How to Outline a Comparison & Contrast Essay
Before you start writing a compare and contrast essay the first thing you do is write an outline which is the best way to write down all the points you have in mind for a paper or other project. Outlines help you decide the best way to organize your points into an essay form for the readers. Compare and contrast essays as their name suggests compare how similar or different the two items are. The main objective of writing an outline is to define on what criteria the two items are to be contrasted and also list all the arguments to support the main points of the comparison.
Block Arrangement:
- Start your essay by writing an introduction which should describe the items and all the reasons for contrasting them.
- Write an outline describing the main points of the first object. List all the main points for comparison and contrast of the two items.
- Now write an outline for the second item and repeat the procedure of listing the main points for contrasting them but these points should counter the ones you wrote in the first outline.
- End by writing a conclusion which summarizes the outcome of your compare and contrast essay.
Point-by-Point Arrangement:
- As in with the block arrangement start by writing an introduction. The introduction to your compare and contrast essay must describe the items and why they are to be examined.
- Write an outline for the first item. Your outline should contain a brief statement to support the point in the paper. Write an overview about comparing each item.
- Outline the second item to be compared in your compare and contrast essay and also give a statement to support your argument.
- Now outline the third point. Keep on writing the outlines to cover all the compare and contrast points and don’t forget to mention the statements describing how they are compared with each other in your outline.
- Write a conclusion to end your essay and it should also contain the outcome of comparison same as in the block arrangement.
If you want to write a contrast of two objects you write a compare and contrast essay. While writing a compare and contrast essay you must first write an outline. For block arrangement write an introduction, and then write outlines for both items to be compared. The points in the outlines should counter each other. End with the conclusion. The point-by-point arrangement also contains an introduction and conclusion and as in the block arrangement you write outlines for each item to be compared. The outlines should contain a statement supporting your point.