Compare and Contrast Essay

In our daily life, we always compare and contrast two or more things, for example, when buying a new dress  or a new car.

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 In academic context,  when doing your assignments, you do the same thing such as

comparing

- two novels  

- two graphics or figures  

- two theories

- two movies

- two wars 

So, what is compare and contrast essay?

A compare and contrast essay describes the qualities of a subject or idea by discussing the similarities and differences.

A compare and contrast essay can be organized in two different ways:

1. By comparing and contratsing a number of issues point by point
                                                    

 or

2. By focusing first on the similarities and then the differences (block organization).

Here, we will focus on the second one which is called block organization.

However, before writing a compare and contrast essay, it is better to brainstorm and organize similarities & differences by using venn diagrams and tables.