Compare Contrast Essays

Let’s say you are comparing two immigrant groups: Central Americans and the Irish. As with all essays, you will have an introduction paragraph to start things off, to raise your audience’s interest on your subject matter. It is often a good idea to write your body paragraphs first, and at the end work on an introduction and conclusion. The body paragraphs using the point by point (AB, AB, AB) method might go as follows: First point: reasons for immigrating

(A) PARAGRAPH on Reasons Central Americans are emigrating out of their countries… (B) PARAGRAPH on Reasons the Irish immigrated to the U.S.
Second point: waves or rates of immigration
(A)PARAGRAPH on the rate of Central American immigration to the U.S., increase, decrease, or waves (B) PARAGRAPH on the rate of Irish immigration to the U.S., increase, decrease, or waves Third point: perception and portrayals

(A) Paragraph on how the media, government, or mainstream society perceive/portray Central Americans (B) Paragraph on how the media, government, or mainstream society perceived/portrayed the Irish The other method of organization is the block method

(ALL A, then ALL B).
First you write the following paragraphs, all focusing on the Central American immigrants. (A) PARAGRAPH on Reasons Central Americans are emigrating out of their countries… (A)PARAGRAPH on the rate of Central American immigration to the U.S., increase, decrease, or waves (A) Paragraph on how the media, government, or mainstream society perceive/portray Central Americans Thereafter, you transition to your next subject, and cover all of the same points. (B) PARAGRAPH on Reasons the Irish immigrated to the U.S.

(B) PARAGRAPH on the rate of Irish immigration to the U.S., increase, decrease, or waves (B) Paragraph on how the media, government, or mainstream
society perceived/portrayed the Irish

Transitions are KEY in compare & contrast essays, so be sure to use some from the last page on the packet I gave you, or do a google search on “transitional words and phrases.”