Mrs. Cooper’s English II Informative Essay Mrs. Cooper’s English II

In this assignment you will be writing an informative essay In this assignment you will be writing an informative essay. You will compare and contrast two subjects. A comparison/contrast essay points out relationships or patterns, examines two or more subjects, and focuses on the subjects’ similarities and differences.

Purpose Your purpose in this paper is to inform, you want to be able to give your audience new information or a new way of looking at old information.

Gathering information for your paper You may need to do some research for this paper. You will not be required to have a reference page. However, if you give statistics or dates that are not readily known by the average person, tell your reader where you received your information from. Once you know what subjects you are going to compare and contrast, you need to think about the kind of information you will include. Your paper needs to have comprehensiveness- you need to be sure you supply all important information. You will also want to make sure that the information that you include is relevant to your essay. What is significant and relevant will depend on the focus of your comparison.  

Thesis Statement Your thesis statement, which is usually a one or two sentence summary of your main idea, should be included in the introductory paragraph of your essay. The main idea of your essay is up to you. If you want to mainly show how your two subjects are similar, start your essay off by saying they are similar. If you want to say that your two subjects may seem similar, but in fact, they are actually very different; say that in the first few sentences of your essay.

Arranging Information After you have gathered you information, you need to arrange that information so that patterns and relationship are clear for your reader. There are two methods in which you can arrange information, the block method and the point-by-point method. Block method- you present all the relevant feature for the first subject and then all the relevant feature for the second subject. If you use this method be sure to discuss the features in the same order for each subject. Point-by-point method- you arrange the essay by relevant features, focusing on one feature at a time. You discuss the feature for one subject and then for the other subject, and then go on to the next feature. The method that you choose to use is up to you; however, be consistent with your method.

Block Method Example for comparing Ernest Hemmingway and William Shakespeare Discuss Ernest Hemmingway’s life. Discuss Ernest Hemmingway’s works. Discuss Ernest Hemmingway’s death. Discuss William Shakespeare’s life. Discuss William Shakespeare’s works. Discuss William Shakespeare’s death.

Point by Point Method Discuss Ernest Hemmingway’s life. Discuss William Shakespeare’s life. Discuss Ernest Hemmingway’s works. Discuss William Shakespeare’s work. Discuss Ernest Hemmingway’s death. Discuss William Shakespeare’s death.

Structure of a Comparison/Contrast Essay Your essay does not have to use the five paragraph theme; however, you will need an introduction, body, and conclusion. Each should contain the following: Introduction Attention Grabber Thesis statement Body Identify similarities and differences between the subjects Use either block method or point-by-point method Conclusion You may want to restate your thesis statement Bring essay to a clear and definite close