1. Compare and contrast essay
By: Josh, Robert, Delaney, Sydney, & Louis
compare and contrast what? writing? essay? Also, you have a lot of slides here. Decide which ones you will be going over in detail during your presentation and which ones you are including for students to just take notes on later.

2. What’s the Purpose of the Essay?
Contrast shows differences between 2 subjects
Comparisons show similarities and differences between subjects
Demonstrates how one subject is more important.
Demonstrates how two subjects, which appear dissimilar, are actually similar.
Instead of judgmental, may be informational.

3. Choose a method, either:
Order of Presentation
Choose a method, either:
One-side-at-a-time or
Point-by-point

4. How to prepare to write the essay
Brainstorm everything about two subjects.
Identify points that are relevant to both subjects.
Establish a dominant idea after examining points of similarity and difference.
Be sure to add traits to back up the subjects.

5. Useful when comparing only two things
Venn Diagram
Useful when comparing only two things
Different
Similar
Different

6. Introduction Give the overall picture. Define the subject matter.
Give brief, all inclusive background and write a thesis statement that answers all the “so what?” questions.
separate the text on this slide into bullet points

7. How to write a thesis statement for the essay
Decide to what extent the similarities between subjects will be stressed, and to what extent their differences will be stressed.
Create a thesis statement that reflects that decision.

8. Examples of a good thesis statement
Ralph and Jack have very different leadership styles and motivations which leads to the eventual chaos and anarchy on the island.
In order to make a decision between the Honda Civic and the BMW, consider the following criteria: price of the vehicle, average mileage, and price of insurance.

9. Organizing a Comparison and Contrast Essay
There are different methods in which to organize a compare and contrast essay, for example:
1. Distinct Features of Subject 1
2. Similarities of Subject 1 and 2
3. Distinct Features of Subject 2

10. Compare & Contrast Outline
Introduction
General opening statement
specifics about topics and text
Thesis statement(opinion and subtopics). Specific, argumentative, and meaningful
II. Body
Topic sentence/intro to subtopic
Introduction of example #1
Example
Analysis
Introduction of example #2
Introduction of example #3
Concluding Sentence(reconnection to thesis)
III. Concluding
Briefly summarize info from body par. Tie subtopics together and lead into recap of thesis statement:
Restate and rephrase thesis and arguments
Input a final thought about the topic. Whether it be an assessment of the work, or a suggestion of further implications about the topic.
Boom

11. What are the rules of thumb with comparison and contrast essays?
Be sure to discuss both subjects equally in terms of coverage.
Be sure to discuss the same elements for each subject; do not discuss one element for one subject and not do so for the other!
Decide either upon block or alternating arrangement; do not mix.
Have a clear purpose to achieve in the comparison/contrast.

12. Example Indicators To Contrast To Compare -but -even though -however
-although
-but
-even though
-however
-on the other hand
-otherwise
-yet
-still
-conversely
-as opposed to
-different from
-where as
To Compare
also as
in the same way
like
likewise
similarly
comparable
equally
in addition

13. Why do I need to use indicators?
Good comparison or contrast essays feature the use of indicator words to convey to the reader at any given moment whether a comparison or contrast is being made and the nature of it.

14. Body Paragraph Follow your plan.
Include a paragraph breakdown in your plan.
Whether individual points require an entire body paragraph or certain points can be combined depends on the length of the paper
The order of the paragraphs depends on what you want to emphasize.
Be sure to start and end body paragraphs with topic and concluding sentences.

15. Conclusion
Look back at your introduction and thesis and again answer the “why do we care about this?” question in terms of the big picture.
The conclusion will accentuate the lessons learned in the comparison and contrast of the elements.
What is the new synthesis that has come out of this exercise?