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HOME PAGE | COMPOSITION LECTURE 5: Comparing and Contrasting | ||
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HOME PAGE | COMPOSITION LECTURE 5: Comparing and Contrasting | ||
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Gertrude Stein
Comparison and contrast is an extension of classification. We classify according to similarities or differences. You can compare; you can contrast. Or sometimes, both. The choice depends, as always, upon the kind of truth we're after.
If we take two of the categories in the previous example, we can show the similarities or the
differences as follows:
There are more similarities and differences, as well as exceptions to the brief treatment presented here, but the pattern is the same. The classification system is built on the similarities and differences. Patterns of Comparison and Contrast -------------------------------------------- There are two types of comparison and contrast organization. The comparison and/or contrast can only be made between items of the same general type. You cannot, for example, compare and contrast safe cars and fast bicycles. You could compare and contrast an oak tree and an elm, but not an oak tree and an elephant. The comparison must be between members of the same category. (The discussion of the analogy, later in this book, shows that there are circumstances when the comparison of an elephant and an oak tree may be appropriate.) When writing a paper of comparison and contrast you may tell the similarities and then the differences. This is called separation of detail. Or you may alternate between the similarities and differences of each aspect of the item. This is called alternation of detail. Once again, we use the example of two-year vs. four-year schools to illustrate the two approaches. Separation of Detail ------------------------ Students wanting to continue their education past high school have a number of different options. In making up their minds, students will want to consider the dfferences between four-year and two-year schools. Four year schools have long been the traditional post-secondary educational choice for the majority of students. These schools, both the colleges and the universities, offer courses leading to a Bachelor's degree. Typically, the four years of study consists of 120 hours of coursework in a variety of fields. The students at four-year schools usually attend classes full-time, taking 12 to 15 hours a semester. The four-year school also has a variety of extra-curricular activities available for students. Two-year schools (junior and community colleges) also offer college level academic courswork, but only in the lower-division / those courses that are offered during the first two years of study at a four-year school. However, community colleges also offer technical and vocational courses that are not usually available at four-year schools. After completing 60 hours of the lower-division courses, the community college student may receive an Associate's degree. Because most two-year college students go to school part-time while they work, the two-year college typically has fewer extra-curricular activities than the four-year school. Alternation of Detail ------------------------ Even though four-year and two-year schools are institutions of higher education and, as a result, have many of the same characteristics, there are some important differences. While four-year and two-year colleges offer the basic lower division courses that apply to a variety of fields, the student at the two-year college must go to a four-year school for the upper-division work required for a Bachelor's degree. On the other hand, two-year colleges offer technical and vocational training not usually available at four-year schools. Students in four-year schools usually take a full load of 12 to 15 hours. Although there are certainly full-time students in two-year colleges, many attend school part-time while working full-time. There are usually a number of extra-curricular activities available at four-year and two-year colleges. At two-year schools, however, because there are more part-time students who spend much of their spare time working, there are fewer extra-curricular activities. In the separation of detail, the writing first presents one category and then presents the other. In the alternation of detail, the writing goes back and forth between the similarities and the differences. As it is with everything else, the decision about which approach to use depends upon the aim, but the length of the paper is a factor as well. If there are only a few points to compare, separation is best. If there are many points of comparison, alternation is better. Analogies ------------ A further type of comparison is the analogy, a method used to explain an abstraction. With concepts that may be difficult to explain, especially to someone unfamiliar with the topic, an analogy may be used to relate the idea to a concrete and familiar subject. Abstractions are those things which exist in the mind and do not have specifics we can point to. A chair is concrete; love is abstract. While we can point to a chair as an example of the idea of a chair, we cannot point to a love. We can only point to lovers. The love they feel is abstract. In an analogy, the two things being compared are not from the same group. If they were, the comparison would be logical, not analogous. To make the analogy work the abstract thing should be compared to something you know your reader is familiar with. Here's an example of an analogy: Teenager's moods are strange things, hard to predict and difficult to control, sometimes up and sometimes down. Being a teenager is like riding a roller coaster/zany and breathtaking. Moods come and go unexpectedly, like the hills and curves of a roller coaster ride. Sometimes the moods can be scary, like the sudden drop that leaves your stomach in your throat. Notice in the example that the author does not offer the analogy as proof. An analogy does not prove anything. It is only used as an explanation, to aid understanding. For this reason analogies should never be used with the Interpretive sub-aim, and if you see an analogy offered as proof in a persuasive writing you should disregard it. In the example the writer says that moods have ups and downs and compares this to the up and down motion of a roller coaster, but he does not say that the movement of a roller coaster proves that moods fluctuate. He has simply used a familiar thing (the roller coaster) to explain another idea (the fluctuation of moods). Is it Trite? ------------ The use of comparisons, especially analogies, invites trouble for some writers. Some writing is called trite / but what does that mean? The word means "common" or "familiar," that something has been said which has been used often, by other writers and speakers, and for that reason is ineffective. Your ability to determine what is trite depends upon your familiarity with many words and phrases, but you can probably recognize something that is not original. As you write you should be aware of this criticism and try to keep trite analogies out of your writing. Students should avoid changing their curricula. You don't change horses in mid-stream, do you? This analogy uses an old comparison / changing horses in mid-stream is hardly original. You have probably heard it before, so it does very little to help the previous statement. The following literary paper by a college student uses an analogy to effectively explain an idea. The use of quotes around the word monsters in the title is a tip off; it tells the reader that these are not monsters in the usual sense of the word. THE "MONSTERS" IN MY WORLD (Student Essay) Everyone can think of something that they could consider a "monster" in their life. As a child, I had a wide variety of monsters in all shapes, sizes and occupations. They were hard to keep up with as I grew, but I remember them in all their horrid glory. There were the closet monsters, under-the-bed monsters, dark hole monsters, who made me keep under the covers and ruined my nightly bliss. Then there were the nice monsters who played and laughed and took me to all those places where all young boys like to go. They helped me as a knight and king, as an astronaut fighting spaces pirates, and as the explorer searching the wilderness. As I entered that world of young adulthood, I forgot my friends and enemies for cars, football, and later, those girls I used to think were "yucky." But my monsters didn't leave me, they just became different. The teachers I didn't like, the opposing team, and the radar cop were my new monsters. They supplied many hours of speculation and cussing for me and also those around me. Today, I still have "monsters" in my world. Even though they have changed somewhat, they are just as evil or good as those of my childhood. The evil monsters include corruption, ignorance, dishonesty, and all those things bad in our world for others as well as myself. Yet, even with those evil monsters I have seen that those good ones are still with me, and they do make me feel as a knight or king and we do explore together. Those good "monsters" are known as friends, and life would be very bad without them.
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This Page Updated 06/10/05