Comparison and Contrast

Dinar Mukminia Asokya

0403508020

Writing 5A

Process Essay

“The purpose of comparison is to show how people, places, things, or ideas are similar, and the purpose of contrast is to show how people, places, things, or ideas are different.”__Boardman, Cynthia A. and Jia Frydenberg. Writing to Communicate; Paragraphs and Essays; Second Edition. Page 145.

The quotation tells the different between comparison and contrast very clearly. As a new writer, you have to choose one thing that you really want to emphasize, the similarity or the difference. It helps you to focus on one thing than you just write nothing. Now you can start making a draft about something that has the similarity or the difference.

To start your writing, you better to pick one topic that you really understand. For example, you can write about new environment of school, because you are a freshman in campus. After that, you develop the topic into one thesis statement. Do not forget that the function of thesis statement is representing all of ideas in your essay.

In case, you want to write about the contrast between environment in high school and campus. You can write three or more differentials between them that you really understand, such as the different of the facilities, the methods, the rules, the schedule, the lecturer and other ideas. Those ideas are written into one thesis statement, “The new method, new friends, new rules make campus life more interesting than in high school”, or, “Campus and high school are opposite in the rules, the methods, and the facilities”.

Now we choose the second example of thesis statement, we have the rules, the methods and the facilities that we can develop in the essay. Make a list of what you have found of the difference between those ideas in high school and campus. You can start to write from what you see or what you feel about those things.

For your illustration, when you want to contrast the facilities in high school and campus, you can write about the size of the room, the air conditioner, the laboratories, the library, and others. Try to finish all of the sub ideas in one small paragraph. One small paragraph contains one sub idea. Do not you ever try to mix all of your ideas into one huge paragraph. You can do it if you want to be left by readers because their eyes are sick to read your long paragraph.

In other way, if you want to make a comparative essay of the environment of high school and campus, you have to write all of the similarity that refer to your thesis statement. Find out all of sub ideas that support your thesis statement. Try to link one idea to other ideas. Remember one thing, you write something to make your reader understand and feel about what you talk.

After you finish with the content, you can close your essay by making a conclusion. There are several ways to make a conclusion, but I make summarizing as the best way to end a comparative essay, because it can restate what you have explained in the content. Try to express your thesis statement in other words to get your conclusion.

Those are the ways to make a comparative/contrast essay. First, try to choose one topic that really close to you. Second, develop your topic into one thesis statement. Third, make your content full of supporting ideas and write it all into many small paragraphs. The last, make a summarizing to end you essay. I remind you the important thing in writing that “practice makes perfect”, so keep trying to make your essay perfect.