Rhetorical Strategy of Comparing and Contrasting
Sometimes an author will want to compare and contrast two or more subjects or ideas.
To compare something means to consider the similarities between it and something else.
To contrast something means to consider its differences with something else.
Sometimes, a writer will want to compare something with something else and contrast something with something else, so the writer incorporates that into a compare and contrast essay, where the writer can do both.
In one of those essays, the author may choose one of two organizational strategies.
The first strategy is the separation strategy, which is where the author fully describes one subject before moving on to another.
The second is the point-by-point strategy, which is where the author will compare and contrast two subjects one part at a time.
Consider if a writer was talking about peaches and pears. The author wants to compare and contrast peaches and pears. If the author was using the separation strategy, the author would first fully describe pairs, talking about all the different facets of pairs, then the author would switch to and talk about everything there is to know about peaches.
If the author uses the point-by-point strategy, the author compares and contrasts two subjects one part at a time. First, the author might compare and contrast the pear’s and the peach’s color. Then, the writer might move on to water content, and, depending on how much alike or how much different pears and peaches are when it comes to water content, the writer will either compare or contrast the pears and peaches in that point. Then, the author will move on to another part and talk about taste. The point-by-point strategy is going back and forth between the two items, whereas the separation strategy is just that, it separates the two items to talk about them individually. To compare something is to consider the similarities between it and something else, and to contrast something to consider its differences with something else.