Writing Comparison-Contrast Essays leads your students step by step through developing an essay that explores the similarities and differences between two topics. Instructions, activities, examples, videos, interactives, and downloads help students gain new writing strategies and skills. You can also present this unit right from your interactive whiteboard.
First students think about similarities and differences using a T-chart to sort out information. Then they read a sample comparison-contrast paragraph and essay and write in response to them. Afterward, they start to write their own comparison-contrast essays:
- Prewriting activities help students select two topics with some similarities and differences, explore those similarities and differences, and create a focus statement that sums up the comparison and contrast.
- Writing activities help students write a beginning that grabs the reader's interest and introduces the two topics, middle paragraphs that explore the similarities and differences between them, and an ending paragraph that wraps up the essay.
- Revising activities help students arrange information from general to specific and define key terms for readers.
- Editing activities help students correctly form and punctuate compound sentences and ensure subject-verb agreement.
- Publishing activities help students create a clean final copy of their work and reflect on their comparison-contrast writing.