How to Teach Compare and Contrast Essay Writing
In this article, we will explore how to teach compare and contrast essay writing through step-by-step approaches, practical strategies, engaging examples, and ensuring success for students across grade levels.
By mastering this process, students enhance their ability to evaluate topics and articulate their findings effectively.
Teaching students how to write a compare and contrast essay is an essential skill that fosters critical thinking, organizational skills, and clear communication.
What is a Compare and Contrast Essay?
This type of writing encourages students to analyze similarities and differences between two or more subjects, developing deeper understanding and insights.
The five important points you need to write a good essay are:
- Topic Choice (Purpose)
- Thesis statement
- Audience
- Arrangements
- Transition words
We will look at how each of these points will help develop the paragraphs you need to write your essay.
The ETI Academy offers teachers an e-book guide with step-by-step information on how to write an expository essay in the form of a compare-contrast essay.
You can view the contents of this ebook by clicking on the following link to visit our TpT store access our Expository Essay Writing guide.
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What is the Purpose of a Compare and Contrast Essay?
The purpose of this essay is to analyze the relationships between topics—such as characters, ideas, places, or events—by discussing how they are alike (comparison) and how they differ (contrast).
When you compare, you are showing how the two sub-categories are similar.
When you contrast, you are showing how the two sub-categories are different.
For example, your topic can be food. The sub-categories can be choosing between fresh foods and canned foods.
You can choose to write a compare-contrast essay as a four paragraph or five paragraph essay.
In a four paragraph essay, you will have two body paragraphs since the other two will be for your introduction and conclusion of the essay.
In a five paragraph essay, you will have three body paragraphs since the other two will be for your introduction and conclusion of the essay.
Teach Compare and Contrast Essay Writing Video
This video highlights the points we discuss below.
If you enjoyed this video, please like it and subscribe to our YouTube channel: The ETI Academy!
We will now look at the five points mentioned earlier in full detail, along with examples of what NOT to do when writing your essay.
The Five Points to Teaching Compare and Contrast Essay Writing
We hope after reading through these points you will find it easier to write your expository essays moving forward!
We will now look at the five points mentioned earlier in full detail, along with examples of what NOT to do when writing your essay.
I. Topic Choice (Purpose)
What is the topic choice (or purpose) of a compare-contrast essay?
It is to discuss how two different sub-categories that are represented under the same topic are similar and different, and it may try to show why one choice is better than the other.
Therefore, before you begin to brainstorm for your writing, decide your topic, purpose, and your sub-categories for writing.
For example, let’s take food as our topic. The sub-categories to look at would be canned foods versus fresh foods.
With your purpose in mind now you can go ahead with writing your thesis statement.
II. Thesis Statement
Your thesis statement is the focus point of the entire essay. You will highlight three important points that will help you compare and contrast your categories of your initial topic.
A good thesis statement is a short and easy to understand sentence that clearly gives the direction in which they essay will look to compare and contrast the points.
The rest of the essay will be what supports your thesis statement.
III. The Audience
But before you begin writing the rest of your essay, you must first think about the audience that needs to hear your essay and be convinced.
You don’t have to mention the audience by name.
Instead, it should be clear in your topic choice and writing style who your intended audience is going to be.
IV. The Arrangements
The sub-categories you choose will be discussed in the “body” paragraphs of your essay and supports your thesis statement by giving more details.
How can you arrange your compare-contrast essay? There are a couple of ways.
- Block arrangements
- Point-by-Point arrangements
A. Block Arrangements
The two sub-categories will be discussed in their own separate paragraph giving details to show the important points (two or three points) for each category.
For example on the topic of food, with the sub-categories of canned food and fresh food, you can introduce the following details; flavor, health benefits, and cost when comparing and contrasting each food choice.
Block arrangement type essays can be written as four paragraph essays when comparing and contrasting two categories.
B. Point-by-Point Arrangements
For example on the topic of food, our three body paragraphs will focus on the three points we associate with our sub flavor, health benefits, and cost when comparing and contrasting each food category.
Point-by-point arrangement type essays can be written as five paragraph essays when comparing and contrasting the three points associated with the two sub-categories.
V. Transition Words
Transition words are very important in writing, since they help move the writing along, and makes it easier for the reader to follow the path along which the writer began their journey.
Here is a list of common transition words used in writing essays.
Now that we have covered the important points to consider when writing your essays, let’s look at what not to do.
What NOT to Write in Your Essay
In the slides below, you will find what NOT to do when writing your essay.
A Sample Approach to Essay Writing
Below is a sample approach to begin each part of your essay as your consider the important points mentioned in this article.
A Sample Introduction…
With the introduction, you want to begin with a generalized topic idea, for example, food.
And then narrow it down into two subcategories you will be comparing and contrasting. This will be the purpose of the essay. You can also add a persuasive element to your essay if you want your readers to choose one over the other.
You will end your introductory paragraph with your thesis statement (see below)
There are many advantages to purchasing fresh fruit and vegetables as an alternative to popular canned food items at your local supermarket.
Sample Body Paragraph Introductions…
The follow is a sample of how to write your body paragraphs using either the “block arrangement” or “point- by -point arrangement”.
Block Arrangement Sample Argument
A block arrangement argument may look like the following:
While purchasing canned food is cheaper and more convenient, the flavor may be diminished because of all the extra chemicals and preservatives needed to add to the products’ shelf life. Relying mostly on a ‘canned food” diet, may result in increased negative side effects to your health.
A bag of apples might cost more than canned apples, but savings in health costs far outweigh the immediate savings at the cash register. Besides, pound for pound, fresh food is tastier, and often turns out to be cheaper than packaged food.
A Sample Way to Starting the Conclusion …
The following is a sample of how to start a conclusion:
Many people forget that when they buy something that is canned, they are also buying the packaging. TV commercials on television successfully convince people that the decisions to buy canned food is logical, cost effective, and time saving, but facts about health and flavor prove otherwise.
We hope these sample essay approaches will help you in writing compare-contrast essays that help in school and in taking tests of English such the TOEFL iBT or IELTS.
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Final Thoughts…
Every thing that I have shared with you in this article, I have used myself in my university days. My writing skills have helped me find success in school, and when traveling around the world, writing down the knowledge I hope to always share with others.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and found it useful for building good writing skills that will help with your educational goals in learning for years to come!
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