Accomplished Compare and Contrast Essay: Master the English Language Subject

September and October are the months connected with the start of studies, and hardly one student is eager to say goodbye to summertime. Professors during the first days assign the tasks among the students and present the list of upcoming essay topics. The English language is one of those subjects that are impossible to avoid when speaking of papers. Due to a variety of its topics, students may be at loss of words and ideas. In this article let’s speak of steps needed for writing this essay and deal with hacks and tips on it.

Compare and Contrast Essay in the English Language: How to Write?

The English language being the first international and business language of the world is uppermost in essays. Thus, to surprise a professor with a unique topic is already a complicated affair. Taking into consideration such type of assignment, there are already more chances to compose a unique and interesting text because it encompasses two different points to compare and contrast. So, it can pretend to be at least not boring.

× English Language Grammar Difficulties
✓ English Grammar vs English Pronunciation Difficulties

The above-mentioned examples are of the wrong and correct topics chosen for the essay. Why? The first type is not suitable for comparing and contrasting of the English language. Because a student cannot just compare Present Simple vs Present Perfect, their features are obvious. The second type is the one that is possible to write on because a student will compare two different categories, grammar, and pronunciation. Got it?

So, such type of essay involves the comparison and contrasting of two subjects. A student has to find conjunctions and discrepancies. Usually, students take two different subjects of one field to find out the features to the full, but it is a common practice nowadays to take two independent and not crossed subjects to write an essay on. If speaking of the English language, check the next examples:

English Vocabulary vs English Slang – is a common type of such essays. Students can compare the necessity and situations of using the slang, moments when slang is forbidden, categories of professional and technical language, etc.

English Language vs Language in Movies – is a topic that requires the research on the similarities of the language used in everyday life with the one applied in cinema scenarios. So, a student has to research what type of words or grammar is widely observed while making a scenario and how it differs from the one people speak regularly.

Examples of Topics for English Essay

Course or degree always predetermines the topics of essay, but in some cases, a student can feel free to choose the one he likes the most. There starts the struggle with the selection. The first role in selecting the subject plays its complexity. If a student does not fully understand a topic, he will probably skip it and choose a simple one. So, the below-mentioned examples combine both simple and complex essays on the English Language topic.

Light Level

– English Middle Age History vs English Modern Times
Why is it referred to a light level of the essay? Because there are at least 50 books written that deal with the history of this aspect of language. And they are all available both in libraries and on the Internet. All a student has to do is just rewrite the text using his own words and put emphasis on the research of historical figures connected with its origin. Write about Norman conquest, changes in orthography during the Middle Age, and study the Great Vowel Shift and changes of philology since the 1600 century. Then compare and contrast all the researched information.

– Australian English vs American English
Here the fantasy of a student can sing the praises to the Internet world. There is so much information revealed already that he can write even 100 paged essay. Besides, a student can find social network groups dedicated to the slang of languages and ask directly the followers to tell the differences and similarities. For example, compare and contrast the slang of both countries, study the changes in spelling the words, and grammar usage because the same as America, Australia tends to reduce the number of tenses at current. So, Great Britain remains the only English-speaking country that is still loyal to its full grammar varieties.

Medium Level

– Scottish Gaelic VS Welsh
Here a student should research the whole history of Celtic languages. Compare and contrast how they were separated, which one is still widely used around the world and in particular in Great Britain. Also, it is important to speak of word order that in Scottish Gaelic is compulsory to look like verb-subject-object and to find out the surveys on the Welsh language to see how many people still speak it fluently.

– English Literature Characters vs Scottish Literature Characters
Such a topic is also not counted as a rare example of essays. It is quite interesting to write about it due to tracking the differences and similarities of the authors’ styles. For example, English Literature may seem a romantic and tragic one because of the number of unhappy endings. And Scottish Literature tends to tell the story of brave heroes and show that death is only the beginning. For example, compare and contrast the lifestyle of Lady Macbeth female lead from William Shakespeare’s tragedy with Miss Jean Brodie from a novel by Muriel Spark. Track the features of both women characters, their personalities, and how they represent the soul of their countries.

Hard Level

– Methods of English Teaching for School Kids and Students
This comparison and contrast is considered as a complex one due to the necessity of conducting surveys. A student cannot take information from online, he should research the approaches of both educational establishments, school, and college. Here, it is possible to speak of visual and audible approaches to English learning for kids. Find out the difficulties of memorization and speak of the benefits of educational videos and language vocabulary cards. And as for students, there is such method as loci or locus that comprises the ways of placing one item or for example an English word in one particular place in the memory.

– Technical English for Industry vs Technical English for Computer Science
This topic is quite common for students who study technologies or computer languages and programs. A student can write about BASIC, C, C++, COBOL, etc, and research the technical vocabulary used in the industry field. It is considered to be a hard level essay due to the lack of available information. Computer language information is open only for people who applied for such online courses, so it is necessary to buy access.

Thus, if you need to write a compare and contrast essay, do not look for easy ways. Try to research the subjects that will be unique and informative without using plagiarism.

Prewriting Tips on Compare and Contrast English Essay

Once you choose a particular topic, let’s move to its composition. Here are the tips on the prewriting stage. Follow the requirements strictly, and get an A grade reward. The prewriting usually includes the brainstorming strategy that consists of 5 stages to complete a task.

Listing step. A student has to retrieve all the information from his mind. For example, a topic is Australian vs American English. Write down everything that comes across the mind, remember all the words that are nowadays used in online magazines or news. Track how actors from both countries speak, what tenses they use. Jot down everything without paying attention to grammar, spelling, etc. All you need is a piece of information to use later in the essay.

Freewriting. Now, a student needs a timer. Set it for 10-15 minutes and start writing nonstop without distracting. It results in a few blocks of text that can be later used for the essay. Keep in mind that there is no need for profound thinking, it is just an exercise to start writing an essay. For example, it may look like this: Australian English is more similar to British English than American. Such a sentence then will lead a student to the conclusion of similarity of vocabulary and pronunciation.

Venn Diagram. Take a blank paper and write down in the center two subjects that will be compared and contrasted. Paint two circles in the way that differences and similarities will cross the topics.

The Journalists’ questions. All the why-questions should be asked during the composition of an essay. Otherwise, ask yourself the next questions: Did you both compare and contrast the subjects? Are there enough facts on both subjects? Do you have an eye-catching thesis? Or, Did you compare Australian English of east coastal and west coastal regions.

Outlining. It is all about the frame of an essay. There should be a proper thesis, introduction, main body, and conclusion.

Now, it is high time to check the requirements that a student should meet while composing the structure of the essay.

Requirements of Compare and Contrast Essay in English

While writing such an essay, a student should clearly understand what type of language, and vocabulary to use. Therefore, there is a list of the common requirements found for compare and contrast essay.

• Use the next auxiliary words: Both…and…., either…or…, neither… nor…, similarly, likely. To contrast: on the other hand, in contrast, but, whereas.
• Choose the structure form. It can be either block or point-to-point structure. Block one will look like this: Introduction – Object 1 with Point 1 – Object 1 with Point 2 – Paragraph – Object 2 with Point 1- Object 2 with Point 2 – Conclusion. So, it means that a student has to compare and contrast them separately. And Point-to-point structure is: Introduction – Point 1: Object 1 with Object 2 – Point 2: Object 1 with Object 2 – Conclusion. In this case, it is necessary to contrast and compare simultaneously.
• The essay should be written with at least 750 words, in Times New Roman, using 12 size, and possess at least 5 references.

Once these requirements are followed and the essay composition came to an end, it is time to move to the post writing tips.

Post Writing Tips of Compare and Contrast Essay in English

The post-writing stage includes a few steps. They are editing, proofreading, and referencing. So, the main idea is to deliver an essay without a single mistake. First of all, reread the text a few times or if needed ask your relative or friend to read it for you, so the third-party may notice some inaccuracies in your paper.

Then, check your essay on the first narratives. Avoid using I, me, you, your words. Your personal opinion is worth only at the end of the essay. For example:

× I find Australian slang more difficult than the American one because only Australians can understand it, while the slang used in the USA is popularized worldwide, so foreigners can at least guess the meaning.

✓ Australian slang considered more difficult than the American one because only Australians can understand it, while the slang used in the USA is popularized worldwide, so foreigners can at least guess the meaning.

And at last, keep in mind to have enough references for your essay, and make sure they are both from online and paper sources. If a student failed to attach a reference to the information he took from online sources, it may lead to plagiarism and then to a lower grade. If a student wants to check some extra tips on writing the compare and contrast essay, he may turn to the educational websites of universities or colleges. There usually, professors post their advice.