brainstorm and think of various similarities and dissimilarities between the subjects of your essay. This might take some time but your whole essay will be planned.
• Shortlist your main arguments: Probably you won’t be able to discuss all the points that you have listed. Therefore, you should shortlist more important points and neglect others.
• Compose your thesis statement: Look at your points that you are going to discuss in the essay and make a suitable thesis statement. You should make your position clear in the thesis statement.
• Deciding the structure of your essay: A compare and contrast essay could be organized in various ways.
  • Point by point: In this type of structure you discuss one point about both of the subjects in one paragraph.
  • Subject by subject: In this structure, you write all your points about one subject and then switch to writing that about the other subject.
  • Compare and then contrast: in this organization, you first discuss the similarities between the two subjects and then go on to discuss the dissimilarities between the two subjects.
• Outlining the essay: This will give you a template of your essay. in whichever way you organize your essay, you will have to organize your essay paragraphs in the following way:
  • Introduction
    • Hook statement
    • Background information
    • Thesis statement
  • Body paragraphs
    • Topic sentence
    • Evidence
    • Linking it with a topic sentence and then the thesis statement
  • Acknowledging the opposing point of view
    • Report opposing view
    • Refute it
  • Conclusion
    • Restate thesis
    • Summarize al points
    • Link them to the thesis statement
• Filling in the outline: Now that you have created a structure of your essay, it’s time to substantiate it. Employ your research skills to provide evidence for your topic sentences. Call in your writing skills to link it with the topic sentence and then with the thesis statement.
• Editing and submitting: After creating the initial draft, you should revise it several times to resolve any grammatical errors or repetitive and unnecessary ideas and phrases. You can also hire an essay writing service to proofread your essay at affordable rates.