compare and contrast essay

The basic purpose of a compare and contrast essay is to analyze the differences and similarities of two given ideas or things. It is the writer’s job to provide evidence showing the factors that each topic has in common as well as providing evidence to show how they differ from one another. The writer will often find these types of essays when trying to synthesis information on a broad scale, such as in a government class. Essentially, it is the job of the writer to show the reader the points of commonality between the topics and to point out the differences.

A compare and contrast paper usually uses two primary source documents, which are analyzed to prove areas where the two source documents have things in common and where the information in the two documents is in direct contrast with each other. Although compare and contrast essays are not limited to two primary source documents, including 3 or more source documents can make the paper confusing for the reader.