Examining similarities and differences... From Reading to Writing In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story “Winter Dreams,” the narrator observes “Dexter Green’s father owned the second best grocery-store in Black Bear—the best one was ‘The Hub,’ patronized by the wealthy people from Sherry Island.” Comparison- and-Contrast Essay

Examining similarities and differences... The comparisons in this passage help readers understand more about Dexter’s life. You can use comparison and contrast any time you want to analyze the similarities and differences between objects, people, experiences, or effects. Comparison- and-Contrast Essay

B a s i c s i n a B o x Comparison-and-Contrast Essay at a Glance RUBRIC Standards for Writing A successful comparison-and-contrast essay should identify the subjects being compared establish a clear reason for the comparison include both similarities and differences and support them with specific examples and details follow a clear organizational pattern use transitional words and phrases to make the relationships among ideas clear summarize the comparison in the conclusion Identifies the subjects being compared Tells the purpose for the comparison Conclusion Restates the main idea or draws a conclusion Subject A Only Subject B Only Both Subjects Body Explains similarities and differences Introduction

1 Prewriting Resemblances are the shadows of differences. Different people see different similarities and differences. Vladimir Nabokov, Russian novelist Resemblances are the shadows of differences. Different people see different similarities and differences. Vladimir Nabokov, Russian novelist Writing Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay

Do you have a choice or decision to make? Do you want to convince someone that one thing is better than another? Think about why you might want to compare two things. 1 Prewriting Writing Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay

Planning Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay 1. Decide what features you will compare or contrast. Think about the main idea of the essay. Focus on similarities and differences that are important to this main idea. 2. Choose an organizational pattern. There are two basic patterns for organizing comparisons: subject-by-subject and feature-by-feature.

Planning Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay Subject-by-SubjectFeature-by-Feature Introduction Subject A Feature 1 Feature 2 Subject B Feature 1 Feature 2 Conclusion Introduction Feature 1 Subject A Subject B Feature 2 Subject A Subject B Conclusion

Writing Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay 2 Drafting Begin writing by identifying the subjects you are comparing. As you write your draft, Create a lively introduction. Stick to the organizational pattern you choose. Give the most specific and interesting examples and details to support your comparisons.

Writing Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay 2 Drafting Use transitional words and phrases, such as both, similarly, but, instead, in contrast, and however, to indicate similarities and differences. Write a conclusion or brief summarizing paragraph.

3 Revising Target Skill PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION Writers often use parallel construction, or parallelism, to emphasize similarities and differences. They repeat similar grammatical structures or sentence patterns to link similar or contrasting ideas. The key is to make sure the repeated sentence elements are the same. Writing Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay

Target Skill MODIFIERS Use comparative forms of modifiers to compare two people, places, ideas, or actions. Some modifiers add the suffix -er to make their comparative forms; others use the word more with the basic form of the adjective or adverb. Be sure to use the proper form. Writing Your Comparison-and-Contrast Essay 4 Editing and Proofreading