Hey there it's Wendy from Worldwide Speak, and I'm back to talk to you today about the structural
overview of a comparison and contrast essay. This video is geared for the English language
learner who's just beginning to write essays in English, and the comparison essay - the
comparison and contrast essay - is something that's used all the time in academic writing. So
this video is to get you started with a strong foundation in the structure of how to write one.
So are you ready? Let's learn. Okay so when we're writing this comparison and contrast essay, there
are a couple different ways we can do this. This video is going to focus on one method, and then
I'll have another video on the other method. But I just want to let you know what the two
are to start off. There's the block method, and then there's the point-by-point method.
And if you can see that image right below me, it's called a Venn diagram. And we love- as teachers
we love to use this to compare and contrast. The two circles overlap with the segment in
the middle or the part in the middle showing what the- what the two things have in common,
and then the outsides of the circle are what's different about the two things. So keeping that in
mind, um in this Venn diagram uh we're comparing oranges and apples. And in the block method
it's- you have two body paragraphs. That's it, just two. And the first body paragraph just talks
about one subject (which in this case would be the orange), and the second body paragraph would
talk about just one subject in reference to the first subject, and that would be in this case
the apple. So in the block, each paragraph talks about one thing or focuses on one aspect.
Um in the point-by-point, it's a little bit different. You'll have more body paragraphs - um
probably three or four... five (who knows?) depending on how long your essay is.
But in the point-by-point you're going to talk about both subjects in each paragraph.
I'll go into that in much more detail in my other video on point-by-point, but just so you have
an idea of the two types of structures that we can use to write the comparison and contrast essay.
That being said, the block method um in my opinion is a little bit easier to write.
It's for shorter essays. It's great to begin with because you know there are just
two body paragraphs, and they're very um contained and they just focus on one thing.
The point-by-point on the other hand (again in my opinion) makes things a little more
interesting for the reader and causes them to think a little more deeply about a topic.
But again that's just my opinion although typically starting out, we'll start out with
the block method. Alright like I said, I want to talk to you in this video about the block
method. And this method of writing - this structure - the writer compares their subjects
in just two body paragraphs. That's- that's all you're going to have. Um and what exactly does
the entire essay look like? Remember an essay is writing made up of multiple paragraphs. So we will
start with an introduction paragraph. We will have the first body paragraph talking about Subject A.
Remember on the previous slide? And in our example with that Venn diagram we talked about the orange.
The orange was Subject A. And then the next body paragraph we'll be talking about Subject B, which
is the other thing that (you know we're comparing two things). So in- in this example in this video
it would be the apple. And then it would reference back to the orange to compare the two. And lastly,
we would have a conclusion paragraph. So in total you're going to have four paragraphs
in this block method. And that's really nice to know when you begin writing essays because it's
a shorter form and it's very controlled in what you put into the paragraphs. So you have an intro;
body paragraph one focuses on one subject, body paragraph two focuses on another,
and then you wrap it up with a conclusion paragraph. So that's four paragraphs in total. So
you can see like this image here, each paragraph is only focusing on one thing, and that's what
makes this block method so great to start out with because you um have a very simple, organized,
contained structure. Alright, let's talk about the introduction paragraph for just a moment.
The introduction paragraph includes a hook. Um that's where you grab your reader's attention and
say "hey! You're going to want to read my paper. It's super interesting, right?" And then you're
going to give some background information about the two subjects you're writing about (in our case
in this video: the oranges and the apples). And then lastly, your last sentence is going to be a
super strong thesis statement. And how do you make it strong? Well you mention the two subjects,
and then you have to make sure to let the reader know your focus. Remember? You need to let them
know if you're going to talk about similarities, if you're going to talk about differences,
or if you're going to talk about both because if you don't let your reader know this,
they're going to be super confused and they're going to have- they're going to slow down when
reading your paper or your essay, or they're just going to stop reading it all together. So
remember, you need a super strong thesis that's very clear and focused. Now let me give you some
thesis examples uh for similarities, differences, and both. That should give you a better idea of
what these strong thesis statements look like. So let's say I want to write one about similarities.
I could say something like "As long-time favorites, it's easy to see how similar
these two fruits are." And you see that I use the word "similar." So that signals to your reader:
"Hey! I'm going to read an essay about similarities between apples and oranges."
And then let's say we want to have an essay that focuses
on our differences (well not our differences the differences between the apples and the oranges).
We could write something like this: "Oranges and apples are both fruits,
yet they differ in a lot of ways." You see that I use that word "yet" to show um a contrast,
and I insert the word, or I put in the word, or I add the word "differ." And that's the signal word
for your reader: "Hey, this essay is going to focus on differences between oranges and apples."
Now lastly, what if I wanted to write a paper about similarities and differences, both of them?
Well I could write a thesis statement like this: "Even though oranges and apples have many
similarities, there are also quite a few differences." Well how does this
signal to the reader that I'm going to focus on both? First I use the word "similarities,"
and then I add the word "also" showing the reader I'm going to- I'm going to add something here,
and then I use the word "differences." So I've got those key specific words in my thesis to
show the reader: "Hey! I'm going to talk about how they're the same and how they're different."
So there you have it: three different examples with three different focusing
ideas: one on similarities, one on differences, and one on both. Alright, so we know we have that
Venn diagram with our oranges and our apples. Let's say we want to write our essay on the
similarities between oranges and apples. Well, our body paragraph 1( which would be our Subject A),
the similarities as you can see in the diagram below me focus on the fact that they're both
fruits, they grow they both grow on trees, and they both give juice. So our first reason could be
what type of food they are (because they're both fruits), where they grow (they both grow on trees)
and what they provide (they both provide juice for us). Well, that paragraph is only going to
be about the orange. Now you guessed it. Body paragraph 2 is going to talk about the same
things, but it's going to be about the apple. And it's in body paragraph 2 that you're going to
compare the apple back to the orange. The first body paragraph you just talk about the orange.
The second body paragraph you talk about the apple in comparison to the orange.
Now what if we want to focus on the differences? That's the um those outside parts of the Venn
diagram. Well again, we're going to talk about Subject A (which is our orange), but we're going
to talk about the things on the outsides. We're going to have maybe the first reason is where they
originated and then what climate they grow in and their appearance. Remember, first body paragraph:
one focus and that's your orange. That's your first subject. You're only talking about that.
Now body paragraph two is going to talk about the same things, the same reasons in the same order,
as you see. We're talking about the apple. And we are going to talk about the apple and show
how they're different than the oranges. So you need to note that in body paragraph number two
you're talking about the apple, but you're then referencing back to Subject A (or in our case,
the orange) to show how they are different. Okay so then what if you want
to write about similarities and differences? This isn't maybe as common but it's a really great way
I have found in my classroom to begin writing a comparison and contrast essay. So in- in
this one where we're talking about similarities and differences, our Subject A actually becomes
similarities, and our Subject B becomes differences. So the first body paragraph is only
going to focus on the similarities between the two subjects, and the second paragraph body paragraph
number two is only going to focus on their differences. So the reasons that they're similar
(you know, the- that they're fruit, they grow on trees, and they give juice) you'll talk about that
in the first body paragraph. So you're going to be mentioning the orange and the apple in that
first paragraph, but your focus is still only one thing. It's that they're similar. And then in your
body paragraph two, you're going to focus on where they originated, uh what climate they grow in,
and their appearance. And again you're going to mention both fruits (oranges and apples), but
your focus of that paragraph is on one thing, and that's differences.
So this is a little bit different than just focusing on similarities or differences,
um but in my opinion and in my classroom I have found this is a great entry way into writing
comparison and contrast because the first body paragraph can talk about how they're the same,
and then the second body paragraph can talk about how they're different. And of course the choice is
yours on which one you want to write and which one seems to be the easiest for you and make
the most sense because when you start writing in English, you want to go with something that
you completely understand so that your writing will be clear and effective. Alright, and lastly,
we've got our conclusion paragraph. And in this paragraph you're just going to restate the thesis
and that you're going to show whether there were similarities or differences
and then you can restate the points of comparison or your reasons. Like in our case we talked about
um where they grew, what they gave us, and um you know what type of food they were.
And then the last sentence they can talk uh you can talk about an opinion or a realization that
you had after you compared these two things. um I want to give you some examples like I
did with the introduction paragraph um of exam thesis examples for each one. So if we had done
a paragraph- done an essay excuse me on similarities, our restated thesis would look
something like this: "In sum," (remember to use that transition word so the reader knows it's
the end) "oranges and apples are obviously rather similar." I use the word "similar," and that lets
the reader know, it kind of wraps it up again: "oh! That's right. We were just talking about
how they were similar." The next one: "To conclude, it is clear that oranges and apples have
many different qualities." I've just restated that there were differences between the two subjects
(in our case, the oranges and the apples). And lastly, when we were talking about both:
"In short, when examining oranges and apples, there are some similarities as well as a variety
of differences." So that expression "as well as" shows we have both similarities and differences.
So those are the pieces that you need, the sentences that you need inside of your conclusion
paragraph in order to have a strong conclusion paragraph. Okay that's a lot of information about
the block method, and the things I'd like you to really focus on and remember is to watch your
order. Keep your points of comparison or your reasons in the same order in each paragraph.
If I talk about where they originated in the first thing in my first paragraph,
I have to talk about where they originated as the first thing in my second body paragraph.
Also, it's really important to use the appropriate comparison transitions. I have an entire video on
comparison and contrast transition words. You'll probably want to watch that as you're starting
out so you can use them properly. So remember: we compare two things. We have this Venn diagram that
helps us brainstorm and get our ideas down and know what we what is similar and what's different.
We have the introduction paragraph. We have body paragraph one with Subject One. We have body
paragraph two with Subject Two. In our cases it was the oranges and then the apples. And then we
have the conclusion paragraph those are the pieces that's the overall structure of the block method
comparison and contrast essay. Alright, you made it to the end. Thank you so much for watching.
We truly appreciate that you've come here to learn with us. If you need more information,
or you have questions about this block method or writing an essay in English,
please drop me a note in the comments, and I will for sure get back to you. As always,
please remember to subscribe if you like this content, and we'll see you around. Take care. Bye.