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  • Comparative Analysis

What It Is and Why It's Useful

Comparative analysis asks writers to make an argument about the relationship between two or more texts. Beyond that, there's a lot of variation, but three overarching kinds of comparative analysis stand out:

  • Coordinate (A ↔ B): In this kind of analysis, two (or more) texts are being read against each other in terms of a shared element, e.g., a memoir and a novel, both by Jesmyn Ward; two sets of data for the same experiment; a few op-ed responses to the same event; two YA books written in Chicago in the 2000s; a film adaption of a play; etc. 
  • Subordinate (A  → B) or (B → A ): Using a theoretical text (as a "lens") to explain a case study or work of art (e.g., how Anthony Jack's The Privileged Poor can help explain divergent experiences among students at elite four-year private colleges who are coming from similar socio-economic backgrounds) or using a work of art or case study (i.e., as a "test" of) a theory's usefulness or limitations (e.g., using coverage of recent incidents of gun violence or legislation un the U.S. to confirm or question the currency of Carol Anderson's The Second ).
  • Hybrid [A  → (B ↔ C)] or [(B ↔ C) → A] , i.e., using coordinate and subordinate analysis together. For example, using Jack to compare or contrast the experiences of students at elite four-year institutions with students at state universities and/or community colleges; or looking at gun culture in other countries and/or other timeframes to contextualize or generalize Anderson's main points about the role of the Second Amendment in U.S. history.

"In the wild," these three kinds of comparative analysis represent increasingly complex—and scholarly—modes of comparison. Students can of course compare two poems in terms of imagery or two data sets in terms of methods, but in each case the analysis will eventually be richer if the students have had a chance to encounter other people's ideas about how imagery or methods work. At that point, we're getting into a hybrid kind of reading (or even into research essays), especially if we start introducing different approaches to imagery or methods that are themselves being compared along with a couple (or few) poems or data sets.

Why It's Useful

In the context of a particular course, each kind of comparative analysis has its place and can be a useful step up from single-source analysis. Intellectually, comparative analysis helps overcome the "n of 1" problem that can face single-source analysis. That is, a writer drawing broad conclusions about the influence of the Iranian New Wave based on one film is relying entirely—and almost certainly too much—on that film to support those findings. In the context of even just one more film, though, the analysis is suddenly more likely to arrive at one of the best features of any comparative approach: both films will be more richly experienced than they would have been in isolation, and the themes or questions in terms of which they're being explored (here the general question of the influence of the Iranian New Wave) will arrive at conclusions that are less at-risk of oversimplification.

For scholars working in comparative fields or through comparative approaches, these features of comparative analysis animate their work. To borrow from a stock example in Western epistemology, our concept of "green" isn't based on a single encounter with something we intuit or are told is "green." Not at all. Our concept of "green" is derived from a complex set of experiences of what others say is green or what's labeled green or what seems to be something that's neither blue nor yellow but kind of both, etc. Comparative analysis essays offer us the chance to engage with that process—even if only enough to help us see where a more in-depth exploration with a higher and/or more diverse "n" might lead—and in that sense, from the standpoint of the subject matter students are exploring through writing as well the complexity of the genre of writing they're using to explore it—comparative analysis forms a bridge of sorts between single-source analysis and research essays.

Typical learning objectives for single-sources essays: formulate analytical questions and an arguable thesis, establish stakes of an argument, summarize sources accurately, choose evidence effectively, analyze evidence effectively, define key terms, organize argument logically, acknowledge and respond to counterargument, cite sources properly, and present ideas in clear prose.

Common types of comparative analysis essays and related types: two works in the same genre, two works from the same period (but in different places or in different cultures), a work adapted into a different genre or medium, two theories treating the same topic; a theory and a case study or other object, etc.

How to Teach It: Framing + Practice

Framing multi-source writing assignments (comparative analysis, research essays, multi-modal projects) is likely to overlap a great deal with "Why It's Useful" (see above), because the range of reasons why we might use these kinds of writing in academic or non-academic settings is itself the reason why they so often appear later in courses. In many courses, they're the best vehicles for exploring the complex questions that arise once we've been introduced to the course's main themes, core content, leading protagonists, and central debates.

For comparative analysis in particular, it's helpful to frame assignment's process and how it will help students successfully navigate the challenges and pitfalls presented by the genre. Ideally, this will mean students have time to identify what each text seems to be doing, take note of apparent points of connection between different texts, and start to imagine how those points of connection (or the absence thereof)

  • complicates or upends their own expectations or assumptions about the texts
  • complicates or refutes the expectations or assumptions about the texts presented by a scholar
  • confirms and/or nuances expectations and assumptions they themselves hold or scholars have presented
  • presents entirely unforeseen ways of understanding the texts

—and all with implications for the texts themselves or for the axes along which the comparative analysis took place. If students know that this is where their ideas will be heading, they'll be ready to develop those ideas and engage with the challenges that comparative analysis presents in terms of structure (See "Tips" and "Common Pitfalls" below for more on these elements of framing).

Like single-source analyses, comparative essays have several moving parts, and giving students practice here means adapting the sample sequence laid out at the " Formative Writing Assignments " page. Three areas that have already been mentioned above are worth noting:

  • Gathering evidence : Depending on what your assignment is asking students to compare (or in terms of what), students will benefit greatly from structured opportunities to create inventories or data sets of the motifs, examples, trajectories, etc., shared (or not shared) by the texts they'll be comparing. See the sample exercises below for a basic example of what this might look like.
  • Why it Matters: Moving beyond "x is like y but also different" or even "x is more like y than we might think at first" is what moves an essay from being "compare/contrast" to being a comparative analysis . It's also a move that can be hard to make and that will often evolve over the course of an assignment. A great way to get feedback from students about where they're at on this front? Ask them to start considering early on why their argument "matters" to different kinds of imagined audiences (while they're just gathering evidence) and again as they develop their thesis and again as they're drafting their essays. ( Cover letters , for example, are a great place to ask writers to imagine how a reader might be affected by reading an their argument.)
  • Structure: Having two texts on stage at the same time can suddenly feel a lot more complicated for any writer who's used to having just one at a time. Giving students a sense of what the most common patterns (AAA / BBB, ABABAB, etc.) are likely to be can help them imagine, even if provisionally, how their argument might unfold over a series of pages. See "Tips" and "Common Pitfalls" below for more information on this front.

Sample Exercises and Links to Other Resources

  • Common Pitfalls
  • Advice on Timing
  • Try to keep students from thinking of a proposed thesis as a commitment. Instead, help them see it as more of a hypothesis that has emerged out of readings and discussion and analytical questions and that they'll now test through an experiment, namely, writing their essay. When students see writing as part of the process of inquiry—rather than just the result—and when that process is committed to acknowledging and adapting itself to evidence, it makes writing assignments more scientific, more ethical, and more authentic. 
  • Have students create an inventory of touch points between the two texts early in the process.
  • Ask students to make the case—early on and at points throughout the process—for the significance of the claim they're making about the relationship between the texts they're comparing.
  • For coordinate kinds of comparative analysis, a common pitfall is tied to thesis and evidence. Basically, it's a thesis that tells the reader that there are "similarities and differences" between two texts, without telling the reader why it matters that these two texts have or don't have these particular features in common. This kind of thesis is stuck at the level of description or positivism, and it's not uncommon when a writer is grappling with the complexity that can in fact accompany the "taking inventory" stage of comparative analysis. The solution is to make the "taking inventory" stage part of the process of the assignment. When this stage comes before students have formulated a thesis, that formulation is then able to emerge out of a comparative data set, rather than the data set emerging in terms of their thesis (which can lead to confirmation bias, or frequency illusion, or—just for the sake of streamlining the process of gathering evidence—cherry picking). 
  • For subordinate kinds of comparative analysis , a common pitfall is tied to how much weight is given to each source. Having students apply a theory (in a "lens" essay) or weigh the pros and cons of a theory against case studies (in a "test a theory") essay can be a great way to help them explore the assumptions, implications, and real-world usefulness of theoretical approaches. The pitfall of these approaches is that they can quickly lead to the same biases we saw here above. Making sure that students know they should engage with counterevidence and counterargument, and that "lens" / "test a theory" approaches often balance each other out in any real-world application of theory is a good way to get out in front of this pitfall.
  • For any kind of comparative analysis, a common pitfall is structure. Every comparative analysis asks writers to move back and forth between texts, and that can pose a number of challenges, including: what pattern the back and forth should follow and how to use transitions and other signposting to make sure readers can follow the overarching argument as the back and forth is taking place. Here's some advice from an experienced writing instructor to students about how to think about these considerations:

a quick note on STRUCTURE

     Most of us have encountered the question of whether to adopt what we might term the “A→A→A→B→B→B” structure or the “A→B→A→B→A→B” structure.  Do we make all of our points about text A before moving on to text B?  Or do we go back and forth between A and B as the essay proceeds?  As always, the answers to our questions about structure depend on our goals in the essay as a whole.  In a “similarities in spite of differences” essay, for instance, readers will need to encounter the differences between A and B before we offer them the similarities (A d →B d →A s →B s ).  If, rather than subordinating differences to similarities you are subordinating text A to text B (using A as a point of comparison that reveals B’s originality, say), you may be well served by the “A→A→A→B→B→B” structure.  

     Ultimately, you need to ask yourself how many “A→B” moves you have in you.  Is each one identical?  If so, you may wish to make the transition from A to B only once (“A→A→A→B→B→B”), because if each “A→B” move is identical, the “A→B→A→B→A→B” structure will appear to involve nothing more than directionless oscillation and repetition.  If each is increasingly complex, however—if each AB pair yields a new and progressively more complex idea about your subject—you may be well served by the “A→B→A→B→A→B” structure, because in this case it will be visible to readers as a progressively developing argument.

As we discussed in "Advice on Timing" at the page on single-source analysis, that timeline itself roughly follows the "Sample Sequence of Formative Assignments for a 'Typical' Essay" outlined under " Formative Writing Assignments, " and it spans about 5–6 steps or 2–4 weeks. 

Comparative analysis assignments have a lot of the same DNA as single-source essays, but they potentially bring more reading into play and ask students to engage in more complicated acts of analysis and synthesis during the drafting stages. With that in mind, closer to 4 weeks is probably a good baseline for many single-source analysis assignments. For sections that meet once per week, the timeline will either probably need to expand—ideally—a little past the 4-week side of things, or some of the steps will need to be combined or done asynchronously.

What It Can Build Up To

Comparative analyses can build up to other kinds of writing in a number of ways. For example:

  • They can build toward other kinds of comparative analysis, e.g., student can be asked to choose an additional source to complicate their conclusions from a previous analysis, or they can be asked to revisit an analysis using a different axis of comparison, such as race instead of class. (These approaches are akin to moving from a coordinate or subordinate analysis to more of a hybrid approach.)
  • They can scaffold up to research essays, which in many instances are an extension of a "hybrid comparative analysis."
  • Like single-source analysis, in a course where students will take a "deep dive" into a source or topic for their capstone, they can allow students to "try on" a theoretical approach or genre or time period to see if it's indeed something they want to research more fully.
  • DIY Guides for Analytical Writing Assignments

For Teaching Fellows & Teaching Assistants

  • Types of Assignments
  • Unpacking the Elements of Writing Prompts
  • Formative Writing Assignments
  • Single-Source Analysis
  • Research Essays
  • Multi-Modal or Creative Projects
  • Giving Feedback to Students

Assignment Decoder

Comparative Studies

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comparative study on thesis

  • Mario Coccia 2 , 3 &
  • Igor Benati 3  

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Comparative analysis ; Comparative approach

Comparative is a concept that derives from the verb “to compare” (the etymology is Latin comparare , derivation of par = equal, with prefix com- , it is a systematic comparison). Comparative studies are investigations to analyze and evaluate, with quantitative and qualitative methods, a phenomenon and/or facts among different areas, subjects, and/or objects to detect similarities and/or differences.

Introduction: Why Comparative Studies Are Important in Scientific Research

Natural sciences apply the method of controlled experimentation to test theories, whereas social and human sciences apply, in general, different approaches to support hypotheses. Comparative method is a process of analysing differences and/or similarities betwee two or more objects and/or subjects. Comparative studies are based on research techniques and strategies for drawing inferences about causation and/or association of factors that are similar or...

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Benati I, Coccia M (2017) General trends and causes of high compensation of government managers in the OECD countries. Int J Public Adm. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2017.1318399

Benati I, Coccia M (2018) Rewards in Bureaucracy and Politics. In Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance –section Bureaucracy (edited by Ali Farazmand) Chapter No: 3417-1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3417-1 , Springer International Publishing AG

Coccia M, Rolfo S (2007) How research policy changes can affect the organization and productivity of public research institutes. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Research and Practice, 9(3): 215–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876980701494624

Coccia M, Rolfo S (2013) Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior of Public Research Institutions. International Journal of Public Administration, 36(4): 256–268, https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2012.756889

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Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

Mario Coccia

CNR – National Research Council of Italy, Torino, Italy

Mario Coccia & Igor Benati

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Coccia, M., Benati, I. (2018). Comparative Studies. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1197-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1197-1

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Home > USC Columbia > Arts and Sciences > Comparative Literature > Comparative Literature Theses and Dissertations

Comparative Literature Theses and Dissertations

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Home » Blog » A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Comparative Analysis

A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Comparative Analysis

Table of Contents

How to Write a Comparative Analysis with Examples

Writing a comparative analysis in a research paper is not as difficult as many people might tend to think. With some tips, it is possible to write an outstanding comparative review. There are steps that must be utilized to attain this result. They are as detailed in this article.

Within the literary, academic, and journalistic world, analysis allows exposing ideas and arguments in front of a context, making it an important material for discussion within professional work.

Within this genre, we can find a comparative analysis. For some authors, the comparative essay is defined as the text where two opposing positions are proposed or where two theses are verified. The author intends to make the reader reflect on a specific topic through this comparison. It consists of giving a written opinion about two positions, which are compared between them to conclude. Do you know how to write a comparative essay? In this article, we will explain how to do it step by step.

So, let’s see the guidelines you must follow to achieve a good comparative analysis.

How to Write a Good Comparative Analysis

The structure.

The approach is generally developed in the first paragraph or at the beginning of the work. Its objective is to propose the author’s position regarding a specific subject. Generally, this approach specifies the objective to be achieved. You must be clear about what topic you will deal with, what you want to explain, and what perspectives will be used in your comparative analysis, and you must also define who you write for.

As it is a comparative text, it begins with a general observation that can serve as a context for both approaches, then begins by establishing the arguments in each of the two cases. Do not forget to compare both objects of study according to each argument or idea to develop.

Let it be the reader himself who finds or defines his position in this essay and chooses one of the two alternatives.

In this entry, there are two possibilities of approach: one deductive and the other inductive. The deductive method raises the issue, and you use your analysis of the variables to guide the reader to draw their conclusions or fix a position on the issue. While the inductive method starts with an argument, developing each variable until the topic’s approach or problem is reached. The two ways of approaching the subject are viable. Choose the one that is easiest for you to work with.

At the end of this section, your audience should:

  • First, clearly understand what topics you will cover in your essay, what you want to explain, and under what positions or perspectives you will do it. It begins with a general observation that establishes the similarity between the two subjects and then moves the essay’s focus to the concrete.
  • The reader should understand which points will be examined and which will not be examined in the comparison. At the end of the introduction, state your preference, or describe the two subjects’ meaning.
  • Your readers should be able to describe the ideas you will treat. Make a detailed exposition of its characteristics, history, consequences, and development that you consider appropriate. Your comparative analysis should expose the characteristics of the second position on which you want to speak as much as in the first one.

Development of Body

Generally, in the body of the essay, the author presents all the arguments that support his thesis, which gives him a reflective and justifying body of the author’s initial statement. Depending on the length of the work, which can range from two to 15 pages, each paragraph or before a title corresponds to an argument’s development.

After speaking on the subject, the author must close the essay, conclude, show the findings of his work, and/or show the conclusions he reached. You must write a final closing paragraph as a conclusion, exposing a confrontation between the two positions. Try to create a fight between them so that the reader gets involved. The conclusion should give a brief and general summary of the most important similarities and differences. It should end with a personal statement, an opinion, and the “what then?” – what is important about the two things being compared.

Readers should be left feeling that this essay’s different threads have been put together coherently, that they have learned something – and they must be sure that this is the end – that they do not look around for missing pages. And finally, your assessment must explain your solidarity position and why you prefer it to the other.

Examples of How to Write a Comparative Analysis

Comparative analysis example 1:.

Paragraph 1: Messi’s preferred position / Ronaldo’s preferred position.

Paragraph 2: Messi’s play style / Ronaldo’s play style.

Paragraph 3: Messi aerial game / Ronaldo aerial game.

Comparative Analysis Example 2:

Paragraph 1: Messi teamwork.

Paragraph 2: Ronaldo’s teamwork.

Paragraph 3: Messi stopped the ball.

Paragraph 4: Ronaldo’s stopped the ball.

Paragraph 5: Messi’s achievements.

Paragraph 6: Ronaldo’s achievements.

Few Important Rules for Comparative analysis

Even if the exercise sounds simple, a few rules should be followed to help your audience as best as possible make the best decision.

1. Clearly state your position

The first question is, “Why are you doing a comparison analysis”? To highlight your view or ideas over another, or simply to compare two (or more) solutions that do not belong to you? You must clearly state your position to your reader, and so does your credibility.

Be honest and state, for example:

  • The idea you are trying to espouse
  • The framework you are using
  • The reason why you are doing this comparison is the objective

In addition to the above, you must be consistent with the exposition of your ideas.

2. Stay objective

Even if you include your personal ideology in your comparison, stay objective. Your readers will not appreciate it when you point out all the disadvantages of one idea while you display the advantages of the other. Your comparison will turn into advertising. You have to raise weak points and strong points on both sides.

These analyses are always subjective, so you must clarify which position convinces you the most.

3. Think about audience’s expectations

The research paper is intended for your readers, meaning you must consider their expectations when writing your review. Put aside your desire to sell your desired idea and take your readers’ perspective:

  • What information are they interested in?
  • What are their criteria?
  • What do they want to know?
  • What do they want from the product or service?

Again, it is about being objective in all your statements.

4. Organize information

It is important to structure your comments for your readers to want to read your comparative analysis. The idea is to make it easy for your readers to navigate your paper and get them to find the information that interests them quickly.

5. End with a conclusion

You’ve tried to be as objective as possible throughout your comparison, and now is the time to let go, as we have mentioned many times in this post. In your conclusion, you can go directly to your readers and give your opinion. With a few tips, you can also encourage them to go towards one or the other idea.

Note: If time is not an issue, the best way to review the essay is to leave it for one day. Go for a walk, eat something, have fun, and forget. Then it’s time to return to the text, find and fix problems. This must be done separately; first, find all the problems you can without correcting them. Although doing it simultaneously is tempting, it is smarter to do it separately. It is effective and fast.

Tips on Comparative Analysis

Be concise or accurate in your analysis and dissertation of the topic.

Sometimes the authors believe that the more elaborate the language and the more extensive the writing, the better the writers or essayists. On the contrary, a good essay refers to an exact topic analysis, where the reader can dynamically advance the work and understand the author’s position.

Use only the arguments necessary to explain the topic, do not talk too much. You risk being redundant or repetitive, making the text-heavy when reading and understanding it.

Write in Short Sentences

Just as we recommend that you do not redound in your texts, we also encourage you to write with short sentences. They give dynamism to the text. Communication is direct. The reader advances in the text and understands much more.

Include Reflections in Your Text

Supporting your approach with reflections or quotes from authors makes your essay more important. Above all, use those arguments that justify or strengthen your position regarding one thesis or the other.

Text Revision

Since comparative analysis can tend to be a subjective work, you must let it “sit” for a day or a few hours and read it again. This exercise will allow you to make corrections. Modify those aspects that are not clear enough for you. And you can improve it in a few words. Once you do this exercise, you can submit it just like this.

If you like this article, see others like it:

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Department of Comparative Literature

You are here, recent dissertations in comparative literature.

Dissertations in Comparative Literature have taken on vast number of topics and ranged across various languages, literatures, historical periods and theoretical perspectives. The department seeks to help each student craft a unique project and find the resources across the university to support and enrich her chosen field of study. The excellence of student dissertations has been recognized by several prizes, both within Yale and by the American Comparative Literature Association.

2012 – Present

Student Name Dissertation Title Year Advisors
Stern, Lindsay Personhood: Literary Visions of a Legal Fiction 2023

Jesus Velasco

Rudiger Campe

Todorovic, Nebojsa Tragedies of Disintegration: Balkanizing Greco-Roman Antiquity 2023

Emily Greenwood Milne

Moira Fradinger

Abazon, Lital Speaking Sovereignty: The Plight of Multilingual Literature in Independent Israel, Morocco, and Algeria 2023

Hannan Hever

Jill Jarvis

Huang, Honglan Reading as Performance: Theatrical Books From Tristram Shandy to Artists’ Books for Children 2023 Katie Trumpener
Peng, Hsin-Yuan Cinematic Meteorology: Aesthetics and Epistemology of Weather Images 2023

Aaron Gerow

John Peters

Sidorenko, Ksenia Modernity’s Others: Marginality, Mass Culture, and the Early Comic Strip in the US 2023

Katie Trumpener

Marta Figlerowicz

Hamilton, Ted Imagining a Crisis: Human-Environmental Relations in North and South American Law and Literature 2022

Michael Warner

Moira Fradinger

Lee, Xavier Nonhistory: Slavery and the Black Historical Imagination 2022 Marta Figlerowicz
Suther, Jensen Spirit Disfigured: The Persistence of Freedom in the Modernist Novel 2022 Martin Hagglund
Baena, Victoria The Novel’s Lost Illusions: Time, Knowledge, and Narrative in the Provinces, 1800-1933 2021

Katie Trumpener

Maurice Samuels

Brunazzo, Alessandro Conjuring People: Pasolini’s Specters and the Global South 2021

Millicent Marcus

Dudley Andrew

Gubbins, Vanessa The Poem and Social Form: Making a People Out of a Poem in Peru and Germany 2021

Moira Fradinger

Paul North

Hirschfeld-Kroen, Leana Rise of the Modern Mediatrix: The Feminization of Media and Mediating Labor, 1865-1945 2021

Katie Trumpener

Charles Musser

Velez Valencia, Camila Craft and Storytelling: Romance and Reality in Joseph Conrad and Gabriel García Márquez 2021

Moira Fradinger

David Bromwich

Sheidaee, Iraj In Between Dār Al-Islām and the ‘Lands of the Christians’: Three Christian Arabic Travel Narratives From the Early Modern/Ottoman Period (Mid-17th-Early18th Centuries)  2021 Creswell, Robyn
Tolstoy, Andrey Where Do We Go When We Go Off-the-Grid? 2021

Francesco Casetti

Charles Musser

Fox, Catherine Christophe’s Ghost: The Making and Unmaking of Tragedy in Post-Revolutionary Haiti 2020

Marta Figlerowicz

Emily Greenwood

Piňos, Václav Haeckel’s Feral Embryo: Animality and Personal Formation in Western Origin Myths from Milton to Golding 2020

Rüdiger Campe

Marta Figlerowicz

Yovel, Noemi Confession and the German and American Novel: Intimate Talk, Violence and Last Confession 2019

Rüdiger Campe

Katie Trumpener

Mathew, Shaj

Wandering Comparisons: Global Genealogies of Flânerie and Modernity 2019

Marta Figlerowicz

Amy Hungerford

Tartici, Ayten

Adagios of Form 2019

Amy Hungerford

Carol Jacobs

Ruth Yeazell

Kivrak, Pelin Imperfect Cosmopolitans: Representations of Responsibility and Hospitality in Contemporary Middle Eastern Literatures, Film, and Art 2019

Katerina Clark

Martin Hägglund

Shpolberg, Masha Labor in Late Socialism: the Cinema of Polish Workers’ Unrest 1968-1981 2019

Katie Trumpener

Charles Musser

Powers, Julia Brazil’s Mystical Realists: Hilda Hilst, João Guimarães Rosa and Clarice Lispector in the 1960s 2018

David Quint

K. David Jackson

Eklund, Craig The Imagination in Proust, Joyce, and Beckett 2018 Martin Hägglund
Forsberg, Soren An Alien Point of View: Singular Experience and Literary Form 2018 Amy Hungerford;     Katie Trumpener
Weigel, Moira Animals, Media, and Modernity: Prehistories of the Posthuman 2017

Dudley Andrew;

Katie Trumpener

Carper, David Imagines historiarum: Renaissance Epic and the Development of Historical Thought  2017 David Quint
Fairfax, Daniel Politics, Aesthetics, Ontology: The Theoretical Legacy of Cahiers du cinema (1968-1973)  2017 Dudley Andrew
Li, Yukai Being late and being mistaken in the Homeric tradition 2017 Egbert Bakker;
Moira Fradinger
Nalencz, Leonard The Lives of Astyanax: Romance and Recovery in Ariosto, Spenser, and Milton 2017 David Quint
Chreiteh, Alexandra Fantastice Cohabitations: Magical Realism in Arabic and Hebrew and the Politics of Aesthetics 2016 Robyn Creswell
Harper, Elizabeth The Lost Children of Tragedy from Euripides to Racine 2016 David Quint
Piazza, Sarah Performing the Novel and Reading the Romantic Song: Popular Music and Metafiction in Tres tristes tigres, Sirena Selena vestida de pena, La importancia de llamarse Daniel Santos, Le cahier de romances, and Cien botellas en una pared  2016 David Quint;
Anibal González Pérez
Sinsky, Carolyn The Muse of Influence: Reading Russian Fiction in Britain, 1793 -1941  2016 Katie Trumpener
Sperling, Joshua Realism, Modernism and Commitment in the Work of John Berger: 1952-76  2016 Dudley Andrew
Younger, Neil D’apres le Roman: Cross-Channel Theatrical Adaptations from Richardson to Scott  2016 Thomas Kavanaugh;
Katie Trumpener
Bardi, Ariel Cleansing, Constructing, and Curating the State: India/Pakistan ‘47 and Israel/Palestine ‘48 2015 Hannan Hever
Kelbert, Eugenia Acquiring a Second Language Literature: Patterns in Translingual Writing from Modernism to the Moderns 2015

Vladimir Alexandrov;

Haun Saussy

Pfeifer, Annie To the Collector Belong the Spoils: The Transformation of Modernist Practices of Collecting 2015 Rüdiger Campe;Katie Trumpener
Roszak, Suzanne Triangular Diaspora and Social Resistance in the New American Literature 2015 Wai Chee Dimock;
Katie Trumpener
Dahlberg, Leif “Spacing Law and Politics: The constitution and representation of judicial places and juridicial spaces in law, literature and political philosophy in the works from Greek antiquity to the present” 2014 Carol Jacobs;
Haun Saussy
Weisberg, Margaret “Inventing the Desert and the Jungle: Creating identity through landscape in African and European culture” 2014 Christopher Miller;
Katie Trumpener
Wiedenfeld, Grant “Elastic Esthetics: A Comparative Media Approach to Modernist Literature and Cinema” 2014 Haun Saussy;
Francesco Casetti
Avrekh, Mikhail “Romantic Geographic and the (Re)invention of the Provinces in the Realist Novel” 2013

Katerina Clark

Maurice Samuels

Klemann, Heather “Developing Fictions: Childhood, Children’s Books, and the Novel” 2013 Jill Campbell;
Katie Trumpener
Mcmanus, Ann-Marie “Unfinished Awakenings: Afterlives of the Nahda and Postcolonialism in Arabic Literature 1894–2008” 2013 Haun Saussy;
Edwige Talbayev
Wolff, Spencer “The Darker Sides of Dignity: Freedom of Speech in the Wake of Authoritarian Collapse” 2013 Haun Saussy
Bloch, Elina “ ‘Unconfessed Confessions’: Strategies of (Not) Telling in Nineteenth-Century Narratives” 2012 Margaret Homans;
Katie Trumpener
Devecka, Martin “Athens, Rome, Tenochtitlan: A Historical Sociology of Ruins” 2012 Emily Greenwood
Gal, Noam “Fictional Inhumanities: Wartime Animals and Personification” 2012 Carol Jacobs;
Katie Trumpener
Jackson, Jeanne-Marie “Close to Home: Forms of Isolation in the Postcolonial Province” 2012 Katerina Clark;
Justin Neuman
Odnopozova, Dina “Russian-Argentine Literary Exchanges” 2012 Katerina Clark;
Moira Fradinger
Stevic, Aleksandar “Falling Short: Failure, Passivity, and the Crisis of Self-Fashioning in the European Novel, 1830–1927” 2012 Katie Trumpener;
Maurice Samuels
Student Name Dissertation Title Year Advisors
Cramer, Michael “Blackboard Cinema: Learning from the Pedagogical Art Film” 2011 Dudley Andrew;
John MacKay
Djagalov, Rossen “The People’s Republic of Letters: Twoards a Media History of Twentieth-Century Socialist Internationalism” 2011 Katerina Clark;
Michael Denning
Esposito, Stefan “The Pathological Revolution: Romanticism and Metaphors of Disease” 2011 Paul Fry;
Carol Jacobs
Feldman, Daniel “Unrepeatable: Fiction After Atrocity” 2011

Katie Trumpener

Benjamin Harshav

Jeong, Seung-hoon “Cinematic Interfaces: Retheorizing Apparatus, Image, Subjectivity” 2011 Thomas Elsaesser;
Dudley Andrew
Lienau, Annette “Comparative Literature in the Spirit of Bandung: Script Change, Language Choice, and Ideology in African and Asian Literatures (Senegal & Indonesia)” 2011 Christopher Miller
Coker, William “Romantic Exteriority: The Construction of Literature in Rousseau, Jean Paul, and P.B. Shelley” 2010 Cyrus Hamlin;
Paul Fry
Fan, Victor “Football Meets Opium: A Topological Study of Political Violence, Sovereignty, and Cinema Archaeology Between ‘England’ and ‘China’ ” 2010 Haun Saussy;
Dudley Andrew
Johnson, Rebecca “A History of the Novel in Translation: Cosmopolitan Tales in English and Arabic, 1729–1859” 2010 Katie Trumpener
Parfitt, Alexandra “Immoral Lessons: Education and Novel in Nineteenth-Century France” 2010 Peter Brooks;
Maurice Samuels
Xie, Wei “Female Cross-Dressing in Chinese Opera and Cinema” 2010 Dudley Andrew
Flynn, Catherine “Street Things: Transformations of Experience in the Modern City” 2009 Carol Jacobs;
Katie Trumpener
Lovejoy, Alice “The Army and the Avant-Garde: Art Cinema in the Czechoslovak Military, 1951–1971” 2009 Katie Trumpener
Rhoads, Bonita “Frontiers of Privacy: The Domestic Enterprise of Modern Fiction” 2009 Peter Brooks
Rubini, Rocco “Renaissance Humanism and Postmodernity: A Rhetorical History” 2009 David Quint;
Giuseppe Mazzotta
Chaudhuri, Pramit “Themoacy: Ethical Criticism and the Struggle for Authority in Epic and Tragedy” 2008 Susanna Braund;
David Quint
Lisi, Leonardo “Aesthetics of Dependency: Early Modernism and the Struggle against Idealism in Kierkegaard Ibsen, and Henry James” 2008 Paul Fry;
Pericles Lewis
Weiner, Allison “Refusals of Mastery: Ethical Encounters in Henry James and Maurice Blanchot” 2008 Wai Chee Dimock;
Carol Jacobs
Hafiz, Hiba “The Novel and the Ancien Régime: Britain, France, and the Rise of the Novel in the Seventeenth Century” 2007 Peter Brooks;
Katie Trumpener
Illibruck, Helmut “Figurations of Nostalgia: From the Pre-Enlightenment to Romanticism and Beyond” 2007 Paul Fry
Kern, Anne Marie “The Sacred Made Material: Instances of Game and Play in Interwar Europe” 2007 Dudley Andrew
Boes, Tobias “The Syncopated Self: Crises of Historical Experience in the Modernist ” 2006 Carol Jacobs;
Pericles Lewis
Boyer, Patricio “Empire and American Visions of the Humane” 2006 Rolena Adorno;
Roberto Gonález Echevarría
Chang, Eugene “Disaster and Hope: A Study of Walter Benjamin and Maurice Blanchot” 2006 Shoshana Felman
Mannheimer, Katherine “ ‘The Scope in Ev’ry Page’: Eighteenth-Century Satire as a Mode of Vision” 2006 Jill Campbell;
Katie Trumpener
Solovieva, Olga “A Discourse Apart: The Body of Christ and the Practice of Cultural Subversion” 2006 Haun Saussy
van den Berg, Christopher “The Social Aesthetics of Tacitus’ ” 2006 Susanna Braund;
David Quint
Anderson, Jerome B. “New World Romance and Authorship” 2005 Vera Kutzinski;
Roberto Gonález Echevarría
Enjuto Rangel, Cecilia “Cities in Ruins in Modern Poetry” 2005 Roberto Gonález Echevarría
Kliger, Ilya “Truth, Time and the Novel: Verdiction in Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Balzac” 2005 Peter Brooks;
Michael Holquist
Kolb, Martina “Journeys of Desire: Liguria as Literary Landscape in Eugenio Montale, Ezra Pound, and Gottfried Benn” 2005 Harold Bloom;
Peter Brooks
Matz, Aaron “Satire in the Age of Realism, 1860–1910” 2005 Peter Brooks;
Ruth Bernard Yeazell
Student Name Dissertation Title Year Advisors
Barrenechea, Antonio “Telluric Monstrosity in the Americas: The Encyclopedic Taxonomies of Fuentes, Melville, and Pynchon” 2004 Roberto Gonález Echevarría;
Vera Kutzinski
Buchenau, Stefanie “The Art of Invention and the Invention of Art. Logic, Rhetoric, and Aesthetics in the Early German Enlightenment” 2004 A. Wood;
G. Raulet
Friedman, Daniel “Pedagogies of Resistance” 2004 Shoshana Felman
Raff, Sarah “Erotics of Instruction: Jane Austen and the Generalizing Novel” 2004 Peter Brooks
Steiner, Lina “The Poetics of Maturity: Autonomy and Aesthetic Education in Byron, Pushkin, and Stendhal” 2004 Peter Brooks;
Michael Holquist
Chesney, Duncan “Signs of Aristocracy in : Proust and the Salon from Mme de Remouillet to Mme de Guermantes” 2003 Peter Brooks;
Pericles Lewis
Farbman, Herschel “Dreaming, Writing, and Restlessness in Freud, Blanchot, Beckett, and Joyce” 2003 Paul Fry
Fradinger, Moira “Radical Evil: Literary Visions of Political Origins in Sophocles, Sade and Vargas Llosa” 2003 Roberto Gonález Echevarría;
Shoshana Felman
Gsoels-Lorensen, Jutta “Epitaphic Remembrance: Representing a Catastrophic Past in Second Generation Texts” 2003 Vilashini Cooppan;
Benjamin Harshav
Horsman, Yasco “Theatres of Justice: Judging, Staging, and Working Through in Arendt, Brecht and Delbo” 2003 Shoshana Felman
Katsaros, Laure “A Kaleidoscope in the Midst of the Crowds: Poetry and the City in Walt Whitman’s and Charles Baudelaire’s ” 2003 Shoshana Felman
Reichman, Ravit “Taking Care: Injury and Responsibility in Literature and Law” 2003 Peter Brooks;
Shoshana Felman
Sun, Emily “Literature and Impersonality: Keats, Flaubert, and the Crisis of the Author” 2003 Shoshana Felman;
Paul Fry
Katsaros, George “Tragedy, Catharsis, and Reason: An Essay on the Idea of the Tragic” 2002 Shoshana Felman
Mirabile, Michael “From Inscription to Performance: The Rhetoric of Self-Enclosure in the Modern Novel” 2002 Peter Brooks
Alphandary, Idit “The Subject of Autonomy and Fellowship in: Guy de Maupassant, D.W. Winnicott and Joseph Conrad” 2001 Peter Brooks
Bateman, Chimène “Addresses of Desire: Literary Innivation and the Female Destinataire in Medieval and Renaissance Literature” 2001 Edwin Duval
David Quint
Butler, Henry E. “Writing and Vampires in the Works of Lautréamont, Bram Stoker, Daniel Paul Schreber, and Fritz Lang” 2001 Michael Holquist;
David Quint
Duerfahrd, Lance “The Work of Poverty: the Minimum in Samuel Beckett and Alain Resnais” 2001 Shoshana Felman;
Susan Blood
Hunt, Philippe “Spectres du réel: Déliminations du Réalism Magique” 2001 Paolo Valesio
Liu, Haoming “Transformation of Childhood Experience: Rainer Maria Rilke and Fei Ming” 2001 Cyrus Hamlin
Peretz, Eyal “Literature and the Enigma of Power: A Reading of Moby-Dick” 2001 Shoshana Felman
Pickford, Henry “The Sense of Semblance: Modern German and Russian Literature after Adorno” 2001 Karsten Harries;
Winfried Menninghaus;
William M. Todd III
von Zastrow, Claus “The Ground of Our Beseeching: The Guiding Sense of Place in German and English Elegiac Poetry” 2001 Paul Fry;
Cyrus Hamlin;
Winfried Menninghaus
Wilson, Emily “Why Do I Overlive? Greek, Latin and English Tragic Survival” 2001 Victor Bers;
David Quint
Lintz, Edward M. “A Curie for Poetry? Nuclear Disintegration and Gertrude Stein’s Modernist Reception” 2000 Michael Holquist;
Tyrus Miller
Anderson, Matthew D. “Modernity and the Example of Poetry: Readings in Baudelaire, Verlaine and Ashbery” 1999 Geoffrey Hartman
Bernstein, Jonathan “Parataxis in Heraclitus, Höderlin, Mayakovsky” 1999 Benjamin Harshav;
Winfried Menninghaus
Pollard, Tanya L. “Dangerous Remedies: Poison and Theatre in the English Renaissance” 1999 David Quint
Freeland, Natalka “Trash fiction: The Victorian Novel and the Rise of Disposable Culture” 1998 Peter Brooks;
Ruth Bernard Yeazell
Hood, Carra “Reading the News: Activism, Authority, Audience” 1998 Hazel Carby
MacKay, John “Placing the Lyric: An Essay on Poetry and Community 1998 Geoffrey Hartman; Tomas Venclova
Schuller, Mortiz “ ‘Watching the Self’: The Mirror of Self-Knowledge in Ancient Literature” 1998 Heinrich von Staden;
Gordon Williams
Stark, Jared “Beyond Words: Suicide and Modern Narrative” 1998 Cathy Caruth;
Geoffrey Hartman

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  • Comparing and contrasting in an essay | Tips & examples

Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay | Tips & Examples

Published on August 6, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

Comparing and contrasting is an important skill in academic writing . It involves taking two or more subjects and analyzing the differences and similarities between them.

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Table of contents

When should i compare and contrast, making effective comparisons, comparing and contrasting as a brainstorming tool, structuring your comparisons, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about comparing and contrasting.

Many assignments will invite you to make comparisons quite explicitly, as in these prompts.

  • Compare the treatment of the theme of beauty in the poetry of William Wordsworth and John Keats.
  • Compare and contrast in-class and distance learning. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Some other prompts may not directly ask you to compare and contrast, but present you with a topic where comparing and contrasting could be a good approach.

One way to approach this essay might be to contrast the situation before the Great Depression with the situation during it, to highlight how large a difference it made.

Comparing and contrasting is also used in all kinds of academic contexts where it’s not explicitly prompted. For example, a literature review involves comparing and contrasting different studies on your topic, and an argumentative essay may involve weighing up the pros and cons of different arguments.

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As the name suggests, comparing and contrasting is about identifying both similarities and differences. You might focus on contrasting quite different subjects or comparing subjects with a lot in common—but there must be some grounds for comparison in the first place.

For example, you might contrast French society before and after the French Revolution; you’d likely find many differences, but there would be a valid basis for comparison. However, if you contrasted pre-revolutionary France with Han-dynasty China, your reader might wonder why you chose to compare these two societies.

This is why it’s important to clarify the point of your comparisons by writing a focused thesis statement . Every element of an essay should serve your central argument in some way. Consider what you’re trying to accomplish with any comparisons you make, and be sure to make this clear to the reader.

Comparing and contrasting can be a useful tool to help organize your thoughts before you begin writing any type of academic text. You might use it to compare different theories and approaches you’ve encountered in your preliminary research, for example.

Let’s say your research involves the competing psychological approaches of behaviorism and cognitive psychology. You might make a table to summarize the key differences between them.

Behaviorism Cognitive psychology
Dominant from the 1920s to the 1950s Rose to prominence in the 1960s
Mental processes cannot be empirically studied Mental processes as focus of study
Focuses on how thinking is affected by conditioning and environment Focuses on the cognitive processes themselves

Or say you’re writing about the major global conflicts of the twentieth century. You might visualize the key similarities and differences in a Venn diagram.

A Venn diagram showing the similarities and differences between World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.

These visualizations wouldn’t make it into your actual writing, so they don’t have to be very formal in terms of phrasing or presentation. The point of comparing and contrasting at this stage is to help you organize and shape your ideas to aid you in structuring your arguments.

When comparing and contrasting in an essay, there are two main ways to structure your comparisons: the alternating method and the block method.

The alternating method

In the alternating method, you structure your text according to what aspect you’re comparing. You cover both your subjects side by side in terms of a specific point of comparison. Your text is structured like this:

Mouse over the example paragraph below to see how this approach works.

One challenge teachers face is identifying and assisting students who are struggling without disrupting the rest of the class. In a traditional classroom environment, the teacher can easily identify when a student is struggling based on their demeanor in class or simply by regularly checking on students during exercises. They can then offer assistance quietly during the exercise or discuss it further after class. Meanwhile, in a Zoom-based class, the lack of physical presence makes it more difficult to pay attention to individual students’ responses and notice frustrations, and there is less flexibility to speak with students privately to offer assistance. In this case, therefore, the traditional classroom environment holds the advantage, although it appears likely that aiding students in a virtual classroom environment will become easier as the technology, and teachers’ familiarity with it, improves.

The block method

In the block method, you cover each of the overall subjects you’re comparing in a block. You say everything you have to say about your first subject, then discuss your second subject, making comparisons and contrasts back to the things you’ve already said about the first. Your text is structured like this:

  • Point of comparison A
  • Point of comparison B

The most commonly cited advantage of distance learning is the flexibility and accessibility it offers. Rather than being required to travel to a specific location every week (and to live near enough to feasibly do so), students can participate from anywhere with an internet connection. This allows not only for a wider geographical spread of students but for the possibility of studying while travelling. However, distance learning presents its own accessibility challenges; not all students have a stable internet connection and a computer or other device with which to participate in online classes, and less technologically literate students and teachers may struggle with the technical aspects of class participation. Furthermore, discomfort and distractions can hinder an individual student’s ability to engage with the class from home, creating divergent learning experiences for different students. Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others.

Note that these two methods can be combined; these two example paragraphs could both be part of the same essay, but it’s wise to use an essay outline to plan out which approach you’re taking in each paragraph.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Some essay prompts include the keywords “compare” and/or “contrast.” In these cases, an essay structured around comparing and contrasting is the appropriate response.

Comparing and contrasting is also a useful approach in all kinds of academic writing : You might compare different studies in a literature review , weigh up different arguments in an argumentative essay , or consider different theoretical approaches in a theoretical framework .

Your subjects might be very different or quite similar, but it’s important that there be meaningful grounds for comparison . You can probably describe many differences between a cat and a bicycle, but there isn’t really any connection between them to justify the comparison.

You’ll have to write a thesis statement explaining the central point you want to make in your essay , so be sure to know in advance what connects your subjects and makes them worth comparing.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

  • The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
  • The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

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How to Write a Comparative Essay

Last Updated: July 17, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,687,136 times.

Perhaps you have been assigned a comparative essay in class, or need to write a comprehensive comparative report for work. In order to write a stellar comparative essay, you have to start off by picking two subjects that have enough similarities and differences to be compared in a meaningful way, such as two sports teams or two systems of government. Once you have that, then you have to find at least two or three points of comparison and use research, facts, and well-organized paragraphs to impress and captivate your readers. Writing the comparative essay is an important skill that you will use many times throughout your scholastic career.

Comparative Essay Outline and Example

comparative study on thesis

How to Develop the Essay Content

Step 1 Analyze the question or essay prompt carefully.

  • Many comparative essay assignments will signal their purpose by using words such as "compare," "contrast," "similarities," and "differences" in the language of the prompt.
  • Also see whether there are any limits placed on your topic.

Step 2 Understand the type of comparison essay you are being asked to write.

  • The assignment will generally ask guiding questions if you are expected to incorporate comparison as part of a larger assignment. For example: "Choose a particular idea or theme, such as love, beauty, death, or time, and consider how two different Renaissance poets approach this idea." This sentence asks you to compare two poets, but it also asks how the poets approach the point of comparison. In other words, you will need to make an evaluative or analytical argument about those approaches.
  • If you're unclear on what the essay prompt is asking you to do, talk with your instructor. It's much better to clarify questions up front than discover you've written the entire essay incorrectly.

Step 3 List similarities and differences between the items you are comparing.

  • The best place to start is to write a list of things that the items you are comparing have in common as well as differences between them. [3] X Research source

Step 4 Evaluate your list to find your argument.

  • You may want to develop a system such as highlighting different types of similarities in different colors, or use different colours if you are using an electronic device.
  • For example, if you are comparing two novels, you may want to highlight similarities in characters in pink, settings in blue, and themes or messages in green.

Step 5 Establish the basis for your comparison.

  • The basis for your comparison may be assigned to you. Be sure to check your assignment or prompt.
  • A basis for comparison may have to do with a theme, characteristics, or details about two different things. [6] X Research source
  • A basis for comparison may also be known as the “grounds” for comparison or a frame of reference.
  • Keep in mind that comparing 2 things that are too similar makes it hard to write an effective paper. The goal of a comparison paper is to draw interesting parallels and help the reader realize something interesting about our world. This means your subjects must be different enough to make your argument interesting.

Step 6 Research your subjects of comparison.

  • Research may not be required or appropriate for your particular assignment. If your comparative essay is not meant to include research, you should avoid including it.
  • A comparative essay about historical events, social issues, or science-related topics are more likely to require research, while a comparison of two works of literature are less likely to require research.
  • Be sure to cite any research data properly according to the discipline in which you are writing (eg, MLA, APA, or Chicago format).

Step 7 Develop a thesis statement.

  • Your thesis needs to make a claim about your subjects that you will then defend in your essay. It's good for this claim to be a bit controversial or up for interpretation, as this allows you to build a good argument.

How to Organize the Content

Step 1 Outline your comparison.

  • Use a traditional outline form if you would like to, but even a simple list of bulleted points in the order that you plan to present them would help.
  • You can also write down your main points on sticky notes (or type them, print them, and then cut them out) so that you can arrange and rearrange them before deciding on a final order.

Step 2 Use a mixed paragraphs method.

  • The advantages of this structure are that it continually keeps the comparison in the mind of the reader and forces you, the writer, to pay equal attention to each side of the argument.
  • This method is especially recommended for lengthy essays or complicated subjects where both the writer and reader can easily become lost. For Example: Paragraph 1: Engine power of vehicle X / Engine power of vehicle Y Paragraph 2: Stylishness of vehicle X / Stylishness of vehicle Y Paragraph 3: Safety rating of vehicle X / Safety rating of vehicle Y

Step 3 Alternate the subjects in each paragraph.

  • The advantages of this structure are that it allows you to discuss points in greater detail and makes it less jarring to tackle two topics that radically different.
  • This method is especially recommended for essays where some depth and detail are required. For example: Paragraph 1: Engine power of vehicle X Paragraph 2: Engine power of vehicle Y Paragraph 3: Stylishness of vehicle X Paragraph 4: Stylishness of vehicle Y Paragraph 5: Safety rating of vehicle X Paragraph 6: Safety rating of vehicle Y

Step 4 Cover one subject at a time thoroughly.

  • This method is by far the most dangerous, as your comparison can become both one-sided and difficult for the reader to follow.
  • This method is only recommended for short essays with simplistic subjects that the reader can easily remember as (s)he goes along. For example: Paragraph 1: Engine power of vehicle X Paragraph 2: Stylishness of vehicle X Paragraph 3: Safety rating of vehicle X Paragraph 4: Engine power of vehicle Y Paragraph 5: Stylishness of vehicle Y Paragraph 6: Safety rating of vehicle Y

How to Write the Essay

Step 1 Write your essay out of order.

  • Body paragraphs first . Work through all that information you've been compiling and see what kind of story it tells you. Only when you've worked with your data will you know what the larger point of the paper is.
  • Conclusion second . Now that you've done all the heavy lifting, the point of your essay should be fresh in your mind. Strike while the iron’s hot. Start your conclusion with a restatement of your thesis.
  • Intro last . Open your introduction with a "hook" to grab the reader's attention. Since you've already written your essay, choose a hook that reflects what you will talk about, whether it's a quote, statistic, factoid, rhetorical question, or anecdote. Then, write 1-2 sentences about your topic, narrowing down to your thesis statement, which completes your introduction.

Step 2 Write the body paragraphs.

  • Organize your paragraphs using one of the approaches listed in the "Organizing the Content" part below. Once you have defined your points of comparison, choose the structure for the body paragraphs (where your comparisons go) that makes the most sense for your data. To work out all the organizational kinks, it’s recommended that you write an outline as a placeholder.
  • Be very careful not to address different aspects of each subject. Comparing the color of one thing to the size of another does nothing to help the reader understand how they stack up.

Step 3 Write the conclusion...

  • Be aware that your various comparisons won’t necessarily lend themselves to an obvious conclusion, especially because people value things differently. If necessary, make the parameters of your argument more specific. (Ex. “Though X is more stylish and powerful, Y’s top safety ratings make it a more appropriate family vehicle .”)
  • When you have two radically different topics, it sometimes helps to point out one similarity they have before concluding. (i.e. "Although X and Y don't seem to have anything in common, in actuality, they both ....”)

Step 4 Write the introduction...

  • Even the best writers know editing is important to produce a good piece. Your essay will not be your best effort unless you revise it.
  • If possible, find a friend to look over the essay, as he or she may find problems that you missed.
  • It sometimes helps to increase or decrease the font size while editing to change the visual layout of the paper. Looking at the same thing for too long makes your brain fill in what it expects instead of what it sees, leaving you more likely to overlook errors.

Expert Q&A

Christopher Taylor, PhD

  • The title and introduction really catch the reader's attention and make them read the essay. Make sure you know how to write a catchy essay title . Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 1
  • Quotes should be used sparingly and must thoroughly complement the point they are being used to exemplify/justify. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 2
  • The key principle to remember in a comparative paragraph or essay is that you must clarify precisely what you are comparing and keep that comparison alive throughout the essay. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 2

comparative study on thesis

  • Avoid vague language such as "people," "stuff," "things," etc. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0
  • Avoid, at all costs, the conclusion that the two subjects are "similar, yet different." This commonly found conclusion weakens any comparative essay, because it essentially says nothing about the comparison. Most things are "similar, yet different" in some way. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0
  • Some believe that an "unbalanced" comparison - that is, when the essay focuses predominantly on one of the two issues, and gives less importance to the other - is weaker, and that writers should strive for 50/50 treatment of the texts or issues being examined. Others, however, value emphasis in the essay that reflects the particular demands of the essay's purpose or thesis. One text may simply provide context, or historical/artistic/political reference for the main text, and therefore need not occupy half of the essay's discussion or analysis. A "weak" essay in this context would strive to treat unequal texts equally, rather than strive to appropriately apportion space to the relevant text. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
  • Beware of the "Frying Pan Conclusion" in which you simply recount everything that was said in the main body of the essay. While your conclusion should include a simple summary of your argument, it should also emphatically state the point in a new and convincing way, one which the reader will remember clearly. If you can see a way forward from a problem or dilemma, include that as well. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 1

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Write an Essay

  • ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/comparing-and-contrasting/
  • ↑ http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/comparative-essay
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/comparing-and-contrasting/
  • ↑ https://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/style_purpose_strategy/compare_contrast.html
  • ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/writingforsuccess/chapter/10-7-comparison-and-contrast/
  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html
  • How to Structure Paragraphs in an Essay

About This Article

Christopher Taylor, PhD

To write a comparative essay, start by writing an introduction that introduces the 2 subjects you'll be comparing. You should also include your thesis statement in the introduction, which should state what you've concluded based on your comparisons. Next, write the body of your essay so that each paragraph focuses on one point of comparison between your subjects. Finally, write a conclusion that summarizes your main points and draws a larger conclusion about the two things you compared. To learn how to do research for your essay, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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  • Renee L. Phillip , The Ideal of Hybridity: Rethinking the Theory within the Context of Albert Camus, José Luandino Vieira and their Selected Works
  • Rahul Malik , William Methwold and the Great Palaces of Europe
  • Johanna Meyer, Schiller Als Arzt: The Theater As Clinic, Pharmacy and Madhouse
  • Wallace Jones , Debilitating Dichotomies: The Fragmented Nationalist Endeavor of the Gaucho Literary Genre
  • Cannon Biggs , Paradoxes of the Postwar Body in The Face of Another
  • Matthew Rodriguez , On the Threshold of the Archive: The Madeleine and the Bartlett Pears
  • Therese Korndorf , Überzähliges Dasein: Language and Being in the Poetry of Rilke and Mallarmé
  • Alexander J. Lambrow , Revolutionary Late-Weimar Objectivity and the "State of Exception"
  • Emily K. Kane , Unveiled Stories: Desire, Representation and Resistance in Feminist Counter-Cinema
  • Abigail R. Alexander , Adventures in Writing: Extraordinary Voyages with E.A. Poe and J.Verne
  • Hermanjit S. Bajwa , Into the Cave with the Marquis de Sade: From Degradation to Translation
  • Maya C. Nathan , Nisi Vinceris: Parody and Intertextuality in Titus Andronicus
  • Ying Cheng , Narratives of the Desiring Subject: An Analysis of Gender,  Desire and Agency in Marguerite Duras' The Love and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway
  • Amaury Boscio Colon , Four Authors in Quest of Utopia: Cortazar, Duras, Carpentier, Perec
  • Silvia Ferreira , Resistance from Within:  Literary Negotiations of Female Identity in the Space of the Postcolonial Home
  • Alexander Fidel , In No Unmediated Terms: History, Memory, and Representation in MAUS and W ou le Souvenir d'Enfance
  • Andrew Gates , Being and Beauty: Mystical Experience and Poetic Self-Affirmation
  • Kirby Liu , The Cities of St. Petersburg
  • Annabel Seymour , The Passionate Spectator: Cinematic 'Flânerie' in  Bennett Miller's The Cruise and Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin's Chronique d'un Été
  • Marisa Taney , Utopia and Revolution

Examples

Comparative Research

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comparative study on thesis

Although not everyone would agree, comparing is not always bad. Comparing things can also give you a handful of benefits. For instance, there are times in our life where we feel lost. You may not be getting the job that you want or have the sexy body that you have been aiming for a long time now. Then, you happen to cross path with an old friend of yours, who happened to get the job that you always wanted. This scenario may put your self-esteem down, knowing that this friend got what you want, while you didn’t. Or you can choose to look at your friend as an example that your desire is actually attainable. Come up with a plan to achieve your  personal development goal . Perhaps, ask for tips from this person or from the people who inspire you. According to the article posted in  brit.co , licensed master social worker and therapist Kimberly Hershenson said that comparing yourself to someone successful can be an excellent self-motivation to work on your goals.

Aside from self-improvement, as a researcher, you should know that comparison is an essential method in scientific studies, such as experimental research and descriptive research . Through this method, you can uncover the relationship between two or more variables of your project in the form of comparative analysis .

What is Comparative Research?

Aiming to compare two or more variables of an experiment project, experts usually apply comparative research examples in social sciences to compare countries and cultures across a particular area or the entire world. Despite its proven effectiveness, you should keep it in mind that some states have different disciplines in sharing data. Thus, it would help if you consider the affecting factors in gathering specific information.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Comparative Studies

In comparing variables, the statistical and mathematical data collection, and analysis that quantitative research methodology naturally uses to uncover the correlational connection of the variables, can be essential. Additionally, since quantitative research requires a specific research question, this method can help you can quickly come up with one particular comparative research question.

The goal of comparative research is drawing a solution out of the similarities and differences between the focused variables. Through non-experimental or qualitative research , you can include this type of research method in your comparative research design.

13+ Comparative Research Examples

Know more about comparative research by going over the following examples. You can download these zipped documents in PDF and MS Word formats.

1. Comparative Research Report Template

Comparative Research Report Template

  • Google Docs

Size: 113 KB

2. Business Comparative Research Template

Business Comparative Research Template

Size: 69 KB

3. Comparative Market Research Template

Comparative Market Research Template

Size: 172 KB

4. Comparative Research Strategies Example

Comparative Research Strategies Example

5. Comparative Research in Anthropology Example

Comparative Research in Anthropology Example

Size: 192 KB

6. Sample Comparative Research Example

Sample Comparative Research Example

Size: 516 KB

7. Comparative Area Research Example

Comparative Area Research Example

8. Comparative Research on Women’s Emplyment Example

Comparative Research on Womens Emplyment

Size: 290 KB

9. Basic Comparative Research Example

Basic Comparative Research Example

Size: 19 KB

10. Comparative Research in Medical Treatments Example

Comparative Research in Medical Treatments

11. Comparative Research in Education Example

Comparative Research in Education

Size: 455 KB

12. Formal Comparative Research Example

Formal Comparative Research Example

Size: 244 KB

13. Comparative Research Designs Example

Comparing Comparative Research Designs

Size: 259 KB

14. Casual Comparative Research in DOC

Caasual Comparative Research in DOC

Best Practices in Writing an Essay for Comparative Research in Visual Arts

If you are going to write an essay for a comparative research examples paper, this section is for you. You must know that there are inevitable mistakes that students do in essay writing . To avoid those mistakes, follow the following pointers.

1. Compare the Artworks Not the Artists

One of the mistakes that students do when writing a comparative essay is comparing the artists instead of artworks. Unless your instructor asked you to write a biographical essay, focus your writing on the works of the artists that you choose.

2. Consult to Your Instructor

There is broad coverage of information that you can find on the internet for your project. Some students, however, prefer choosing the images randomly. In doing so, you may not create a successful comparative study. Therefore, we recommend you to discuss your selections with your teacher.

3. Avoid Redundancy

It is common for the students to repeat the ideas that they have listed in the comparison part. Keep it in mind that the spaces for this activity have limitations. Thus, it is crucial to reserve each space for more thoroughly debated ideas.

4. Be Minimal

Unless instructed, it would be practical if you only include a few items(artworks). In this way, you can focus on developing well-argued information for your study.

5. Master the Assessment Method and the Goals of the Project

We get it. You are doing this project because your instructor told you so. However, you can make your study more valuable by understanding the goals of doing the project. Know how you can apply this new learning. You should also know the criteria that your teachers use to assess your output. It will give you a chance to maximize the grade that you can get from this project.

Comparing things is one way to know what to improve in various aspects. Whether you are aiming to attain a personal goal or attempting to find a solution to a certain task, you can accomplish it by knowing how to conduct a comparative study. Use this content as a tool to expand your knowledge about this research methodology .

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  1. Thesis Examples For Comparative Essays

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  2. 🌈 Thesis statement for comparison essay. 20+ Outstanding Thesis

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  3. Compare & Contrast Essay

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  4. Comparative Research

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  5. Comparative Essay

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  6. Mini Comparative Study

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COMMENTS

  1. (PDF) A Short Introduction to Comparative Research

    A comparative study is a kind of method that analyzes phenomena and then put them together. to find the points of differentiation and similarity (MokhtarianPour, 2016). A comparative perspective ...

  2. Comparative Analysis

    Comparative analysis asks writers to make an argument about the relationship between two or more texts. Beyond that, there's a lot of variation, but three overarching kinds of comparative analysis stand out: Subordinate (A → B) or (B → A): Using a theoretical text (as a "lens") to explain a case study or work of art (e.g., how Anthony Jack ...

  3. PDF Finding the perfect blend: A comparative study of online, face-to-face

    Although many case studies and guidelines have been published about blended learning, there are only a limited number of studies that compare blended instruction with both traditional and online learning. Most of these comparative studies examine only one course and focus on the relationships between no more than a couple of variables. In order to

  4. Comparative Studies

    Comparative is a concept that derives from the verb "to compare" (the etymology is Latin comparare, derivation of par = equal, with prefix com-, it is a systematic comparison).Comparative studies are investigations to analyze and evaluate, with quantitative and qualitative methods, a phenomenon and/or facts among different areas, subjects, and/or objects to detect similarities and/or ...

  5. PDF How to Write a Comparative Analysis

    To write a good compare-and-contrast paper, you must take your raw data—the similarities and differences you've observed —and make them cohere into a meaningful argument. Here are the five elements required. Frame of Reference. This is the context within which you place the two things you plan to compare and contrast; it is the umbrella ...

  6. Comparative Literature Theses and Dissertations

    Sickness of the Spirit: A Comparative Study of Lu Xun and James Joyce, Liang Meng. PDF. Dryden and the Solution to Domination: Bonds of Love In the Conquest of Granada, Lydia FitzSimons Robins. Theses/Dissertations from 2010 PDF. The Family As the New Collectivity of Belonging In the Fiction of Bharati Mukherjee and Jhumpa Lahiri, Sarbani Bose. PDF

  7. A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Comparative Analysis

    Organize information. It is important to structure your comments for your readers to want to read your comparative analysis. The idea is to make it easy for your readers to navigate your paper and get them to find the information that interests them quickly. 5. End with a conclusion.

  8. Comparative research

    Comparative research is a research methodology in the social sciences exemplified in cross-cultural or comparative studies that aims to make comparisons across different countries or cultures.A major problem in comparative research is that the data sets in different countries may define categories differently (for example by using different definitions of poverty) or may not use the same ...

  9. Recent Dissertations in Comparative Literature

    Dissertations in Comparative Literature have taken on vast number of topics and ranged across various languages, literatures, historical periods and theoretical perspectives. The department seeks to help each student craft a unique project and find the resources across the university to support and enrich her chosen field of study ...

  10. Find Dissertations & Theses

    ProQuest database providing the electronic equivalent of Dissertation Abstracts International. Beginning with the first U.S. dissertation in 1861, represents the work of authors from North American and European universities on a full range of academic subjects. Indexes and provides access to Georgetown-authored theses and dissertations.

  11. PDF A Comparative Analysis of Thesis Guidelines and Master Thesis Abstracts

    This study examines master of art (MA) theses abstracts written in English in terms of their texual structures. In order to design a comparative study, abstracts are collected from universities (i) with a guideline in Turkey (ii) without a guideline in Turkey and (iii) with a guideline in the USA. 94 abstracts, randomly selected from

  12. Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

    You might use it to compare different theories and approaches you've encountered in your preliminary research, for example. Let's say your research involves the competing psychological approaches of behaviorism and cognitive psychology. You might make a table to summarize the key differences between them. Behaviorism. Cognitive psychology.

  13. How to Write a Comparative Essay (with Pictures)

    2. Use a mixed paragraphs method. Address both halves of the comparison in each paragraph. This means that the first paragraph will compare the first aspect of each subject, the second will compare the second, and so on, making sure to always address the subjects in the same order.

  14. PDF Single case studies vs. multiple case studies: A comparative study

    3.1.1 Format of a case study. Except to identify the case and the specific type of a case study that shall be implemented, the researchers have to consider if it's wisely to make a single case study, or if it's better to do a multiple case study, for the understanding of the phenomenon.

  15. Recent PhD Dissertations

    The Intention of the Spirit: Air, Breath, and Voice in European Poetry and Philosophy. 2021-2022. 'Through the Looking Glass': The Narrative Performance of Anarkali. Indeterminate "Greekness": A Diasporic and Transnational Poetics. Imagined Mothers: The Construction of Italy, Ancient Greece, and Anglo-American Hegemony.

  16. Honors Theses

    Undergraduate. Undergraduate Research. Honors Theses - Examples. 1. A Carne e a Navalha : Self-Reflective Representation of Marginalized Characters in Brazilian Narrative by Clarice Lispector, Eduardo Coutinho, and Racionias MCs by Corina Ahlswede, 2018. 2. The Travel of Clear Waters: A Case Study on the Afterlife of a Poem by Kaiyu Xu, 2019. 3.

  17. PDF A Causal Comparative Study on The Effect of Proficiency-based ...

    A CAUSAL COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PROFICIENCY-BASED EDUCATION ON SCHOOL CLIMATE by Kay B. York A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA 2017 APPROVED BY: Michelle J. Barthlow, Ed.D., Committee Chair Vance Pickard, Ed.D., Committee Member

  18. A Comparative Study of use of the Library and the Internet as Sources

    A Comparative Study of use of the Library and the Internet as Sources of Information by Graduate Students in the University Of Ghana Abstract This study was conducted to compare Internet use and library use among graduate students. It was based on the assumption that graduate students use the Internet more than the library.

  19. Past Theses

    2009 - Present. COLT honors theses are stored in Rauner library - after 2023 please search the digital theses here. 2024. Tiffany Chang, Loving 바리데기: A Traveler's Guide to Anthologizing the 여성 시인. Fabriozio Lopez Cochachi, From History to Memory: Comparative Discourse of Proust's Le Temps Retrouvé and Michelet's Histoire de la ...

  20. 13 Compare and Contrast Thesis Examples to Inspire You

    With these points in mind, let's take a look at 13 compare and contrast thesis statement examples to get you started with your essay. I've included a broad topic for each thesis statement and divided the lists into general comparisons and literary comparisons. I've also linked each of the topics to a related example essay for extra ...

  21. Comparative Research

    Aside from self-improvement, as a researcher, you should know that comparison is an essential method in scientific studies, such as experimental research and descriptive research. Through this method, you can uncover the relationship between two or more variables of your project in the form of comparative analysis .

  22. Bertram J. Cohler BA Thesis Prize

    Applicants should submit a pdf of their CHD B.A. Honor thesis to the Undergraduate Preceptor ([email protected]), and should include their name, advisor's name, phone number, and e-mail address on the title page. This application requires one letter of recommendation from the student's advisor, also due by the deadline.