This document provides guidance on writing a compare and contrast essay. It explains that a compare and contrast essay focuses on highlighting the similarities and differences between two or more objects. There are three main organizational methods for a compare and contrast essay: whole-to-whole, where each object is discussed separately and in full; similarities-to-differences, where similarities are discussed first followed by differences; and point-to-point, where each individual point of comparison is discussed together for all objects. The essay should give equal weight to and balance the discussion of each object, and focus on informative comparison rather than making an argument.

1. Running head: COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY 1
Compare and Contrast Essay
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2. COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY 2
Compare and Contrast Essay
Compare and contrast essay focusses on the similarities and differences between and
among objects. The fact that there is a similarity between objects does not necessarily mean that
the two objects are the same. It only means that the objects share certain characteristics. For
example cows, goats, leopards and lions are alike since they are all animals. The fact all these
animals have four legs cannot be used to argue that they are the same, but they share certain
characteristics like being mammals. There differ in some aspects, for instance dogs, cows and
goats can be domesticated while leopards and lions are wild animals which cannot be
domesticated.
There are majorly two reasons for comparing and contrasting objects. One is to explain
so as to help someone understand which animals are fierce and which are friendly. For instance,
goats and cows are very friendly animals in most instances while leopards and lions are fierce.
Another reason is to compare and contrast so as to evaluate which animal is fiercer than the
other. For instance, the lion is fiercer and more cunning than the leopard. When choosing the
objects to compare and contrast, it is important to select items which have common observable
characteristics, that is, they must have similarities. For example, it would be imprudent to
compare a car to a shirt. It is reasonable to compare things that belong together. For example,
you can compare a shirt to a sweater since they are both clothes.
When you compare objects, you focus on their likenesses, that is, the features that all the
objects possess. For example, a cow and a goat are both mammals, they are both herbivorous,
they are both domesticated animals and their both bodies are covered by hair. On the other hand,
when you are contrasting objects, you pay attention to their dissimilarities. For example, cows
have a larger body size than goats and also cows produce more milk than goats.

3. COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY 3
Comparing and contrasting are used in writing to organize paragraphs both individually
and also entire papers. For instance, you may write a paper that compares a laptop to a desktop
computer about aspects such as portability, memory capacity and room area coverage. In the
paper, you can compare the portability of a laptop to that of a desktop. When writing the paper, it
is important to balance the information about the objects that you are comparing and contrasting.
Equal weight should be given to the objects under consideration. For example if you consider,
portability, memory capacity and room area coverage for the laptop, you should give the same
consideration for the desktop.
There are three ways to organize compare and contrast papers; they include: whole-to-
whole, similarities-to-differences and point-to-point methods. Under whole-to-whole method,
you highlight everything about one object and then everything about the other. For instance, you
outline everything about portability, memory capacity and room area coverage concerning the
laptop then the same aspects about the desktop. Under the similarities-to-differences approach,
you highlight all the similarities about the objects and then the differences regarding the objects.
For example, you can say that both the laptop and the desktop are electronic devices in one
section. In the other section you could explain that a laptop is more portable than a desktop.
Under the point-to-point approach, you explain one point of comparison before going to the next.
For example, you could write about room coverage for the laptop and the desktop and then about
the memory capacity in the next section for both the laptop and the desktop.
Therefore a compare and contrast essay focuses on similarities and differences of objects
under consideration. Comparison explains the similarities while contrasting highlights the
differences. Similarity does not mean that the two objects being compared are the same. It only
insinuates that the objects in question share certain characteristics which are highlighted in the

4. COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY 4
essay. A compare and contrast essay should not be confused with a debate where the merits and
demerits of a subject are discussed. It is more informative than argumentative.