 Wysłany: Czw 1:46, 15 Cze 2017 Temat postu: Tailor made Essays |
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| ?How to put in writing a Comparative Analysis
Throughout your academic career, you'll be asked to put in writing papers in which you compare and contrast two things: two texts, two theories, two historical figures, two scientific processes, and so on. "Classic" compare-and-contrast papers, in which you weight A and B equally, may be about two similar things that have crucial differences (two pesticides with different effects in the environment) or two similar things that have crucial differences, yet turn out to have surprising commonalities (two politicians with vastly different world views who voice unexpectedly similar perspectives on sexual harassment). Inside of the "lens" (or "keyhole") comparison, in which you weight A less heavily than B, you utilize a as a lens through which to watch B. Just as browsing through a pair of glasses changes the way you see an object, utilising A as a framework for understanding B changes the way you see B. Lens comparisons are useful for illuminating, critiquing, or challenging the stability of the thing that, before the analysis, seemed perfectly understood. Often, lens comparisons take time into account: earlier texts, events, or historical figures may illuminate later ones, and vice versa. Faced that has a daunting list of seemingly unrelated similarities and differences, you may believe confused about how to construct a paper that isn't just a mechanical exercise in which you primary state all the characteristics that A and B have in widespread, and then state all the ways in which A and B are different. Predictably, the thesis of this kind of a paper is usually an assertion that A and B are very similar yet not so similar after all. To jot down a extremely good compare-and-contrast paper, you must take your raw data-the similarities and differences you've observed-and make them cohere into a meaningful argument. Below are the 5 factors required. Frame of Reference . This is the context inside of which you area the two things you plan to compare and contrast; it is the umbrella underneath which you have grouped them. The frame of reference may consist of an idea, theme, question, problem, or theory; a group of similar things from which you extract two for special attention; biographical or historical material. The most useful frames of reference are constructed from exact resources rather than your personal thoughts or observations. Thus, in a very paper comparing how two writers redefine social norms of masculinity, you would be more beneficial off quoting a sociologist to the topic of masculinity than spinning out potentially banal-sounding theories of your possess. Most assignments tell you exactly what the frame of reference should be, and most courses supply resources for constructing it. Any time you encounter an assignment that fails to supply a frame of reference, you must come up with an individual on your personal. A paper without these types of a context would have no angle for the material, no focus or frame to the writer to propose a meaningful argument. Grounds for Comparison . Let's say you're creating a paper on worldwide food distribution, and you've chosen to compare apples and oranges. Why these particular fruits? Why not pears and bananas? The rationale behind your choice, the grounds for comparison . allows your reader know why your choice is deliberate and meaningful, not random. For instance, within a paper asking how the "discourse of domesticity" continues to be put to use around the abortion discussion, the grounds for comparison are obvious; the issue has two conflicting sides, pro-choice and pro-life. Within a paper comparing the effects of acid rain on two forest sites, your choice of sites is less obvious. A paper focusing on similarly aged forest stands in Maine as well as Catskills will be established differently from a particular comparing a new forest stand on the White Mountains by having an old forest during the same region. You wish to indicate the reasoning behind your choice. Thesis. The grounds for comparison anticipates the comparative nature of your thesis. As in any argumentative paper, your thesis statement will convey the gist of your argument, which necessarily follows from your frame of reference. But inside of a compare-and-contrast, the thesis relies upon on how the two things you've chosen to compare actually relate to a particular another. Do they prolong, corroborate, complicate, contradict, correct, or discussion an individual another? On the most well-known compare-and-contrast paper-one focusing on differences-you can indicate the precise relationship concerning A and B by working with the word "whereas" inside your thesis: Whereas Camus perceives ideology as secondary to the need to have to address a exact historical moment of colonialism, Fanon perceives a revolutionary ideology as being the impetus to reshape Algeria's history inside a direction toward independence. Whether your paper focuses primarily on difference or similarity, you'll need to make the relationship amongst A and B clear into your thesis. This relationship is for the heart of any compare-and-contrast paper. Organizational Scheme. Your introduction will include your frame of reference, grounds for comparison, and thesis. There are two fundamental ways to organize the body of your paper. In text-by-text . you discuss all of the, then all of B. In point-by-point . you alternate points about A with comparable points about B. If you happen to think that B extends A, you'll probably make use of a text-by-text scheme; if you ever see A and B engaged in discussion, a point-by-point scheme will draw attention to the conflict. Be aware, however, that the point-by- point scheme can come off as a ping-pong game. Youâre able to avoid this effect by grouping greater than a particular point together, thereby cutting down for the variety of times you alternate from the to B. But no matter which organizational scheme you choose, you want not give equal time to similarities and differences. In fact, your paper will be way more interesting as soon as you get to the heart of your argument as instantly as conceivable. Thus, a paper on two evolutionary theorists' different interpretations of particular archaeological findings might possibly have as couple of as two or three sentences with the introduction on similarities and at most a paragraph or two to arrange the contrast concerning the theorists' positions. The rest of your paper, whether organized text- by-text or point-by-point, will treat the two theorists' differences. It is possible to organize a classic compare-and-contrast paper either text-by-text or point-by-point. But in the "lens" comparison, in which you spend significantly less time with a (the lens) than on B (the focal textual content), you almost always organize text-by-text. That's seeing that A and B are not strictly comparable: A is merely a device for helping you discover whether or not B's nature is actually what expectations have led you to definitely believe it is. Linking of the and B . All argumentative papers require you to definitely link each and every point inside of the argument again to the thesis. Without this sort of links, your reader will be unable to see how new sections logically and systematically advance your argument. Inside of a compare-and contrast, you also would need to make links somewhere between A and B inside the body of your essay if you happen to want your paper to hold together. To make these links, use transitional expressions of comparison and contrast ( similarly, moreover, likewise, to the contrary, conversely, relating to the other hand ) and contrastive vocabulary (on the example below, Southerner/Northerner ). As a girl raised while in the faded glory for the Old South, amid mystical tales of magnolias and moonlight, the mother remains part of the dying era. Surrounded by hard times, racial conflict, and confined opportunities, Julian, over the other hand . feels repelled by the provincial nature of home, and represents a new Southerner, just one who sees his indigenous land through a condescending Northerner's eyes. Copyright 1998, Kerry Walk, for your Composing Center at Harvard University |
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