Several times I’ve been asked the question about what goes into a comparison paper, so I thought I’d give a few tips about things that are often overlooked.
Whether you are writing a paragraph, a short essay, a longer report or even an extensive research paper, you can use the following tips to get more ideas for what to write about in your paper and for the general structure.
First you need to set up clearly what you are comparing. Give some background information on the topic in general and then at least briefly give the background and explanation of the key points you are comparing. You might need more in depth history or background depending on the topic or scope and length of the essay or paper.
You should include the things the topics have in common, and then you need to discuss what that means, or what at least can be inferred from those similarities. You should have at least 3 points of similar comparison even in a relatively short essay.
You then need to consider what are the differences. Then dive into why those things are different. Base these comments on facts you have uncovered in your research or from your own experience if you are qualified to comment on that part. Spend a little time considering the reasons that these differences appear.
When you are only comparing 2 things, it can be difficult to draw really concrete conclusions since you really have little to base your outcomes on. Sometimes it can be helpful then to bring in some other examples that either are similar or different from your two key comparison models or topics.
That is, if you are comparing something like marriage ages in Japan and America, you can show how those differ, but you can also show how one or the other fits in with several other countries or is radically different. What makes it so?
Remember that in order to get more to write about you can always ask yourself, then answer in your writing, the ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions.
You can also consider historical data on both sides. How were these things in the past? How are they now? What appears to be the main reasons for those? What has affected the differences? What effect has that had?
Your inferences and conclusions should then be included in the concluding statements, paragraphs or sections of your paper.
