What is compare and contrast? The concept of compare and contrast is important for our overall decision making process in both academic and professional texts. We write comparison texts to evaluate, clarify, and persuade. Specifically, Dictionary.com defines the word compare as: “to examine (two or more objects, ideas, people, etc.) in order to note similarities and differences.”
For example: to compare two pieces of cloth [to note differences]; to compare the governments of two nations [to note similarities].
Therefore, we compare to discover differences between two or more subjects that we would otherwise expect to be similar or similarities between two or more subjects that we might otherwise consider entirely different.
How do we develop these texts? There are five simple steps that you should work through to help you plan a compare and contrast text.
First: Select a general topic. Choose subjects that allow you to go beyond the basic points. For example, comparing two software programs from the same company where one is the “home” version and the other is the “professional” version will give you minor differences. Instead, compare two software programs from different companies. There will be some similarities but one would expect more significant differences. Generally, you choose two items in the compare and contrast that are from the same classification. For example, two schools, two tablets, etc. Comparing two items that are vastly different is making an analogy.
According to dictionary.com and analogy is defined as: “a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based.”
For example: The analogy between the heart and a pump. Analogies are useful but not the norm for a compare and contrast text.
Second: Distinguish between the purposes of the text. Is it going to be evaluative? Will it be used to clarify? Will it be used as persuasive? The bottom line is a compare and contrast text can be very useful in the decision making process. It is a text that is active – it helps the reader with next steps.
Compare and Contrast: Across media platforms...to a popular movie is a short video that discusses the pattern of compare and contrast in a pop culture environment.
Third: Brainstorm to establish your foundation. This is a useful process in developing any text. In the case of compare and contrast, use of a visual tool can help you begin to organize the piece and develop criteria.
Fourth: Once you have performed brainstorming and begin to establish basic criteria for your analysis, ask the following questions.
• What has my brainstorming revealed about the subjects? • Has anything emerged that is interesting, significant, or important? • Who is my intended audience? • What would be important for them to know about my subject? • What do they already know about my subject? Answers to these questions will help you develop a clear thesis for the needs of your specific audience.
Fifth: There are two main methods for organizing a compare and contrast text.
• Point by Point is a way of organizing the piece based on the criteria you have developed. For example, in comparing two software programs you may have selected price, customer service, overall usability, and the number of ready-made templates or reports that your organization can use out of the box. In writing the compare and contrast report document, you would list Product A – cost, Product B cost; then a section on Product A – customer service, Product B – customer service, and so on.
• Subject by subject is a way of organizing the piece based on the subject/product you have selected. For example, in the same software scenario you would write the first section on Product A – cost, customer service, overall usability, and out of the box performance. Then you would write a section on Product B – cost, customer service, overall usability, and out of the box performance.
Finally, it is important to note you need to work with parallel structure and keep all the criteria in the same order, with the same tone and point of view no matter what organization you use.