Compare and Contrast Essay Notes



Compare and Contrast Essay Notes |Name

Date

Class Period | |

|1. What is a |1. An essay that requires you to analyze the similarities and/or differences between two things |

|compare/contrast essay? | |

|2. What pre-writing |2. Venn diagram—Two circles that overlap (one side of a circle overlaps with one side of another); |

|technique should you use |the outer sides of the each circle highlight points unique to one item, where the middle section, which|

|before beginning to write |forms an oval from the overlapping, highlights similarities between the two items. |

|your compare/contrast | |

|essay? | |

|3. How should your thesis|3. The thesis of your comparison/contrast paper is very important: it can help you create a focused |

|sound like? |argument and give your reader a road map so she/he doesn't get lost in the sea of points you are about |

| |to make. As in any paper, you will want to replace vague reports of your general topic (for example, |

| |"This paper will compare and contrast two pizza places," or "Pepper's and Amante are similar in some |

| |ways and different in others," or "Pepper's and Amante are similar in many ways, but they have one |

| |major difference") with something more detailed and specific. For example, you might say, "Pepper's and|

| |Amante have similar prices and ingredients, but their atmospheres and willingness to deliver set them |

| |apart." (from ) |

|4. How many paragraphs |4. As many as necessary to address the prompt adequately, but you definitely need an introduction, |

|should your essay be? |body paragraphs, and a conclusion. |

|5. How should your essay |5. There are two main ways to organize a compare/contrast essay: block and point-by-point. |

|be structured? |a. block compare/contrast essays—write about the first item completely in the first body paragraph; |

| |then write about the other item in the second body paragraph.  If you mention a particular point in the|

| |first paragraph, you must mention the same point in the next paragraph, and in the same order. Don’t |

| |forget your introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Your total number of paragraphs is 4. |

| |b. point-by-point--A second way to organize the essay is to discuss a particular point about item one|

| |and then immediately to discuss the same point about the second item. Then, in the next paragraph, you |

| |discuss another point about item one and then the same point about item two. Finally, you discuss a |

| |third point about item one in the third body paragraph and the same point with item two.  This is |

| |called point-by-point or alternating arrangement. Don’t forget your introduction and conclusion |

| |paragraphs. Your total number of paragraphs is 5. |

| |  |

|6. Sample outline of a |5. |

|block style |Block Arrangement (four paragraphs) |

|compare/contrast essay | |

| |I. |

| |Introduction in which you state your purpose which is to discuss the differences between vacationing in|

| |the mountains or at the beach |

| | |

| |II. |

| |Mountain |

| |A.  Climate |

| |B.  Types of Activities  |

| |C.  Location  |

| | |

| |III. |

| |Beach |

| |A.  Climate |

| |B.  Types of Activities  |

| |C.  Location  |

| | |

| |IV. |

| |Conclusion |

| | |

| |(from ) |

| | |

|7. Sample outline of a |7. |

|point-by-point |Point-by-Point or Alternating Arrangement (five paragraphs) |

|compare/contrast essay | |

| |I. |

| |Introduction in which you state your purpose which is to discuss differences between vacationing in the|

| |mountains or at the beach |

| | |

| |II. |

| |First difference between mountains and beaches is climate |

| |A.  Mountains |

| |B.  Beach |

| | |

| |III. |

| |Second difference between mountains and beaches are types of activities |

| |A.  Mountains |

| |B.  Beach |

| | |

| |IV. |

| |Third difference between mountains and beaches is the location |

| |A.  Mountains |

| |B.  Beach |

| | |

| |V. |

| |Conclusion |

| | |

| |(from ) |

|8. Okay, so what are you |8. Writing Prompt: Answer the question that correlates to the credit you will receive in the class |

|writing your |a. What may account for the differences in the ways the authors (Truth and Douglass) describe the |

|compare/contrast essay |stories of their escapes? (Honors) |

|about? |b. Compare and contrast the stories of escape from slavery Truth and Douglass tell. (Regular) |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download