Life at University is never easy. It’s that time in one’s career when one is transitioning from being a child to becoming an adult. Things change drastically, from being carefree, one starts taking up multiple loads at the same time. Apart from the studies, one also has to deal with new relationships, homesickness, finances, and so much more.
Out of the many things that a student concerns himself or herself with, essays top the list always. Be it academic essays or comparative essays; essays test the students understanding of a subject correctly. In this particular blog, we shall be discussing comparative essays.
What is a comparative essay?
As the name suggests, it’s a comparison between two separate subjects, based on their similarities or differences. Writing a comparative essay requires the writer to compare two topics that have a certain connection. It’s absolutely possible that both the subjects are extremely similar or are very different from each other. They could either focus on the similarities, the differences or be both comparative and contrasting.
Tips on writing an excellent comparative essay:
Identify the basis of your comparison |
Develop the content of the essay |
Come up with your thesis |
Define a specific structure |
To begin with, one needs to absolutely sure about the definition of comparative essay and what it literally means. If that is not the case, then one might be able to fill up a piece with good ideas while still being unable to answer the question. This is why it is advised to read the question thoroughly and then start at attempting the answer to it. One might notice that most comparative writing questions have the phrase “compare and contrast” or “Similarities and differences”.
Identify the basis of your comparison:
As soon as you read the question, you will have to be mindful of finding the basis of your comparison. In most cases, the question in itself is supposed to give the writer the basis of the comparison. However, in some rare cases, the writer will have to work on finding the same. For example, some questions might straightway ask the difference between two separate things. In some other cases, the question would require you to tell the difference between any 2 things of the same genre i.e. Political party in power. Here the writer would have to figure out political parties in power and then figure out two of them of their liking. Next, they would have to compare the two and tell the difference.
Develop the content of the essay:
You will have to decide what all points to involve in your essay. This means you will have to locate similarities and differences in the things that are being compared. Strategize and list the similarities and differences separately. This is how you will be able to plan your comparative essay structure. Make sure that you include the main points of the essay structure and discard the less significant ones.
Come up with your thesis:
Be it any essay; it needs to have a defined thesis statement to give the writer the right direction. In this situation, its immaterial how the basis of the comparison is given, by the writer or by the question itself. Make sure that the thesis statement is a highlighter of how the subjects have certain similarities and differences.
Define a specific structure:
Like every other essay, comparative essay structure is crucial because it helps the reader to follow the read. An aligned structure will enable the reader to develop the comparisons made in the essay easily.
- Alternating Method
- Mixed Paragraph method
- Block method, are some of the best comparative essay structure examples, we know of.
The ideal comparative essay structure or outline that works looks like this:
Writing a comparative essay is a lot like writing any other essay we know of. We start with the introduction, introducing the statement and briefing about it. Then the writer moves on to the body in multiple paragraphs, talking about the research in details. Lastly, we attempt the conclusion by giving the entire content a proper closure.
-
Introduction:
This is where one gives the reader a glimpse of what s/he can expect from the content. This is where curiosity is built without giving in too much information.
-
Body paragraphs:
This is where the writer discusses what s/he had while identifying the things, its similarities and differences. It eventually arranged in a structure that is easy to follow.
-
Conclusion:
This is where the reader is given a complete overview of what was being read earlier. The conclusion is a summation of the identified similarities and differences and not at all a personal opinion.
The list of topics that can fall under the umbrella of Comparative essays is limitless. However, here are some of the most commonly used comparative essay topics:
- Compare and contrast between the GDP of the USA and Australia
- Compare and contrast between the GDP od two developing nations.
- Comparison between political ideologies such as capitalism and communism
- Comparison of various sports teams
- Comparison between various texts
- A comparative essay on religion and spirituality
- A comparative essay on two different models of sports car
WhatsApp Us