1. Comparison and Contrast of Nonfiction
Introduction
A Writer’s Checklist
Choosing your nonfiction texts
Gathering your information
Determining your relevant features
Composing your thesis statement
Arranging your supporting details
A Writer’s Model
Your Turn: Write a comparison-contrast essay

2. Introduction How would you compare . . .
a magazine article about travel in New Zealand with the journal of a traveler to that country?
a Web page about global climate change and an article on that topic from a scientific journal?

3. Introduction
When you analyze the similarities and differences between two or more things, you are comparing and contrasting them.
Comparing and contrasting two nonfiction texts that deal with the same topic in different ways can lead to interesting discoveries.

4. A Writer’s Checklist
When you write an essay comparing and contrasting nonfiction texts, you should:
Choose two nonfiction texts about which to write.
Gather information by reading and analyzing the two texts.
Determine the relevant features of the two texts you have chosen.
Compose a thesis statement to clearly state what you are comparing and contrasting.
Arrange the supporting details and determine the structure of your essay. 4

5. Choosing your nonfiction texts
To begin, choose two nonfiction texts about which to write.
First, select a topic. Brainstorm factual subjects that interest you and will interest your audience. Newspapers, news and science magazines, informational Web pages, and nonfiction books are good places to find topics.

6. Choosing your nonfiction texts
Examine your list of possible topics, then choose one
that represents a clearly-defined theme or a single, concrete event
for which you can find two reliable written sources, with information similar enough to compare, but different enough to contrast

7. Choosing your nonfiction texts
Steven is interested in how the media present current events. A congressional debate on free trade had recently been in the news, so he decided to compare media representations of that event.
I wonder how different media sources talk about the free-trade debate?

8. Gathering your information
Steven found two accounts of the debate, one from a national newsmagazine and one from his local newspaper. Each contained good information on his topic.
He noted his choices in his writing notebook.
Both Week In America and The Springville Tribune covered the free trade debate. Each text had a different tone. One was definitely more pro-free trade and the other more against it.

9. Gathering your information
Evaluate your sources to make sure that the nonfiction texts you’ve chosen are of good quality. A good nonfiction source:
utilizes a formal tone as well as an interesting and appealing voice
speaks to a particular audience
includes accurate, well-organized content

10. Determining your relevant features
Steven’s next step was to determine the relevant features of his two items.
Relevant features are specific points addressed by both texts. They are the details which you will compare and contrast.
Steven analyzed his texts and identified two areas in which the articles could be compared and contrasted:
Relevant features
articles’ references to free-trade agreements
articles’ use of direct quotations

11. Composing your thesis statement
Use your relevant features to compose a thesis statement. This statement will:
identify the topic on which you are writing.
alert your audience to the focus of your essay. Will you be focusing on the similarities between your two texts, the differences, or both?

12. Composing your thesis statement
Steven considered three different thesis statements, each with a different focus.
The first was a focus on differences:
The Week In America coverage of the congressional debate on trade agreements was more “pro-free trade” than the coverage in The Springville Tribune.
Next, he composed a thesis statement to focus on similarities:
Both Week In America and The Springville Tribune showed bias in their coverage of the congressional debate on trade agreements.

13. Composing your thesis statement
Here is the thesis statement in which Steven stated a focus on similarities and differences:
Both Week In America and The Springville Tribune showed bias in their coverage of the recent congressional debate on trade agreements. However, the bias of each was on opposite sides of the issue.
Steven chose this focus for his essay.

14. Arranging your supporting details
The manner in which you arrange the supporting details for your main idea will determine how readable your essay is.
The two basic methods of organizing a comparison-contrast essay are the block method and the point-by-point method.

15. Arranging your supporting details
With the block method, you discuss all the relevant features of each text separately. This method is often used to compare texts in a general way.
Here are Steven’s points arranged using this method:
Text 1: Week In America Referenced recent free-trade agreements and selected quotations that emphasized their benefits for Americans. (cheaper goods, more availability of goods, higher corporate profits, job preservation.
Text 2: The Springville Tribune Referenced free-trade agreements and presented quotations that emphasized their costs to Americans (job loss, economic problems for middle-class individuals and families)

16. Arranging your supporting details
The point-by-point method discusses one relevant feature at a time: first for one text, then the other. Use this method for more specific comparisons. Here are Steven’s points arranged using this method:
Week In America (Point 1): Free-trade provides Americans with a larger quantity of cheaper goods.
The Springville Tribune (Point 1): Without jobs, people can’t buy goods.
Week In America (Point 2): Higher corporate profits are good for the economy.
The Springville Tribune (Point 2): These profits don’t benefit most people.

17. Arranging your supporting details
You may also use a hybrid, or combination, of the two methods. For instance, you might open your essay with a block method overview, then follow with specific point-by-point comparisons. It might look like this:
Introduction (block method): Week In America magazine has a very different perspective on free trade than does The Springville Tribune.
Week in America (Point 1): Free trade provides a larger quantity of cheaper goods.
The Springville Tribune (Point 1): Without jobs, people can’t purchase goods at any price.

18. A Writer’s Checklist
Use the checklist as you look at the following Writer’s Model and as you evaluate and revise your own essay comparing and contrasting nonfiction texts.
Choose two nonfiction texts about which to write.
Gather information by reading and analyzing the two texts.
Determine the relevant features of the two texts you have chosen.
Compose a thesis statement to clearly state what you are comparing and contrasting.
Arrange the supporting details and determine the structure of your essay. 20

19. Is Free Trade “Free” or Not?
The issue of free trade, while dull to some, touches the lives of every single man, woman, and child in the United States. The reason is simple: everybody buys things.
Free Trade agreements make prices for many of our goods lower, since these goods can be produced more cheaply overseas. However, many object to free trade, arguing that products remain affordable at the cost of American jobs.
attention-grabbing opening
background

20. Others assert the opposite
Others assert the opposite. They respond that if American companies are not allowed to maximize their profits, they will stop producing, and there will be no goods—or jobs—for anyone.
Coverage of a recent congressional debate on free trade illustrates the intricacy of the issue. Both Week In America magazine and The Springville Tribune showed bias in their coverage of the debate on trade agreements. However, the bias of each was on opposite sides of the issue.
background
thesis statement

21. Week In America magazine slanted its lengthy article in favor of free trade. Nearly every Congress member quoted describes it in glowing terms. The statement by Sentator John Polk that “There’s no doubt that free trade results in cheaper goods for the American consumer” is typical, as is his claim that, “Cheap goods are more available now than at any time in history.” Opinions expressed in this article failed to identify the possible outcomes for American workers (as opposed to consumers).
relevant features of article
quotations
block method: first text

22. The Tribune, on the other hand, quoted only part of Polk’s statement, but printed in full a rebuttal by Senator Elizabeth Lopez. “Layoffs? What do you think we have now? Thousands of Americans have given up even looking for jobs.” The congresswoman went on to reference the “staggering” trade deficit, or shortage, as regards United States goods exported worldwide. The opinions expressed in The Tribune’s article were also presented with a one-sided focus, failing to recognize the impact of high manufacturing prices on Americans.
relevant features of article
quotation
block method: second text
clarification of term

23. The opposing, yet equally accurate, coverage in Week In America and The Springville Tribune underscores the complexity of the free-trade issue. It can be fairly said that this is a controversy that is far from being resolved.
summary of support for thesis
final impression

24. Your Turn : Write a comparison-contrast essay
Write a comparison-contrast essay in response to one of the prompts below. Then, use the Writer’s Checklist as a guide to writing, evaluating, and revising your work.
Compare and contrast two versions of a historical event. Follow the steps you’ve learned to: a) choose your topic; b) do your research; and c) plan and write your essay.
Identify a current event or issue in which you are interested. Find two articles that focus on your event or issue, and compare the articles in a thoughtful comparison-contrast essay. 26

25. The End