“Some Comparison Essay Tips 1) If you haven’t read the Course Resource List read

“Some Comparison Essay Tips
1) If you haven’t read the Course Resource List readings that describe how to analyze literature,
how to understand some of the literary works we’ve studied, and how authors use literary
techniques in their works, it would be a good idea to go back and read them before starting on
the comparison essay. See the schedule on p. 2 of the course outline for a list of these readings
(Charters’ “A Brief History of the Short Story” and “Writing About Short Stories,” Kennedy & Gioia’s
“Fiction” and “Writing About Long Stories and Novels,” and Appiah’s “Introducton” to Things Fall
Apart). If you haven’t read these, you might be wondering why you don’t know some of the terms
listed in the essay topics or in the final exam study guide, so please go back and read them now! It
will help you a lot when it comes to writing your essays and preparing for the final exam.
2) Use your handbook from ENGL 102 or WRIT 101 to help you proofread, structure, and format
your essay. We don’t do a thorough review of grammar, punctuation, and formatting again in ENGL
103 because that is covered in great detail in ENGL 102 or WRIT 101, which you were expected to
complete before taking ENGL 103, but if you don’t still have access to your handbook from ENGL
102 or WRIT 101, you should be able to find some copies in the library (either as a 2-3 hour loan or
as a regular library check out).
3) If you’ve never written a comparison essay before, follow these steps:
a) Identify your two objects of comparison (as an example, I’ll use apples and oranges). For our
class, your two objects of comparison are the two works of literature you will be comparing (e.g.,
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and King’s “Borders”). You don’t have to use those two works of
literature: I’m just mentioning them here as examples.
b) Identify your points of comparison. These are the specific things you will compare in both of
your objects of comparison. Sometimes it helps to brainstorm a bit at first, such as by making a list
of things that stand out to you from both of the works of literature you are comparing. For
example, going back to our apples and oranges example, you might make the following lists:
Apples
– sweet
– fruit
– eat the peel (or sometimes people prefer without the peel)
– come in a variety of colours: red, green, yellow, mixed, etc.
– can fit in one’s hand
etc.
Oranges
– sweet
– fruit
– do not eat the peel (although it is still edible and sometimes used for baking, etc.)
– usually only in one colour (orange), although there are other colours and varying shades of orange
– can fit in one’s hand
– etc.
As you can see from the lists above, there are some things in common between both objects
of comparison (apples and oranges): they are both considered to be fruit, usually they are
considered to be sweet, and they can both fit in one’s hand.
There are also some things that are different between them: apples come in a variety of colours,
whereas oranges are usually orange (although there are other colours and varying shades
available); apples are often eaten with the peel, although people usually do not eat oranges with
the peel on.
There are, of course, nuances and variations even when comparing apples and oranges, which
would make for interesting details to include in your body paragraphs for an essay comparing
apples and oranges (e.g., What about blood oranges?). But when you are first coming up with your
points of comparison, it can help you to think about what is similar and what is different between
BOTH of your two objects of comparison, and THEN come up with a thesis statement for your essay.
In other words, if your thesis statement is like the following example, it would not be considered a
very good one because nobody can argue against it:
e.g., There are many differences and similarities between apples and oranges. This is NOT a good
thesis statement because it doesn’t state your points of comparison (i.e., what you will be
comparing between apples and oranges), and it also is just stating a fact without putting forward
something that can be argued. i.e., Of course there are similarities and differences between apples
and oranges! So you should ensure that your thesis statement for the comparison essay in our
class does NOT look like this:
There are similarities and differences between Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and King’s “Borders.”
c) Use your points of comparison to come up with a thesis statement for your comparison essay.
e.g., Drawing on the points of comparison above, you might have the following thesis statement:
Although apples and oranges are both sweet-tasting fruit that can be held in one’s hand, they are
different from each other due to their colour and the way in which they are prepared before being
eaten.
Going back to our Achebe and King example, you might focus on how they use literary techniques
differently or in similar ways, or how they focus on similar themes but develop them using different
techniques, or have similar subjects but develop them into different overall themes, etc. As with the
literary analysis essay, make sure you are focusing on how or why an author has done something
within their literary works, rather than just describing it (i.e., imagine yourself responding
to how or why questions in your essays, rather than just describing who, what, where, when, etc.).
You should never just describe the plot of the short story, novel, or poem you are focusing on, and
you can assume that the reader of your essay has already read the literary work (so you do not
need to summarize it for them).
d) Organize your body paragraphs either by the objects you are comparing, or by your points
of comparison. Here are a couple of examples of how you would do so, using our apples and
oranges example again (note: I am deliberately NOT just using examples from literary works in our
course in the examples here, not only so that I can simplify it for you, but also so that you don’t just
copy what I’ve provided here: i.e., follow these steps yourself to compare two literary works we
have studied).
Here is an outline for a comparison essay organized by objects of comparison:
Intro
Body paragraph 1: How apples are sweet fruit that can fit in one’s hand, but come in a variety of
colours and often are not peeled before being eaten
Body paragraph 2: How oranges are sweet fruit that can fit in one’s hand, but they usually come in
one colour and are peeled before being eaten
Conclusion
* Depending on the length of the essay, both of the paragraphs above could be split into two,
making four body paragraphs in total
Here is an outline for a comparison essay organized by points of comparison:
Intro
Body paragraph 1: How both apples and oranges are sweet fruit
Body paragraph 2: How both apples and oranges can fit in one’s hand
Body paragraph 3: How apples come in a variety of colours, but oranges are usually only available
in one colour
Body paragraph 2: How apples are usually not peeled before being eaten, whereas oranges are
usually peeled before being eaten
Conclusion
e) Once you’ve sketched out an outline for your essay like the ones I’ve sketched out above, flesh
out your body paragraphs using examples from both of your primary sources (e.g., the two literary
works you are comparing: short story, novel, poem, etc.). As with the literary analysis essay, do NOT
use secondary sources for your comparison essay: i.e., do not use any journal articles, website
articles, book chapters, or essays that others have written about the literary works you are
comparing. Write the essay yourself, doing your own comparison by following the steps above.
4) Read the assignment instructions and follow the rubric that is at the end of the assignment
instructions as a sort of checklist. That’s what I’ll be using when I’m marking your essay, so you
should go through the final draft using the assignment instructions and rubric as well, to ensure that
you’ve completed everything you needed to.”
May choose from 2 from the many short stories and novels we did in class, like
Alistair MacLeod’s “The Boat”
James Joyce’s “Araby”
Richard Van Camp’s “Children of the Sundance”
Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party”
Neil Bissoondath’s Short Story from Digging Up the Mountains
Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”
Thomas King’s “Borders”
Yasuko Thanh’s “Floating Like the Dead”
Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”
novels like:
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
and poems like:
William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”
John Keats’s “Bright Star”
Alexandra Oliver’s “Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway”
as well as more options, just contact me.