In this video, we'll be focusing on
the organization of the body paragraphs of compare and contrast essays.
We'll be using the same sample essay, "Downtown Los Angeles: Then and Now,"
for this video. You can stop the video here if you'd like to reread this essay completely.
However, we're going to focus mainly on the thesis statement and the first body paragraph right here.
So, let's first review the details of the thesis statement. The thesis statement for this essay is,
"Public transportation and architecture are two major differences between Downtown Los Angeles
in 1921 and 2021." So, again we are looking at differences or a contrast between the two
topics which are Downtown Los Angeles in 1921 and Downtown Los Angeles in 2021. We're going to be
contrasting these to topics on these two points of contrast public transportation and architecture.
The topic sentence for our first body paragraph is,
"One major difference between Downtown LA in 1921 and 2021 is public transportation."
We can see that we've included both topics Downtown L.A. in 1921 and 2021, and we've included
the first point of contrast from the thesis. So, if we look back at our thesis, the first
point of contrast is public transportation, so we bring that down into the topic sentence
as well. Notice that the second point of contrast 'architecture,' is not in this topic
sentence because we're going to be discussing architecture in the second body paragraph.
After the topic sentence we have a few sentences here
that give the reader a little explanation and background for this idea of public transportation.
We actually have two sentences: "When most people think about Los Angeles, they do not think about
excellent public transportation. They think about thousands of cars and massive traffic congestion."
The writer then uses the transition word 'however'
to begin discussing the differences between Downtown Los Angeles public transportation in
1921 and 2021. Specifically, the writer starts with 1921.
"Los Angeles had the largest train and subway system in the world. At that time, there were
over 1,000 miles of track and over 1,000 train cars running in the city every day. In addition,
the entire transportation system was electric." So, here we can see that the writer started with
a fact about the Los Angeles public transportation system, specifically the trains and subway system.
Then, the writer provides some details, "There were over a thousand miles of track
thousands of train cars,"
and finally the rider includes the fact that the entire transportation system was electric powered.
Now, we come to the transition word, 'in contrast.'
'In contrast' is a signal that the writer is now going to discuss the second topic which is
Downtown L.A. in 2021 in terms of the public transportation.
The writer starts the discussion about public transportation in Downtown Los Angeles
in 2021 with a very basic fact: "Public transportation in Downtown L.A. is very
different today. Then, the writer provides more specific explanations and examples
about the public transportation system today. "The train and subway system is much smaller.
It only has about 100 miles of track and serves only a small area of Los Angeles.
The main type of public transportation now is the metro bus system. The metro bus system has
over two thousand buses. Some buses are electric and others run on gasoline."
You'll notice that the writer when discussing Downtown L.A.
public transportation in 2021 basically contrasts on the same points. For example,
the length of the track train tracks in la currently is 100 miles. In the first part
in 1921, the writer mentions that there are over a thousand miles of track.
The writer also mentions that the main type of public transportation
instead of being trains and subway systems is now the metro bus system, and the writer provides some
facts about the metro bus system, and also the fact that buses are electric powered and gasoline
powered, so it's different from the transportation system of 1921 which was all electric.
So, we can see that the organization of a compare contrast body paragraph is very important.
We need to keep the order of the topics the same in the body paragraphs.
For example, here in the thesis, we mentioned Downtown Los Angeles 1921 first and then 2021, so
in our topic sentence for the body paragraph, we also need to stick with the same order - Downtown
L.A. 1921 first and then 2021 second, and that also stays the same when we actually discuss
the points of contrast in our body paragraph. The first part of the body paragraph, we discussed
downtown L.A. in 1921, the second part is Downtown L.A. in 2021.
This is an outline of the introduction paragraph and the first body paragraph of the compare and
contrast sample essay. So, if we focus on the outline of the body paragraph again,
we have the topic sentence with the three parts: the point of contrast here,
the two topics. Then, we break down the body paragraph into two parts.
The first part is public transportation in Downtown L.A. 1921. We have our facts here,
so it was a large size, lots of track, many training cars, and it was electric powered.
Then, we would say in the paragraph, 'in contrast,' then we have all the
facts about public transportation in Downtown L.A. in 2021, small size, 100 miles of track,
more buses than trains, and gas powered and electric powered transportation.
And, that's how we put together a body paragraph for a compare contrast essay.