Choosing a Good Compare & Contrast Essay Topic (Academic English 1)
A compare and contrast essay is good practice for employment, as you may be asked to recommend a product for your company to buy, such as new computers for the employees. In that situation, you may be asked to research which computers are the most powerful, or the best value for money (these are rarely the same computer!). Your manager might want you to recommend two computers for the board of directors to choose between. They do not want to see the full list of available computer models; they want a short comparative report to enable them to make an informed decision.
A good compare and contrast essay should be objective, and its thesis should be driven by the evidence available. It should have a strong thesis statement. Is the board of directors looking for the most powerful computer, or the one which is the best value for money? The thesis statement should be stated clearly in the introduction and then all the following writing should be relevant to that thesis. The phrase ‘thesis statement’ could be translated as ‘idea sentence’.
A weak thesis statement: “The company needs new computers”
A strong thesis statement: “The company would like to identify the two most powerful computers on the market and purchase 200 models”.
As the lecturers of Academic English have been working for an average of 15 semesters (7 ½ years), we are all well aware of what makes a good compare/contrast topic and what does not. One of the big clues is not to choose ideas that are very obvious. Students often pitch ideas such as Apple vs. Samsung, McDonald’s vs. Burger King, and China vs. USA. These essays have been done over and over again! These ideas are too broad and general. We need to concentrate on more specific ideas. We are looking for ideas that are more original and more relevant for the era we are living in.
Students often want to write about their favorite musical artist or band. This is unlikely to produce a very ‘academic’ essay. The reason is because the student wants to demonstrate that their favorite band or artist is better than their rival. You should also bear in mind that these topics are unlikely to be something that your lecturers care much about (not that it should affect the score but writing about strong academic topics will interest them more).
That is not to say that you cannot enjoy the topic you are writing about but be prepared for some strong negotiations with your lecturer, as we do not want to let you write about topics that are unlikely to get you a strong score. Ask yourself: is your topic likely to be relevant in five or ten years? Does your topic make you sound smart? Is your topic related to your major and will it make you look like you are building your knowledge of your major? Your research for Academic English might get you more insight into a topic that you can investigate at the thesis level.
Furthermore, your essay gives you the chance to show your lecturers that you are looking in the right places for information. Every time you make a citation, your lecturer will be noting whether (or not) that the citation is from a good source of knowledge. If you are citing strong voices from your field, your lecturers will be (quietly) impressed.
Checklist for a good compare/contrast essay:
Has a strong thesis statement: ¨
Has well-matched subjects (companies/products/people who are similar): ¨
Relevant now and for the next few years: ¨
Availability of good sources: ¨
Unlikely to have been written before: ¨
Involves lots of quantitative data: ¨
Sounds objective: ¨
Uses strong and specific English: ¨
Uses language relevant to your major*: ¨
Strong APA 7 citations and references ¨
As you can see from this post, it is obvious that there are lots of considerations (for both you and your lecturers) when it it comes to writing (and scoring) your compare/contrast essay.
