HOW TO FORMAT A COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY

When writing a compare and contrast essay, you may or may not be using sources. In less advanced class, you are likely to write a compare and contrast paper on something in your life for which sources are not necessary as your topic is common knowledge. In contrast, a higher-level class might involve writing a compare and contrast essay that is longer and more complex. Doing so will require that you make use of sources and cite appropriately as you write your compare and contrast essay. While MLA style is most commonly used in writing compare and contrast essays, any citation style can be mandated by your professor and you should make sure you are adhering to the style that has been imposed to avoid losing points on your compare and contrast essay.

Once you have formatted and referenced your compare and contrast essay, you should make sure that each of your body paragraphs reflects a different area of comparison and contrasting between the two or more things that you are writing on. If this is the case, it is time to move on to ensure that none of the claims that you are making contradict each other. Given that this can occur across sections when writing a compare and contrast essay, checking to make sure that there are no contradictions in your compare and contrast essay is very important. Finally, writing a good compare and contrast paper means that you should ensure that each of your sections is demarcated through either a heading or a good topic sentence that makes it clear what this paragraph or section is discussing.