Compare Contrast Topics: List of Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Before beginning my compare and contrast essay topics, let us spend some time on writing and what it entails. Writing can be of many types, academic writing, journalistic writing, etc. Writing can take many forms-

• Letter writing
• Resume writing
• Essay writing
• Technical writing
• Article writing
• Business writing
• Content writing
• Creative writing
• Fiction writing
• Graffiti writing, etc.

All of the above require different writing skills and the writing tips also differ for each of them, individually. Writing skills can be acquired, if you are not already born with them, and hence there is no need to fear writing of any kind.

Coming to our original topic, that is around essay writing, here's a small list of steps to write an essay.

• Choose a topic - Choosing an essay topic, like compare contrast essay topics, persuasive essay topics, etc, can give you a better idea of what the essay content should contain.
• Brainstorm - Brainstorming on the essay content and the essay body will make researching about it easier, since you will know exactly what to look for.
• Research and analysis - This step involves gathering all possible information on your essay topic. All the irrelevant and unnecessary information can be ignored, while writing the body of the essay.
• Thesis preparation - This is where all the information gathered is put through the sieve of relevancy. All the important ideas are highlighted, so that they are surely covered in the essay.
• Essay outline - This is where a rough structural formatting of the essay is done by the writer. This is the ready-for-implementation plan.
• Write the essay - Here, the actual essay gets written, using the information gathered. It is written in the format that is decided in the previous step, containing a proper introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion.
• Citation and references – These are necessary before any essay ends. Proper credit must be given to the information sources, in this section.

When writing on compare and contrast topics, the essays have a different structure altogether. There are two distinct styles to format a compare contrast essay and they are as follows:

Format 1: Compare Contrast Essays

• Introduction with quotation or anecdotes that lead on to the thesis statement.
• Exhaustive details of the first topic are given in this section, which can go on for a few paragraphs. Nothing is said mentioning the second topic in this section.
• Comprehensive details of topic 2 are given here, which may extend to a few paragraphs. No mention is made of the first topic.
• A few paragraphs here, will finally mention the comparisons and contrasts between both the topics one and two.
• A good conclusion will reaffirm the thesis stated in the introduction.

Format 2: Compare Contrast Essays

• An introduction should start the essay, giving a briefing of all that it entails.
• A few paragraphs here will contain all the comparisons between both the topics involved.
• A few paragraphs here will contain all the contrasts between the two topics.
• The conclusion will contain a summary of everything highlighted in the essay.

Now that we are finished with the two writing styles of compare and contrast essays, let us have a look at some compare and contrast topics for essays.

Frivolous Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

• Compare and Contrast Halloween Night and Prom Night.
• Compare Contrast a Best Friend with an Archenemy.
• Compare and Contrast Vogue Magazine with Elle Magazine.
• Compare Contrast Music and Books.
• Compare and Contrast Celebrity Influence and Parental Influence.
• Compare Contrast Watching Movies at Theaters and Watching Movies at Home.
• Compare and Contrast Rap Music with Pop Music.
• Compare and Contrast Soul Music and Country Music.
• Compare Contrast Daily Soap TV Shows with Reality Shows or Reality TV.
• Compare and Contrast Tarzan and Mowgli.
• Compare Contrast Bullies and Dictators.

People and Personalities

• Compare and Contrast Adolf Hitler with Joseph Stalin.
• Compare Contrast Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.
• Compare and Contrast Osama Bin Laden and Adolf Hitler.
• Compare Contrast Joseph Stalin with Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Compare and Contrast William Shakespeare and William Wordsworth.
• Compare Contrast Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
• Compare and Contrast Mom and Dad
• Compare Contrast William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
• Compare and Contrast Sherlok Holmes and Watson.
• Compare Contrast Beyonce Knowles with Rihanna.
• Compare and Contrast Karl Marx and Max Webber.
• Compare Contrast Cleopatra and Octavia.

Wars, Revolution and Governments

• Compare and Contrast the Current Russia with the Former USSR.
• Compare Contrast Communism and Democracy.
• Compare and Contrast Nazism and Fascism.
• Compare Contrast Republican Ideals and Democratic Ideals.
• Compare and Contrast the Two World War Sides, Allies and Axis.
• Compare Contrast Democracy and Dictatorship.
• Compare and Contrast the Iraq War and the Veitnam War.
• Compare and Contrast the World War I and the World War II.

Time Periods and Eras

• Compare and Contrast the 18th Century with the 21st Century.
• Compare Contrast the Pop Culture in the 1960s with the Pop Culture in the 1990s.
• Compare and Contrast the Past with the Future.
• Compare and Contrast the Neanderthal Man with the 21st Century Man.
• Compare Contrast Women 100 years ago and Women Today.
• Compare Contrast the Writings of Confucius and Hammurabi's Code of Laws.

Science and Technology

• Compare and Contrast Inventions and Discoveries.
• Compare Contrast Hurricanes and Blizzards.
• Compare and Contrast Snowfall and Rainfall.
• Compare and Contrast Creationism and Evolutionism.
• Compare and Contrast SRAM and DRAM (Static Random Access Memory vs. Dynamic Random Access Memory).
• Compare and Contrast Mitosis and Meiosis.
• Compare Contrast Nuclear Fusion and Nuclear Fission.

Flora and Fauna

• Compare and Contrast Cultivated Flowers with the Non-Cultivated Weeds.
• Compare and Contrast a Pet Dog with a Pet Cat.
• Compare Contrast the African Elephant with the Asiatic Elephant.
• Compare and Contrast the African Lions and the Asian Tigers.
• Compare and Contrast Australian Flora and Fauna with the African Flora and Fauna.
• Compare and Contrast Fruits with Vegetables.
• Compare Contrast Evergreen Forests with Coniferous Forests.

Geography and Topography

• Compare and Contrast Volcanoes and Earthquakes.
• Compare Contrast the African Continent with the American Continent.
• Compare and Contrast the Mediterranean Weather with the Sub Tropical Climate.
• Compare Contrast Pollution in United States and Pollution in China.
• Compare and Contrast Germany and America.
• Compare Contrast Europe and Africa.

Religion and Faith

• Compare and Contrast Spirit Worship and Idol Worship.
• Compare Contrast the Bible and the Quran.
• Compare and Contrast the Bhagwad Gita and the Quran.
• Compare Contrast Hinduism and Islam Religion.
• Compare and Contrast Christianity and Judaism.
• Compare and Contrast Paganism and the Wiccan Faith.
• Compare Contrast Buddha and Jesus Christ.
• Compare and Contrast the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke.
• Compare Contrast Islam and Christianity.

Sports and Adventure

• Compare and Contrast the Nascar and the Formula One.
• Compare Contrast Venus Williams and Serena Williams.
• Compare and Contrast Microsoft Zune and Apple iPod.
• Compare Contrast Yahoo Search Engine with Google Search Engine.
• Compare and Contrast Cricket and Soccer.
• Compare and Contrast Baseball and Rugby.

Human Interest and Miscellaneous Topics

• Compare Contrast Fox News with CNN News.
• Compare and Contrast Country Living and City Living.
• Compare Contrast Physical Beauty with Inner Beauty.
• Compare and Contrast Natural Beauty and Cosmetic Beauty.
• Compare Contrast Being Rich with Being Famous.
• Compare Contrast Online Classes with Traditional Classes.
• Compare and Contrast a Good Boss and a Bad Boss.
• Compare Contrast Hostel Living with Home Living.
• Compare and Contrast Disparity and Discrimination.
• Compare Contrast Reservation Quotas and Equal Opportunity.
• Compare Contrast Males and Females.
• Compare and Contrast Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
• Compare Contrast Romeo and Juliet with Much Ado About Nothing.
• Compare and Contrast Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
• Compare Contrast Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
• Compare and Contrast Friends with Charmed.
• Compare and Contrast World Bank and World Trade Organization.
• Compare and Contrast Tragedy and Comedy.
• Compare and Contrast Cinderella and Snow White.
• Compare Contrast Ford Motor Company and Chevrolet.
• Compare and Contrast Poetry with Prose.
• Compare and Contrast Victorian Culture and Gothic Culture.
• Compare and Contrast Fear and Confusion.
• Compare and Contrast Beowulf and Odysseus.
• Compare Contrast Catholic Schools and Public Schools.
• Compare and Contrast Church Sermons with Campaign Speeches.
• Compare Contrast Acting and Lying.
• Compare and Contrast College and High School.
• Compare and Contrast Classical Economics with Keynesian Economics.
• Compare and Contrast Perception and Sensation.

Health and Fitness

• Compare and Contrast Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa.
• Compare Contrast the Endocrine Nervous Systems
• Compare Contrast Yoga and Aerobic Exercises.
• Compare and Contrast Low Fat Diet and Low Carb Diet.
• Compare and Contrast High Blood Pressure and Low Blood Pressure.
• Compare and Contrast Acupuncture and Acupressure.
• Compare and Contrast Allopathy and Homeopathy.
• Compare Contrast the use of Condoms and Birth Control Pills.
• Compare and Contrast Drug Abuse with Alcoholism.
• Compare and Contrast Dyslexia and Dementia.
• Compare Contrast Herbal Medicine with Allopathic Medicine.
• Compare Contrast High Fiber Diet and High Protein Diet.
• Compare and Contrast Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities.
• Compare and Contrast Cosmetic Surgery and Liposuction.
• Compare and Contrast Physical Therapy and Massage Therapy.
• Compare and Contrast Stress and Anxiety.

There are many many more topic ideas for compare and contrast essays, but I will end my article here. You can always construct your own compare and contrast essay topics, using two places that you have visited, two cars models that you like, two athletes that you cannot choose between, compare contrast two things or just compare contrast two people. All you need is some creativity and some good analytical skills, and there is nothing that you cannot compare and contrast. Good luck with your endeavor.