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