Compare and Contrast Essay Outline Example
Table of Contents
A comparison essay can compare and contrast two characters in separate novels written by the same author or point out differences and similarities between purchasing the same item, such as a computer, from different stores.
Good writing skills and the ability to correctly compare are irreplaceable not only in studies. In the future, this skill can become a competitive advantage in work and even the primary source of income (journalism, copywriting, blogging). In this article, you will find a step-by-step guide to writing comparison and comparison essays, as well as universal techniques and tips to help you or your child create concise and exciting texts.
What’s a Compare/Contrast Essay Outline?
An essay is a reasoning on a given topic, an expression of your emotions and thoughts in the text. At school, essays are written from elementary grades. First, these are descriptions of pictures or a view from a window. In high school, teenagers are asked to analyze literary works and speculate on eternal themes: friendship and love, life and death, career choice. Schoolchildren write essays not only on literature but also on history, social studies, and foreign languages.
How Does Compare and Contrast Outline Differ From Other Essay Types?
Comparison writing involves the image of any two phenomena, their signs, reasoning about them. The subject of the description can be internal and external portraits of characters, objects of painting, nature, and so on.
The essay-description plan is best built according to the following model. Presentation of two pieces of composition. If an essay is about real people, then the student needs to write who is one of these people, when they lived and how they became famous, if about the characters, then it is worth identifying their role in the plot.
Comparison Essay Outline Do’s and Don’ts
The introduction of a compare and contrast essay is a responsible and rather difficult part of working on an essay. Following the steps below will make it easier for you or your child to do this.
Consider the topic. First of all, you need to understand what you need to talk about in the text. Then, invite your child to orally reflect on a given topic of the compare and contrast essay. If it is worded too extensively, help flesh it out and formulate thoughts relevant to this topic.
Study the context. Often, additional information is required to write a compare and contrast essay. For example, if the compare and contrast essay is based on several literary works, make sure that the child not only reads them but also imagines the author’s personality and the era in which he worked. This information will serve as a reason for thought, which can be reflected in the compare and contrast essay.
So, the main ideas are spelled out. The material has been collected. Can I start writing? Take your time. It is helpful first to work out the detailed structure of your text. A compare and contrast essay always has three parts. Introductions, Discussions, and Conclusions. In the introduction, you describe the question and its context and also briefly talk about the direction of your reasoning about the comparison.
The discussion must be logical and consistent. For example, in a compare and contrast essay about experiments, this is where you can describe the research and detail the points that interested you, whether it was the history of the experiment or result, the technique or technique used, the influence that was exerted on the subsequent development of the research area, etc. Avoid confusion. and inconsistencies.
The compare and contrast essay concludes by summarizing the discussion and demonstrating that you answered the question.
Do not forget that an essay is a written work that involves a methodological analysis and assessment of a certain topic or problem. You are invited to demonstrate and prove the interestingness of comparing some experiment.
An essay is a work of fiction that reflects the author’s subjective position on an event, problem or phenomenon. Its structure can be arbitrary, the author’s opinion is not necessarily supported by arguments, and any means of artistic expression can be used in the text, including rhetorical questions and phraseological units. In addition, the essay does not necessarily end with a conclusion.
Outline Example
The plan consists of the following points:
- Subject;
- Thesis;
- Central part and comparison;
- Similarities;
- Difference traits;
Also, you need:
Choose a comparative topic. Common examples include air travel or car travel or comparisons between Mac or PC users. A comparative essay does not necessarily dwell on the differences, but it can highlight similarities.
List the comparative differences or similarities for the topic. Then, separate what similarities and differences you want to explore in your compare and contrast essay further.
Select a thesis. Make a statement of differences and similarities in the topic. Discuss why readers need to communicate these comparisons, such as why and how buying a used car is better than buying a new car.
Write only what is relevant to the thesis. There can be many similarities and differences, but only include those that reinforce the argument of the compare and contrast essay. If some similarities and differences provide a counterargument to the thesis, include them – and then discuss why the thesis is still relevant despite them.
After the compare and contrast essay outline is drawn up following this skeleton, you can start writing. You can write from any end. Some people prefer to have a written discussion first and then frame it with an introduction and conclusion. Some people write all the parts in sequence. The main thing is to try to write concisely and devote each paragraph to one thought.
Do You Need to Write a Compare Contrast Outline in College?
The ability to analyze, build evidence and express your thoughts in writing is at the heart of writing any academic texts – from abstracts and articles to exam papers, FQPs and dissertations.
Usually, a good compare and contrast essay describes and discusses several positions or points of view. Then, based on them, a conclusion is drawn that reflects the informed opinion of the author.
Therefore, before writing a compare and contrast essay, you always need to formulate what you think about what you are writing about, what your position is, what idea you will defend.
It is worth starting work on an essay with a careful reading of its title or assignment. What are you being asked to do? Describe, compare, discuss? What is the question being asked? Do you understand all the terms at this stage? Based on this information, you can begin to think through the outline of the text.
When writing an essay, it is easy to fall into one of two extremes – to describe the facts, bypassing the interpretation (being afraid of its subjectivity), or, conversely, to describe your personal opinion without supporting it with facts. However, the art of writing an essay lies precisely in finding this balance, in the ability to express your position, logically summing it up, and supporting it with rational, objective arguments.
Essays teach you to think. To write a text, you have to analyze a lot, look for information in books and the Internet, generalize your own or someone else’s life experience.
Essays teach you to find the right facts, check and compare them.
Essays develop logical thinking. The texts have a structure, all parts of which should be connected by the main idea. Tracking the logic of the story is an important skill that will come in handy later, both as a student and at work.
Writing awakens creativity. Pattern writing is boring and harmful. To write something really interesting, you have to show your imagination. Essay lovers at school will often become writers in the future.
APA or MLA?
Next comes the turn of drawing up a plan and selection of material. Again, refer to the literature. Try to get a rough picture of what you will be writing about. You need to make a plan containing the main topics that you plan to cover at this stage.
Perhaps this plan will be changed in the future. However, suppose your essay involves analyzing a large number of sources (which is optional in our competition) after drawing up such an initial plan. In that case, it is worth starting to collect and organize links on its basis – in connection with which and what you will refer to.
That is why, before starting work, you need to decide what type of APA or MLA formatting you need. You can ask the teacher for this information or use the APA or MLA link formatting system on your own.
Samples
Well, the already written text will remain to be checked and edited. Have you answered the question posed? Isn’t it worth swapping some of the fragments to make the proof more consistent? Do you need to shorten the text to meet the established limit? Is the text correct, are there any typos? Then, after self-checking, the text with the same questions can be shown to caring friends – at this stage, a fresh look never hurts.
To save yourself the hassle, you can go to the GradeMiners.com site, whose specialists will help you complete your compare and contrast essay correctly and quickly. We can also offer you a complete compare and contrast essay or download samples.