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Description:
To find similarities and differences between two topics, just compare and contrast. This video explains the difference between comparing and contrasting and shows how to do both in an essay. Watch out—comparing and contrasting are not the same (they’re just good friends).
Transcript
- 00:04
Compare and Contrast, a la Shmoop.
- 00:07
Remember that essay you wrote last year that
- 00:10
completely knocked it out of the park?
- 00:12
Your teacher drooled over it, your classmates were green with envy,
- 00:15
and you absolutely obliterated the curve?
Full Transcript
- 00:18
Yeah, of course you remember it.
- 00:20
But... do you also recall that essay you wrote the following semester?
- 00:24
The one your teacher is still using to line her gerbil cage?
- 00:27
Believe it or not... we are already comparing and contrasting.
- 00:32
Any time you want to look at how two things are the same...
- 00:35
...or how they are different...
- 00:37
...you are comparing or contrasting.
- 00:40
Let's take a look at the first one.
- 00:42
When you compare, you look at how things are the same.
- 00:47
For example, if you're writing an essay on the success of the fast food joints that have
- 00:51
started experimenting with food vacuum technology...
- 00:54
...you can compare these establishments with the older, more traditional places that still
- 00:58
pass their food through a drive-thru window.
- 01:00
Sheesh. What dinosaurs.
- 01:03
What do they have in common?
- 01:05
Well, they both serve roughly the same food...
- 01:07
...the prices are the same...
- 01:09
...the quality of service is the same... et cetera.
- 01:12
But your paper is exploring the question of whether or not the success of these restaurants
- 01:17
is directly related to their new technology...
- 01:20
...so we'll need to contrast them as well, to see what things are different.
- 01:25
Well, clearly, the presence of the high-tech vacuum tubes is different.
- 01:29
You also note that all of these fast food places are located in the Midwest.
- 01:34
Not a huge surprise.
- 01:37
And you also mention that they are all burger places.
- 01:40
Something about chicken meat not responding as well to the suction.
- 01:45
Whatever conclusion you arrive at based on
- 01:47
all your comparing and contrasting is up to you...
- 01:50
...but at least you've laid out all the facts. And that's all there really is to it.
- 01:55
Be wary of people who use the two terms interchangeably...
- 01:58
Comparing and contrasting are not the same thing...
- 02:02
...regardless of the fact that 75 percent of the population thinks they are.
- 02:06
You will often hear people say "compare these two things" or "contrast these two things"...
- 02:11
...when they really mean "compare AND contrast these two things."
- 02:16
Don't mix them up.
- 02:17
Just remember... the two go together like olives and ice cream.
- 02:21
Or something like that.
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