Comparison

& Contrast

Comparison

& Contrast

Analyzing Similarities

and/or Differences

Analyzing Similarities

and/or Differences

How two or more things are similar.

How they are different.

AnalogyA special form of comparison that explains one thing by comparing it to a second, more familiar thing.

EXAMPLE: “If Americans want to understand their high schools, they should imagine them as shopping malls …”

Applying compare/contrast

in your daily life:

• Shopping?

• Searching for a job?

• Voting in an election?

• Getting dressed to go out?

• Looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Applying compare/contrast

in your daily life:

• Shopping?

• Searching for a job?

• Voting in an election?

• Getting dressed to go out?

• Looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Scholarly & analytical

examples …

• What are the similarities and differences between mitosis

and meiosis?

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of bilingual

education.

• Compare and contrast the attitudes toward science and

technology expressed in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and

George Lucas’s Star Wars.

Setting it up …

What is the basis for comparison?

Analyze the situation by looking for:

shared elements

points of comparison

attributes to discuss

Developing your

THESIS statement …

Identify the subjects you are comparing

and/or contrasting.

Reveal the point you will make about them.

Despite the fact that television and radio are distinctly different media,

they use similar strategies to appeal to their audiences.

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Jack London’s The Sea Wolf are both novels

about the sea, but the minor characters, major characters, and themes of Moby

Dick establish its greater complexity.

Two strategies

to choose from:

• SUBJECT-BY-SUBJECT COMPARISON

• POINT-BY-POINT COMPARISON

• SUBJECT-BY-SUBJECT COMPARISON

A) Dogs

B) Cats

• POINT-BY-POINT COMPARISON

POINT 1POINT 2POINT 3

POINT 1POINT 2POINT 3

POINT 1 Discuss Dogs then Cats

POINT 2 Discuss Dogs then Cats

POINT 3 Discuss Dogs then Cats

Transitions to use …

• COMPARISONin comparisonlikewisesimilarlyjust as

• CONTRASTalthough in contrast on the one handnevertheless even though howeverbut yet stilldespite conversely instead