WRITING 1 Comparing and contrasting A) linking words for comparing and contrasting Exercise 1. There are several linking words in the list below, which do not imply contrast. How many can you identify? Check your answers with your neighbour and think of some more linking words used for comparing. · nevertheless · nonetheless · similarly · still · however · although · even though · though · just like · despite / in spite of · in contrast (to) / in comparison · while · same as · whereas · on the other hand · on the contrary Based on https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/4_writingskills/writing_tuts/linking_LL/linking3.html Exercise 2A. Look at the new visual style of Masaryk university. What can you see in it? Does your interpretation correspond with the concept the graphic designer tried to deliver? https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=iUVyYubQHA0 Exercise 2B. Look at the visuals below with your partner and compare / contrast some of them. Write one complex sentence about every pair. (Images taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring, https://www.ck12.org/statistics/Interpretation-of-Circle-Graphs/lesson/Interpretation-of-Circle-Gra phs-MSM6/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/27/americas-favorite-ice-cream-chains_n_1918747.html ) B) step by step Exercise 3. Read the text and paraphrase the steps you should take when writing a comparative essay. Write them down in your own words Make sure you know the basis for comparison The assignment sheet may say exactly what you need to compare, or it may ask you to come up with a basis for comparison yourself. Provided by the essay question: The essay question may ask that you consider the figure of the gentleman in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The basis for comparison will be the figure of the gentleman. Developed by you: The question may simply ask that you compare the two novels. If so, you will need to develop a basis for comparison, that is, a theme, concern, or device common to both works from which you can draw similarities and differences. Develop a list of similarities and differences Once you know your basis for comparison, think critically about the similarities and differences between the items you are comparing, and compile a list of them. For example, you might decide that in Great Expectations, being a true gentleman is not a matter of manners or position but morality, whereas in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, being a true gentleman is not about luxury and self-indulgence but hard work and productivity. The list you have generated is not yet your outline for the essay, but it should provide you with enough similarities and differences to construct an initial plan. Develop a thesis based on the relative weight of similarities and differences Once you have listed similarities and differences, decide whether the similarities on the whole outweigh the differences or vice versa. Create a thesis statement that reflects their relative weights. A more complex thesis will usually include both similarities and differences. Here are examples of the two main cases: A.Differences outweigh similarities: While Callaghan’s “All the Years of Her Life” and Mistry’s “Of White Hairs and Cricket” both follow the conventions of the coming-of-age narrative, Callaghan’s story adheres more closely to these conventions by allowing its central protagonist to mature. In Mistry’s story, by contrast, no real growth occurs. B.Similarities outweigh differences: Although Darwin and Lamarck came to different conclusions about whether acquired traits can be inherited, they shared the key distinction of recognizing that species evolve over time. Adapted from http://www.uc.utoronto.ca/print/comparative-essay Exercise 4. Read the text again and find the words that: 1. What is a synonymous expression for a plan, that you can find in the text? 2. What is the opposite to “outweigh”? 3. What is the meaning of “vice versa”? 4. When something depends on the circumstances and on what it is compared to, it is …………………………………. C) a guide Exercise 5. Watch the video and answer the questions below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvMSeg1s7uc What are the typical examples of topics for comparative essays? (they come in twos) What should we avoid in a comparative essay? …………………………. The structure contains “the hook”. How do you understand it? ……………………… Subject-to-subject structure is also called a …………………….. Point-by-point structure is explained on an example of ………………………… Where should all the points discussed in the body be mentioned? ………………………. Exercise 6. What is the difference between subject-to-subject and point-by-point structure of an essay? Please, explain to your neighbour in your own words. Write a paragraph of comparison. D) strategies rock! Exercise 7. The text from the Writing Centre at Harvard University (below) gives details more tips and details about useful strategies Read one of them and share with the rest of people in the group. How to Write a Comparative Analysis Throughout your academic career, you'll be asked to write papers in which you compare and contrast two things: two texts, two theories, two historical figures, two scientific processes, and so on. "Classic" compare-and-contrast papers, in which you weight A and B equally, may be about two similar things that have crucial differences (two pesticides with different effects on the environment) or two similar things that have crucial differences, yet turn out to have surprising commonalities (two politicians with vastly different world views who voice unexpectedly similar perspectives on sexual harassment). In the "lens" (or "keyhole") comparison, in which you weight A less heavily than B, you use A as a lens through which to view B. Just as looking through a pair of glasses changes the way you see an object, using A as a framework for understanding B changes the way you see B. Lens comparisons are useful for illuminating, critiquing, or challenging the stability of a thing that, before the analysis, seemed perfectly understood. Often, lens comparisons take time into account: earlier texts, events, or historical figures may illuminate later ones, and vice versa. Faced with a daunting list of seemingly unrelated similarities and differences, you may feel confused about how to construct a paper that isn't just a mechanical exercise in which you first state all the features that A and B have in common, and then state all the ways in which A and B are different. Predictably, the thesis of such a paper is usually an assertion that A and B are very similar yet not so similar after all. 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 under which you have grouped them. The frame of reference may consist of an idea, theme, question, problem, or theory; a group of similar things from which you extract two for special attention; biographical or historical information. The best frames of reference are constructed from specific sources rather than your own thoughts or observations. Thus, in a paper comparing how two writers redefine social norms of masculinity, you would be better off quoting a sociologist on the topic of masculinity than spinning out potentially banal-sounding theories of your own. Most assignments tell you exactly what the frame of reference should be, and most courses supply sources for constructing it. If you encounter an assignment that fails to provide a frame of reference, you must come up with one on your own. A paper without such a context would have no angle on the material, no focus or frame for the writer to propose a meaningful argument. Grounds for Comparison. Let's say you're writing a paper on global food distribution, and you've chosen to compare apples and oranges. Why these particular fruits? Why not pears and bananas? The rationale behind your choice, the grounds for comparison, lets your reader know why your choice is deliberate and meaningful, not random. For instance, in a paper asking how the "discourse of domesticity" has been used in the abortion debate, the grounds for comparison are obvious; the issue has two conflicting sides, pro-choice and pro-life. In a paper comparing the effects of acid rain on two forest sites, your choice of sites is less obvious. A paper focusing on similarly aged forest stands in Maine and the Catskills will be set up differently from one comparing a new forest stand in the White Mountains with an old forest in the same region. You need to indicate the reasoning behind your choice. Thesis. The grounds for comparison anticipates the comparative nature of your thesis. As in any argumentative paper, your thesis statement will convey the gist of your argument, which necessarily follows from your frame of reference. But in a compare-and-contrast, the thesis depends on how the two things you've chosen to compare actually relate to one another. Do they extend, corroborate, complicate, contradict, correct, or debate one another? In the most common compare-and-contrast paper—one focusing on differences—you can indicate the precise relationship between A and B by using the word "whereas" in your thesis: Whereas Camus perceives ideology as secondary to the need to address a specific historical moment of colonialism, Fanon perceives a revolutionary ideology as the impetus to reshape Algeria's history in a direction toward independence. Whether your paper focuses primarily on difference or similarity, you need to make the relationship between A and B clear in your thesis. This relationship is at the heart of any compare-and-contrast paper. From https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/how-write-comparative-analysis Exercise 8. Make a list of new phrases and words from the text that you find useful. E) thank you for the music Exercise 9. Watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csJ0ZaDvPj8) and identify the following: What are the two objects compared? What is the framework of reference? What are probably the grounds for comparing these? Is there a thesis in the comparison? F) template Exercise 10. Use the template / prompts below to write a comparison of your choice (two theories, two subjects, two universities, two novels…) This paper will compare and contrast …(X) and …(Y). The X … … … The Y … … … First, I will describe how the two things are similar. … Now, I will describe how the two things differ … From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMi1nYBcpdI) https://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/2403?e=fresh-ch10_s07 G) recommended materials for further studying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMi1nYBcpdI https://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/0472031937-templates.pdf https://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/files/wl/downloads/WritingaCompareContrastEssay.pdf