Deadline # 8, com/con

1. Compare and contrast essays explain similarities and differences between two people, objects, places, or ideas. Comparison is the method of development used in essays to describe similarities between ideas. Contrast is the method of development for illuminating differences. Two ways to develop paragraphs in compare and contrast essays are the block method and the point-by-point method. In an essay that utilizes the block method, all of the ideas of one subject are presented first, and then the ideas of the second subject are put forth. When using the point-by-point method in developing paragraphs, both subjects are established in a topic sentence and the similarities or differences of the subjects are communicated in alternating pattern. Compare and contrast essays are useful tools for the clarification of similarities and differences between two people or things.

Writing a comparison or contrast essay is a process that involves careful consideration and planning. The purpose of using comparison as a mode of development in an essay is to elucidate concepts by indicating similarities shared by two people, objects, or ideas. Contrast is used as a method of development when the writer’s intention is to reveal differences between two people or things. Combing comparison and contrast in one paper will cause that paper to be more in-depth and involve additional development than a paper that uses compare or contrast alone. When deciding on a subject for a comparison or contrast paper, a writer should be careful not to select two subjects that are extremely similar or extremely different. Pointing out what is already evident to the reader should also be avoided. The thesis of a comparison or a contrast essay requires the mirroring of the mode of development applied to the paper. An effective comparison or contrast essay can be achieved through conscientiousness and sufficient preparation.


2. The thesis of the essay is the last sentence of the first paragraph. The author stating that there are two types of men in the world indicates the author will be contrasting the types of men. The essay is set up in a block pattern. In general, the examples used to point out differences between the two types of men were satisfactory. The accounts of how the two types of men behave in dating scenarios provided descriptive details. I thought the depiction of clothing styles seemed to apply only to a certain period of time, and the inclusion of the underwear description was unessential, not necessarily accurate, and too personal for the target audience, especially since it is not something a person could watch out for as the author suggests for women to do. The contrast transition, “however” is used in the third paragraph to assist the reader in shifting between the two types of men. The phrase, “unlike the committer” is used in the sixth paragraph. The author’s tone in the essay is somewhat in praise of the committer, but mostly contemptuous towards the non-committer.