Compare and Contrast Essay Format

A type of academic writing, compare and contrast essay is essay writing, which follows some specific question. There are a number of ways of writing these essays and the key to write these essays is its structure. Many a time, even if the content is excellent, a bad structure completely makes it go haywire. You need to follow and go through the rules of writing a general essay, after which you can structure your essay in one of the two essay formats. The two methods of writing a compare and contrast essays are block format and feature by feature format.

Compare and Contrast Essay Formats

The Block Format
While writing a compare and contrast format, you need to start the essay with a catchy sentence, so that the reader is interested in further reading the essay. To start with, you can use a question or something which people find important or interesting. After that, name the two things you want to compare and contrast and mention their similarities or differences.

Once you have completed the first introductory paragraph, the next paragraph should include a description on the features of only one of the things you want to compare. Make sure that you include examples along with the features you mention. In this paragraph(s) don't mention about the second thing. In case the paragraph is too long, divide it into two.

In the third section, which may contain one or more paragraphs, you should cover the second thing you want to compare or contrast. Here do not discuss the features of the first thing, as you have already mentioned it previously.

In the fourth section, you should analyze the two things together. You can use words and phrases like on the other hand, unlike, also, similar to, like, etc.

In the last paragraph, which is the conclusion, a summary should be given, which includes the major points of similarities and differences between the two things. While ending, make sure that you end with a kind of prediction or a personalized statement.

Feature by Feature Format
In feature by feature format, you need to start off by trying to hold the readers interest similar to the block format. You need to state things which are interesting to the reader and why you feel the two things are important for the reader to know.

Unlike the previous format, where the first and second thing are described in detail before analyzing the two things together, in a feature by feature format, all the similarities are clubbed together in the second section after the introduction. Ideally, there should be three ideas mentioned. In the third section, all the contrasting feature or the differences of the two things are mentioned. Once you have mentioned the similarities and differences in separate sections, you need to write a conclusion, wherein you should provide a summary of whatever you have mentioned.

Keep the Perspective in Mind

While writing a compare and contrast essay, you should first think of the subject you want to write about. You can start off giving obvious similarities. But as you go ahead, you should mention much more complex and significant qualities. Let's take an example of compare and contrast of apples and oranges. To start with, you can mention similarities between the two like both being edible fruits growing on trees. As you go deeper, you should mention features like their seeds, edible parts, etc.

While sitting down to write a compare and contrast essay, you should think about the purpose of the essay and the relevant similarities and differences, not those which are very obvious. If you are writing an essay from the economic point of view, you can consider the market conditions and popularity for each of the products.

You can use the above-mentioned compare and contrast essay formats to write an essay, but remember the most important thing is to keep the interest of the readers agile. Your presentation may be excellent, but if it can't retain the reader's attention, your project is bound to fail.