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Writing Guidelines

Prewriting ■ Choosing a Topic

You will need to select two related topics for your comparison-contrast essay. Joan wanted to write about something that really interested her, so she brainstormed ideas using a cluster. “My Interests” is the nucleus of her cluster.

Clustering

Joan's cluster generated more than one possible writing idea, but she decided to compare butterflies and moths.

Gathering Details

You will next need to collect and organize details about each topic. Joan collected details from websites, books, and magazines; and she used a gathering grid to track her research.

Gathering Grid (first part)