How To Compose A Great Compare And Contrast Essay: A Guide For 5th Grade Students


The goal of writing a compare and contrast essay is in comparing different and common features two different objects have. If you want to compose a profound and persuasive essay, follow the guidelines below:

  1. Choose the objects to compare.
  2. The objects should not be so different that you cannot find anything they have in common, or so similar that the only difference between them is their name. Choose something that is interesting to investigate and compare.

  3. Choose the way you are going to compare objects.
  4. It’s possible to compare them in different ways. You can start with speaking what they have in common, explaining similar features of one and the other after it. As well, you can speak about one object, explaining all its features, and then go to the other one, doing the same. Finally, you can speak about the two objects in a mixed manner, naming similar and different features one after another, without making separate paragraphs for each of the two objects.

  5. Create an outline of your paper.
  6. An outline is necessary to have a precise structure of the text that will make it easily understood. If you have a good outline, you will not lose the track of things. Your essay will be logically built and easy to read.

  7. Build up the structure.
  8. Depending on how many paragraphs you choose to write about the features of the objects, you will have more or less paragraphs in your entire essay. Still, the general structure is always the same. You start with an introduction, move on to the body (that consists of as many compare and contrast paragraphs as you like) and end up with a conclusion.

  9. Revise your work.
  10. After you have composed a draft copy of the research, revise it and check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Make sure that your project is perfectly balanced, that it’s free from prejudice. If you give preference to one of the compared objects, make sure that you have not condemned the other. You should be neither too positive, nor too negative about the described objects. Prove each evaluation that you give in your essay with facts.

  11. Keep it quite formal.
  12. It doesn’t matter what you are writing about. Your work is an academic paper that should be quite formal, without colloquial phrases. Avoid plagiarism: your goal is to express your own opinion, using your own words and phrases. Always make sure that all your reference sources are mentioned.