1. Comparison Essay
Structural Elements

2. Things to Consider
Please keep the following things in mind when writing your comparison paper:
You will need to EITHER compare (discuss similarities) OR contrast (discuss differences) but doing both in this short paper will be complicated
Your paper will have 8 paragraphs – an introduction, six body paragraphs, and a conclusion
Your paper must be written in third person, meaning without the use of “I” (first person) or “you” (second person)
You must use either the block method of organization (p. 308) or the point-by-point method of organization (p. 308) for your paper
Outlines for each style are available under the Handouts section of the class site

3. Structural Elements of a Comparison Essay
Introduction with Thesis Statement
Six Body Paragraphs
Organized by Block Method (page 308)
OR Organized by Point-by-Point Method (page 308)
Transitions
Conclusion with Restated Thesis

4. Thesis Statement Thesis Statement must contain:
Two items being described
Three criteria to be compared
Statement of whether you will compare (look at similarities) or contrast (look at differences)
Sample Thesis Statement:
Living in the city and living in the country are different in terms of housing, privacy, and cost.
In this thesis, the items are city/country living, the criteria are housing, privacy, and cost, and indicates the paper will be contrasting (looking at differences)

5. Organizing Your Thesis
Sample Thesis:
Living in the city and living in the country are different in terms of housing, privacy, and cost.
Just like with the thesis for the exemplification essay, this thesis contains a plan of development. It implies the paper will:
Discuss “city” elements before “country” elements
Discuss housing first, privacy second, and cost third

6. Organizing Body Paragraphs – Block Method
Using the block method would result in this outline:
Introduction
City Living – Housing
City Living – Privacy
City Living – Cost
Country Living – Housing
Country Living – Privacy
Country Living – Cost
Conclusion

7. Organizing Body Paragraphs – Point-by-Point
Using the Point-by-Point method would result in this outline:
Introduction
City Living – Housing
Country Living – Housing
City Living – Privacy
Country Living – Privacy
City Living – Cost
Country Living – Cost
Conclusion

8. Transitions
Transitions are needed to move from one section of to the next
Unlike a five paragraph essay, there does not need to be a transition after every paragraph
In a block style paper, there only needs to be one transition, between city and country sections
In point-by-point, there needs to be two transitions, between the housing to privacy, and privacy to cost

9. Conclusion
The conclusion will start with a restated thesis. For the example thesis I created, the restated version would look like:
Housing, privacy, and cost are the differences between living in the city and living in the country.
Restated thesis should be the first sentence of the conclusion
The rest of the conclusion should either make a judgment (state which is better, living in the city or country) or explain the point of the comparison

10. For More Help
I took one of the model papers and highlighted all the structure elements – reviewing it will help you get a better understanding of how to put your paper together
Look under the Comparison Essay section under Handouts