Writing an essay that compares two or more things means understanding your sources and your goal, and while this can be tedious and complex, we’re here to help you write your comparative essay outline.
How to Compare?
The most important part of these essays is to compare two elements, ideas, sources, concepts, etc. that are part of the same group. To do this, the best place to start is the guidelines for the essay. Here are a few things your professor could ask you to compare: historical background, effects, usage of a given theory, response to an event, use of color, etc. If you didn’t get instructions about specific points, then you can use these to get started. Try to pick at least 3 points that are very different from each other. For example, historical background and cultural background can be too similar; try something like historical background and location.
Read Your Sources
This step should happen alongside the one before, where you’ll assess your sources and determine common elements or arguments you can use within your compare and contrast essay outline. Try to read them separately; don’t start comparing them before you’ve even started writing. For example, literature essays can focus on the genre or ending, and essays on social theories can focus on what led each theory to emerge.
Tip: Litero can help you outline what each source is about in the AI chat section.
Create a Thesis
Your thesis is the main argument you’re making in your comparison essay outline, it can be something like: Ovens and air fryers have a similar method for cooking food, but they differ in versatility and public perception.
Outline the Sources’ Main Points
We know this might seem a bit over the top, but an important part of a comparative essay is to provide an accurate and logical overview of how your sources, ideas, concepts, etc. relate to the points that serve as the basis for your comparison. When you’re planning for your comparison essay outline, you need to understand what your sources are saying, and you can do this by creating a rough outline (it doesn’t have to be perfect!) of the sources. this also lets you know where you can find specific passages or phrases that support your points.
Define Your Points for Your Paragraphs
This, again, depends on whether you have specific instructions about what to do with each body paragraph. However, we’re going to go over two of the main structures you can use.
Block Method
Your body paragraphs for your comparative essay outline can begin by summarizing each source and then explaining what they have in common and how they differ. This might lead to more than 3 body paragraphs, so be careful about this structure. In short, this is what this approach looks like:
- Introductory paragraph.
- Source #1 Context.
- Source #1 Theoretical Background.
- Source #1 Impact on the Field.
- Source #2 Context.
- Source #2 Theoretical Background.
- Source #2 Impact on the Field.
- Conclusion.
Alternating Method
With this method, you’ll go over each of your points in your comparative essa”outline and explain each one in relation to your sources. If your topic is nutritional benefits and you’re comparing an apple and a slice of pizza, your comparative essay outline can look something like this:
- Introduction.
- Body Paragraph 1: Point #1 Fiber Content: Pizza.
- Body Paragraph 2: Point #1 Fiber Content: Apples.
- Body Paragraph 3: Point #2 Vitamin C: Pizza.
- Body Paragraph 4: Point #2 Vitamin C: Apples.
- Body Paragraph 5: Point #3 Sugar Levels: Pizza.
- Body Paragraph 6: Point #3 Sugar Levels: Apple.
- Conclusion.
There are the two most common methods for these essays, but you could also write a body paragraph that focuses on your two sources, ideas, concepts, etc. within one of the points you defined before.
Give Details to Your Paragraphs
Now that you have your points and selected a method (or just resigned yourself to one), you need to add details. Here’s what each body paragraph should look like:
- Topic sentence: here you’ll give an introduction to your point for this paragraph.
- Context: expand the topic sentence if you need to or just explain why this point is important.
- Sources (paraphrases and/or quotes): this is the core of your paragraph. Here is where you’ll add information about the source you’re talking about. Keep things objective and don’t try to portray one source as better than another, at least not yet.
- Explanation for sources: what do these paraphrases mean?
- Transition sentence: this will lead your reader from one point to another, and you can ask Litero for help by using its automatic AI suggestions.
Add Citations
Always keep track of your citations! You can use Litero’s citation function to store and use sources without worrying about things like changing one source to a different style.
Conclusion
Return to your thesis, what did you learn from this comparison essay? Why was this comparison necessary? These are questions you should always ask yourself when writing your comparative essay outline because they make you think about the implications of what you just compared. In this paragraph, you need to summarize your points, and it’s best to do so by points rather than by sources because it could be too long. Finally, one more exercise about comparisons, does your conclusion match the points you’ve made? If not, now is the time to revise!
Tip: Litero has an AI command for writing conclusions, and you can always use it to help you when you need support or ideas.
Write the Introduction
Now that you know what your comparative essay outline is about, you can write an introduction that is effective and useful for your readers. Give some context about the things you’ll be comparing or talk about why this topic, like nutrition in our example of apples and pizza, is important.
Proofread and Edit
Take a break from writing and return to your comparative essay outline after a few minutes. Read your essay and use a tool like Litero.AI. To gain fresh insights and identify areas for improvement. Litero.AI can help you spot inconsistencies in your arguments, suggest ways to enhance clarity, and even refine your transitions to ensure a seamless flow between sections. Its grammar check feature ensures your essay is polished and error-free, while the AI-powered suggestions can help you expand ideas or rephrase sentences for maximum impact. By approaching your work with a clear mind and utilizing Litero.AI’s advanced tools, you can elevate your comparative essay to a new level of professionalism and coherence.