An Outline for a Compare and Contrast essay
A compare and contrast essay like any other essay consists of the general five paragraph format. These academic essays are generally of the bigger varieties, where the assignments are set for many pages, to be researched and written by the student. As in all cases, this essay too needs a good structure. One must always remember that i need to do my homework writing a very good essay without having a good structure will spoil the entire write up, making all the efforts that the writer has put in, to go down the drain. So after getting the assigned topic for the compare and contrast essay the first thing the writer should do is to prepare a good structure or layout for the essay. In other words preparing a good essay outline is necessary for writing a good essay, as this outline forms the scaffolding on which the writer will have to work on.
Given below is the outline for a compare and contrast essay:
1. Introduction- Like any other this essay should also give a brief introduction to the topic , giving all the important definitions and terms to be used later. To make the starting interesting, one should begin with an anecdote, a question or a quotation.
2. Body
Topic A – The first few paragraphs will discuss the first topic only. Generally in a compare and contrast essay two topics that are related are set for comparing and contrasting. So between the two topics here the first few paragraphs will concentrate in characterizing the first topic or topic A, only. The second topic or topic B must not be mentioned here.
Topic B - This section which will again comprise of many paragraphs will discuss in detail the second or topic B. One may refer to topic A, but only in brief, as that topic has already been dealt with in the earlier paragraphs. The purpose of this section is to give the details of the second topic or topic B, only.
Analysis of topic A and Topic B- After a detailed description of both the topics are given, they will have to be analysed in detail, together. This will again have to be done in more than one paragraph.
3. Conclusion- This should give a brief summary of the essay written and be written in such a manner that it proves the great in-depth knowledge of the writer, on the subject. The writer should give a firm conclusion and reaffirm the thesis statement.
There is another way in which a compare and contrast essay may be written. The format is as follows:
1. Introduction
2. Body
All comparisons/similarities between Topic A and Topic B written in more than one paragraphs( not less than three comparable/similar points to be discussed)
All contrasts between Topic A and Topic B written in more than one paragraphs( not less than three contrasting points to be discussed)
3. Conclusion
Writing a compare and contrast essay is generally easy, though it requires a thorough knowledge of the subjects to be compared and contrasted.
