A GUIDE TO WRITING FOR LITERARY MASTERPIECES
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST:
Comparison and contrast are not usually ends in themselves; the purpose of your paper will determine how comparison and contrast are to be deployed. Comparison and contrast can be used for a number of purposes:
(i) to present information;
(ii) to contextualize or define a person, place, event;
(iii) to persuade (that one viewpoint/entity is preferable to another);
(iv) to help the reader understand a difficult and unfamilar subject by reference to a familiar subject.
A comparison and contrast paper can be organized following a point by point model or a "block" model. For example, if you are comparing the views of two authors on the French Revolution, you could choose perhaps four different aspects of that Revolution and consider the views of both writers on each aspect in turn. Or you could examine one writer's views on all four aspects and then the other writer's views on those aspects. Whichever model is chosen, the basis and purpose of comparison need to be made clear; and it is a good idea to isolate specific themes along which the paper is initially organized. Here are the basic stages for writing your paper:
(1) After your first reading of the two texts to be compared, decide which themes you are going to isolate for comparison and contrast;
(2) make a list of these themes and arrange them in order of importance;
(3) read again carefully through the two texts, making notes on the themes you have isolated; under the heading of each theme you can list specific points (with examples where possible);
(4) organize your notes into two columns, as shown below:
TEXT 1: TEXT 2:
|
Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4 |
Points 1,2,3 With examples Points 1,2,3 Points 1,2,3 Points 1,2,3 |
Points 1,2,3 With examples Points 1,2,3 Points 1,2,3 Points 1,2,3 |
(5) you now need to work out a detailed thesis which will indicate: (a) the purpose of your comparison of the two texts;
(b) the broad themes on which your comparison/contrast is to be focused;
(c) the overall structure of your paper;
(6) you are now ready to draft an outline, which might take the following format:
Introduction
Thesis:
purpose, themes, structureThemes 1-4:
discussion of these themes in first textThemes 1-4:
discussion of these themes in second textConclusion:
what did the comparison/contrast show?Alternatively, your outline might look like this:
Introduction
Thesis
Theme 1:
discussion of this theme in first and second textsTheme 2:
discussion of first and second textsTheme 3:
discussion of first and second textsTheme 4:
discussion of first and second textsConclusion
(7) once you have produced this outline, you can follow the guidelines given earlier in this booklet for revising, editing and proofreading.