Ultimate Guide on How to Write a Perfect Comparative Essay

Writing a great comparative essay is not an easy task for every student (like a movie review essay). Therefore, when you get an assignment to write a comparative essay, you should get acquainted with the range of questions, like What is it? What is the basis for comparison? What is the perfect structure for comparative writing? What's differ a comparative essay from any type of essay (for example opinion essay)? What's a good topic for a comparative essay? To make sure you follow the right pathway, you may check a detailed guideline that will help you understand all the critique moments in comparative essay writing. 

What is a comparative essay

A comparative essay is the type of academic essay that students are expected to write at some point over each course of their college studies. A comparative essay aims to compare two or more items that usually have some differences and similarities, but it all depends on the particular assignment. In other words, students need to define the similarities and differences of the subjects compared and analyze them. Sometimes, a student can be asked to compare different viewpoints on one issue. 

    Purpose of a comparative essay

The core purpose of comparative essay writing is to systematically elaborate on the similarities and differences between several objects or positions. As a result, after reading a comparative essay, the reader will get a clear understanding of the difference between the objectives of the study. In other words, comparative writing can serve as an influencing factor towards making the decision about the topic or taking a particular debating position.

 

Comparative essay outline 

While it is easy to entangle this essay type with a simple opposition between two topics or subjects, these are different. Therefore, it is better to bear in mind that a comparative essay serves a larger purpose and covers the following:

• recognize and explain basic differences
• prove the superiority of one option to another
• provide a new approach to doing or understanding something
• use facts and credible sources to support each claim 
• state, study, and discuss everything unknown.

It is rather hard to keep in mind all the necessary features of a comparative essay so that it is easier to create an effective outline to make sure all the core rules are followed. There are diverse methods of structuring the comparative essay outline.

 

Organization of the essay outline by criteria

1.Introduction

• Hook sentence, attention-getter
• Background information 
• Items to compare
• Thesis statement

2.Body paragraphs

• Transition + Topic sentence 1
• First subject: detail 1, detail 2, etc. 
• Second subject: detail 1, detail 2, etc.
• Concluding sentence

5.Conclusion

• Reworded thesis statement
• Call to action
• Clincher statement

Organization of the essay outline by item

 1.Introduction

• Hook sentence, attention-getter
• Background information 
• Items to compare
• Thesis statement

2.Body paragraphs

• Transition + Topic sentence 1
• First item
• Detail 1 
• Detail 2

Concluding sentence
5.Conclusion

• Reworded thesis statement
• Call to action
• Clincher statement

 

How to start a comparative essay 

To start a comparative essay, the writer should create a concise introduction part. The introduction of each essay is critical to make the reader interested in reading the last of the paper. In other words, it gives the audience the first impression of the quality of the content presented in a compare and contrast essay. The following checklist will help the writer start their comparative essay in the right manner:

1.Grab the reader's attention.        
            - Involve a brief historical topic review
            - Add a story or an anecdote
            - Use a surprising statement 
            - Apply to the name of the celebrity
2.Give a short background.
3.Do not forget about the thesis statement.
4.State the point (similarity /difference).
5.Provide supporting details for comparison.
6.Use appropriate transitions.
 

Choose the structure of your essay 

It is of vital importance to use just one approach at a time. As a result, before writing an outline to a comparative essay, they should choose a preferred structure for the text. Among the most popular essay structures are point-by-point and subject-by-subject approach; however, the list of approaches is far more extensive. For example:

• Point-by-point. All of the necessary information about the first object is compared and contrasted, and all of the necessary information about the next object is listed afterward throughout the essay.
• Subject-by subject. This is a block structure that depends on providing all the options related to every block in separate paragraphs of the essay.

 

 How to write a comparative essay 

If students have to write comparative essays, they should take into consideration the stage of the academic writing process. To write a comparative essay, you should:

1. Read the topic thoroughly. This phase gives you the opportunity to ensure having an understanding of what the topic is and how to follow its requests throughout the text.
2. Equal weight to every paragraph. The essay is graded higher, and visually text looks prettier when all the paragraphs are almost the same in length. 
3. Choose a preferred structure. Use just one approach in the essay at a time, a point-by-point or subject-by-subject approach.

 

  Tips for a great comparative analysis essay 

To compare and contrast two options perfectly, it is necessary to follow the checklist of rules related to the comparative essay writing. To ease the writer's life, proficient and experienced writers tend to help their colleagues and outline the most useful and exciting essay writing tips that help to find the difference. Here are the most popular ones:

• Analyze the topic wholly
• Use more active voice
• Do not ramble
• Eliminate words with obscure meaning
• Remember to use a proper voice
• Illustrate clear ideas, presentation, and conventions
• Organize your essay with the right word choice and sentence structure.

Comparative essay examples 

Example 1: “Comparing and Contrasting London and Washington, DC”

Example 2: “In what ways are the protagonists in “the Necklace” and “the Gift of the Magi” similar and different?”

 

Compare and contrast essay topics 

1. Comparison of Renaissance and Baroque Epoch
2. Pros and cons of overwork
3. Education vs. professional career: Which one is an easier way and which remains to be more complicated?
4. Facebook vs. Twitter: how to get more opportunities?
5. Horror Films vs. Thrillers
6. Subjectivity vs. Objectivity
7. Western philosophy: comparison of the ancient Greek and ancient Roman philosophers.
8. Similarity between dogs and humans.
9. School uniform and free dress: benefits/disadvantages.
10. Earthquakes vs. volcano eruption: what induces more damage?
11. Playing video games and walking: which is the preferable distraction for you and why?
12. Which approach is more effective: cooking video recipes and traditional cookery books.
13. Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen comparison
14. Money and gift for birthday: What is better?
15. Chinese economic development vs. American one
16. It is better to pay for college or get a scholarship
17. Life in high school and college life comparison
18. Home tuition or coaching: which one to choose?
19. Graduate college or get a job
20. Working in college vs. freelancing
21. Similarity between Toyota Yaris and Toyota Corolla
22. A car or a bike: What would be your choice? 
23. The Pew Research surveys vs. Google results
24. The Pew Research surveys vs. Google results
25. Archaeologist Indiana Jones vs. the real Archaeologist
26. Stereotypes vs. cultural generalizations
27. Maize vs. Rice: nutrition comparison
28. Low carb diet vs. exercise for weight loss: comparison of the outcomes
29. Compare the role of influencer and follower
30. Preschool and kindergarten comparison

Studying in college, it is almost impossible to omit getting the assignment to write a compare and contrast essay. After reading answers to all the questions about comparison structure, similarity, paper organization, a student will write an A+ grade essay with balanced body paragraphs, a concise introduction, and a reasonable conclusion.  If you have some questions left, you can always apply for getting online academic assistance and stay patient about getting a perfect quality paper.