Comparison and Contrast

EH 0302

Comparison and Contrast

Focus on the ways in which certain things or ideas are similar to (comparison) and/or different from (contrast) one another.

Comparison and Contrast

Purpose:◦ To make connections between texts or ideas, engage in critical thinking, and go beyond mere description or summary to generate interesting analysis.

◦ When you reflect on similarities and differences, you gain a deeper understanding of the items you are comparing, their relationship to each other, and what is most important about them.

Comparison and Contrast

◦ In what significant ways are X and Y similar or alike?

◦ In what significant ways are X and Y different?

◦ Can something about X help us understand Y?

◦ In what significant ways is one preferable to the other?

Comparison and Contrast

Some assignments that ask you to compare and/or contrast:◦ Compare and contrast Frye's and Bartky's accounts

of oppression.

◦ Compare WWI to WWII, identifying similarities in the causes, development, and outcomes of the wars.

◦ Contrast Wordsworth and Coleridge; what are the major differences in their poetry?

Notice that some topics ask only for comparison, others only for contrast, and others for both.

Comparison and Contrast

Discovering similarities and differences◦ VENN DIAGRAM can help you quickly and efficiently compare and contrast two or more things or ideas.

draw some overlapping circles, one circle for each item you're considering. In the central area where they overlap, list the traits the two items have in common.

Assign each one of the areas that doesn't overlap; in those areas, you can list the traits that make the things different.

Comparison and Contrast

Comparison and Contrast

Discovering similarities and differences

CHART◦ Figure out what criteria you want to focus on in comparing the items.

◦ Along the left side of the page, list each of the criteria.

◦ Across the top, list the names of the items. You should then have a box per item for each criterion; you can fill the boxes in and then survey what you've discovered.

Comparison and Contrast

Pepper’s Amante’s Papa John’s

Location

Price

Delivery

Ingredients

Service

Seating/eat in

Coupons

Comparison and Contrast

Thesis Helps you create a focused argument and give

your readers a road map so they don't get lost in the sea of points you are about to make.

Avoid vague reports of your general topic:◦ This paper will compare and contrast two pizza places.

◦ Pepper's and Amante’s are similar in some ways and different in others.

You want something more detailed and specific :◦ Pepper's and Amante’s have similar prices and

ingredients, but their atmospheres and willingness to deliver set them apart.

Comparison and Contrast

Organizing your paper

Subject-by-subject: ◦ Begin by saying everything you have to say about the first subject you are discussing, then move on and make all the points you want to make about the second subject.

◦ Cover the same points of comparison for both and in the same order.

Comparison and Contrast

Subject-by-subject: IntroductionAmante’s Point 1: ingredients

Point 2: locationPoint 3: ambience

Pepper’s Point 1: ingredientsPoint 2: locationPoint 3: ambience

Conclusion

Comparison and Contrast

Organizing your paper

Point-by-point: ◦ Discuss both of your subjects together for each point of comparison.

Comparison and Contrast

Point-by point:IntroductionPoint 1: ingredients Pepper’s

Amante’sPoint 2: location Pepper’s

Amante’sPoint 3: ambience Pepper’s

Amante’s

Comparison and Contrast

Developing Points of Comparison and Contrast◦ Don’t feel as if you must compare or contrast in

every sentence.

explanation

descriptive details

examples

◦ Maintain a balance in your treatment of each subject and each point of comparison.

Give equal attention to each point and each object.◦ Example for one, example for the other

Comparison and Contrast

TRANSITIONS

SIMILARITIES◦ Likewise

◦ Similarly

◦ In the same way

◦ Too

◦ Also

DIFFERENCES◦ However

◦ But

◦ On the contrary

◦ Unlike

◦ On the other hand

A Special Kind of Comparison

Analogy◦ Shows similarities between two things of different classes:

Writing and skiing

Freshman registration and a merry-go-round

A dorm room and a junkyard

◦ Can you explain X by comparing it to something I already know?

A Special Kind of Comparison

Analogy◦ Useful in explaining something abstract, complex, or unfamiliar, as long as the easier subject is broadly familiar to readers.