You may be quite skilled at writing an essay, however, there are specific kinds of essays that require you to think a little differently than you would if you are writing a standard five paragraph essay. One such essay is the comparative essay, which is done to either compare or contrast some kind of subject or event.
The comparative essay takes a little more skill to write, and may make you wonder how to compose a comparative essay. If you are wondering this, here are some good things to know.
Choosing the Right Topic
A topic is the essential part of any essay. This is what you’re going to be comparing or contrasting, and so you want to choose something that is going to be inspiring for you to write about, while also being something that you can make good points about so that it doesn’t bog you down with an inability to get your information out.
The problem that many face is that they may have to write about a topic that they either don’t know much about, or they don’t feel passionate about in any way. It might be part of a school assignment, test, or admissions qualification that you write an essay on a specific topic that is provided. Should this be the case, it is a good idea to try to find a different kind of angle to it that makes it more interesting to you.
The Structure of the Essay
The most important part of a comparative essay is that you are taking some kind of event or idea and comparing it or contrasting it with something else. What this means is that you need to find at least three points to make about how these objects, events, or ideas compare or contrast with one another. At Scoolwork.com they provide an outstanding chart that demonstrates exactly how this would look, and is a good picture for you to give you an idea of exactly what an essay like this would look like.
Don’t Be Afraid to Be Controversial and Even Silly
Sadly, we live in an age where people are generally afraid to be controversial about something. They don’t want to offend anyone, and their essay is a reflection of that. In other words, they are afraid to be daring.
If you are writing a comparative essay, especially one that is intended to contrast two ideas or points, then it is a good idea to be a little bit controversial about that point. This will not only inspire the reader to want to learn more, but they may find themselves wanting to read more because they either strongly agree or strongly disagree with what you say. If you make your points well, you may change a mind or two.
This may also be a great time to be a little silly in the way that you write your essay. What we mean by that is that there is nothing wrong with taking a rather serious subject and turning it into something that’s funny for people to read.
Here is an interesting idea. Say you are to write an essay comparing how difficult it is to raise a child today in comparison to hundred years ago. Instead of focusing on traditional kinds of reasons that people would give. You may want to be funnier about it, talking about ideas like that when you used to send the kid to his or her room you didn’t have to hear from him or her in till you let them out. Now they can send you a relentless barrage of tweets or text messages that you simply can’t get away from.
Its things like this that can help an essay to be more fun for you to write and for the reader to read. You want to know how to write a good comparative essay, and these are some tips that can help you to make it more enjoyable to do so.