Unit 1: Compare and Contrast

General

Compare and contrast writing is writing about either similarities, differences or both similarities and differences between two things.

If you compare two things, you are looking at the similarities between them. If you contrast two things, you are looking at differences.

In this unit, you are only going to contrast. You will look at comparison when you study definitions in Unit 3.

Choosing Topics for Compare/Contrast

If your teacher allows you to choose your own topic, then the first thing you need to do is to carefully select what two things you are going to write about.

If you are going to contrast two things, then you should try to choose topics that are the same kind of thing. For example, you might contrast two movies of the same type (e.g., two action movies or two ghost movies), or two tourist destinations of the same kind (e.g., two beach resorts).

Try to avoid contrasting things that are obviously different. For example, contrasting a ghost movie with an advertisement for toothpaste is not going to make a good essay.

If your teacher gives you a topic, it will probably be fairly general. Previous topics have included things like tertiary education in two different countries, two tourist destinations, two books you have read recently and two actors or actresses.

If you are given a topic like this, the first thing you will need to do is to narrow the topic down. For example, if you are given the topic contrast two tourist destinations, you must first choose which two tourist destinations you are going to write about.

When you are doing this, remember that you must be able to write about the topic. This means you need to know enough specific information about the topic so that you can write around 300 words on it. If you don't know enough information about the topic, then choose something else!

For the topic above-- two tourist destinations--you could contrast Pattaya and Phuket, or Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, or London and Paris, or Tokyo and Hong Kong, or Sydney and Melbourne.

You could write about any two tourist destinations as long as they're similar to each other, and you know enough about them.

Through the rest of this unit, you are going to use the topics Pattaya and Phuket. So your assignment will be: Contrast Pattaya and Phuket.

When you have chosen your topics, the next thing to do is an outline.

Outlining Compare/Contrast

First, you need to make a list of possible differences you could write about. For example, you're topic is: Contrast Pattaya and Phuket. Possible differences you could write about include:

Why people go there
What people do there
Where the places are
How many people go there
Who goes there
How much money tourism brings in
How expensive the places are
How long people stay
The atmospheres of the places
The history of the places

When you have a list, then choose which differences you want to write about. But be careful! This is the most difficult part of outlining compare/contrast. You must. . .

1) . . . pick differences that are interesting. Try to find something new or unusual or interesting to tell the person who is reading your essay. Don't tell them something they already know, or something that is obvious or that everyone knows.

2) . . . pick differences that you can write about. The standard length for assignments in ERS is about 350 words. This gives you enough space to discuss two, three or four differences in detail. You can choose two, three or four, but you must be able to write around 350 words. So this means that if you choose to write about two differences, you need to be able to write about 175 words for each. If you write about three differences, you need about 120 words for each, and if you write about four differences, you need about 90 words for each.

3) . . . pick differences that are balanced. Don't choose differences where you can write only about one topic. For example, don't choose a difference that says Phuket is very popular among sailing enthusiasts but Pattaya is not. If you choose a difference like this, you can write a lot about Phuket. For example, you could talk about how many sailors go there, you could describe the marina and harbor, you could talk about the kinds of yachts people sail. But when you come to talk about Pattaya, there's nothing you can say. This is an unbalanced difference.

For your outline, you are going to use the following differences: how expensive the places are and the atmospheres of the places.

Next, when you know which differences you want to write about, you must write a single sentence for each difference that clearly states what the difference is.

For example, you could have sentences like the following:

Pattaya is cheaper than Phuket.

Pattaya is relatively cheap, while Phuket is relatively expensive.

Pattaya's atmosphere is livelier than Phuket's.

Pattaya has a party atmosphere, while Phuket has a more relaxed and upmarket atmosphere.

Or, you could use sentences like these:

The first difference is their prices.

The second difference is their atmospheres.

Both types of sentence are okay, but just make sure you use the same type for both of your differences. Also, try to use the same grammatical structure in each of your sentences. For example, if you use Pattaya is cheaper than Phuket, then also try to use Pattaya's atmosphere is livelier than Phuket's.

Doing this makes your sentences parallel and it helps people to understand the organization of your work.

Make sure your sentences use the smallest number of words possible, and also that they are as simple as possible.

The next thing you need is a topic sentence. Topic sentences for compare/contrast are very simple. Just make sure that you tell the reader which topics you are writing about, and also how many differences you are writing about.

For example, the topic sentence for your outline could be: Pattaya and Phuket have two main differences.

Finally, write the outline. The outline consists of your topic sentence plus the sentences you wrote for each difference.

For example, your outline for the paragraph you are writing for this unit would look like this:

Pattaya and Phuket have two main differences.

First, Pattaya is relatively cheap, while Phuket is relatively expensive.

Second, Pattaya has a party atmosphere, while Phuket has a more relaxed and upmarket atmosphere.

The words First and Second are called transitions. You need them (or something similar) to help the reader understand the organization of your essay.

Now you have an outline, the next step is writing the support.

Writing Support

Support for compare/contrast needs to do the following:

· It must show the differences clearly

· It must explain the differences

· It must give examples of the differences

Also, when writing support, you must be as specific as you can. The more specific you are, the better your essay will be. This is another reason to choose your topics carefully; you need to be able to give specific information about them.

For your essay, you wrote the outline above. Now you're going to take one part of that outline and write support for it. Your first difference was price.

First, Pattaya is fairly cheap, while Phuket is relatively expensive.

Now, to support this idea, you need to give examples of what kinds of things are cheap or expensive, and why these things are cheap or expensive. Also, you should talk about the things that show the biggest differences and the things that are the most important.

Probably the most important things that people have to pay for when they go on holiday are accommodation, food and attractions. So, probably it would be a good idea to talk about these things in you're paragraph. If you use these, and give specific examples, you might end up with something like this:

Pattaya is fairly cheap, while Phuket is expensive. First, a holiday in Pattaya won't be too expensive. Although some hotels--like the Hard Rock hotel--are quite expensive, there are lots of middle-range and cheap hotels. For example, the Dragon Beach resort charges 2,400 baht per night, and the Sea Beach hotel just up the road charges 1,500 baht. Food is also fairly cheap. Because there are many restaurants, there is lots of competition, which keeps prices low. A meal for four people at a Thai restaurant will cost around 1000 baht. Western food is more expensive, but not much more. An Italian meal with a bottle of wine might cost around 1,500 baht. Attractions are also not that expensive. Mini Siam--a miniature tour of Thailand and the world--costs 100 baht for Thais and 250 baht for foreigners. Khao Kor open zoo--just outside Pattaya--costs 200 baht per person. In contrast to Pattaya, a vacation in Phuket can be expensive, as it tends to target higher income vacationers. First accommodation costs more than in Pattaya. The average hotel cost is about 3,000 baht a night, and to get a nice hotel, like the Laguna Beach Resort costs 6,000 baht per night. Some resorts, such as the Amanpuri Hotel, are very expensive--up to 15,000 baht per night. Food also costs more than in Pattaya. Seafood is quite expensive. A meal for four people at a seafood Thai restaurant might cost around 2,000 baht. An Italian meal with a bottle of wine would cost more than 3,000 baht. Attractions in Phuket are also more expensive. The Phuket Fantasea costs 1,500 baht per person for adults, and 1,100 baht per person for children.

When you have finished writing the support for your essay, the next thing you need to do is to leave it for two or three days. After that time, come back and revise your essay for content.

Editing for Content

In this course, your content grade is made up of four parts: Organization, Being Specific, Being Relevant, and Referencing. They are scored like this:

Content

Unacceptable / Poor / OK / Good / Excellent
Organization / 0 / 15 / 18 / 20 / 25
Support – specific / 0 / 15 / 18 / 20 / 25
Support – relevant / 0 / 15 / 18 / 20 / 25
Referencing / 0 / 15 / 18 / 20 / 25

Overall Content Grade:

Each of the four categories is given a grade: unacceptable, poor, OK, good, or excellent. The points from each category are added up to make your content grade.

You will look at referencing in the next section. For now, this section will look at revising for organization, being specific, and being relevant. Below is a checklist of questions for each category. Read through the list and check your essay.

Basics

· Have you written enough? You need to write around 350 words.

· Do you have your student number and not your name on the assignment? Don't put your name! Only your student number!

· Is your title centered and underlined?

· Have you put your section number on your assignment?

· Do you have two or three written paragraphs (blocks of text) on each page?

Organization

· Check you have no introduction and no conclusion.

· Is your first sentence a clear topic sentence?

· Do you have one clear, simple sentence that states each difference you are writing about?

· Do you use transitions to show the organization of your essay?

· Do you have general sentences followed by specific support?

Being Specific

· Does every single general idea have some specific support?

· Can you make your support any more specific?

Being Relevant

· Does every piece of support explain or give an example of the difference above it?

· Do the support and the general sentences match? For example, if your difference is about prices, then every piece of support after this must be about prices, and nothing else.

· Do you only talk about differences?

· Have you used transitions correctly?

These transitions can only be used to show contrast within a sentence, not between parts of a paragraph or essay:

While

Although

Even though

Even if

But

Whereas

These transitions can be used to show contrast between parts of a paragraph or essay:

However

On the other hand

In contrast

These transitions need care:

Unlike X, Y

In contrast to X, Y

X is the previous topic and Y is the following topic. For example, if the first part of your paragraph is about tourism in Thailand, and the second part is about tourism in Laos, you would use the transition like this:

Unlike tourism in Thailand, tourism in Laos . . .

In contrast to tourism in Thailand, tourism is Laos . . .

Be careful when giving examples:

'Such as' cannot be followed by a complete sentence. It can only be followed by noun(s) or things that work like nouns, such as gerunds.

For example can be followed by either a list of nouns or by a complete sentence. The punctuation is different for each one. Make sure you use one of these patterns:

Sentence. For example, sentence.

Tourism is important all over Thailand. For example, in Krabi, it forms at least 20% of local GDP.

Sentence; for example, sentence.

Tourism is important all over Thailand; for example, in Krabi, it forms at least 20% of local GDP.

Sentence, for example, list of nouns.