How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay in Women and Female Studies? Is That Tough?
No matter how hard is one’s degree to get, a typical depository of assignments will for sure encompass writing this type of essay. It is not as easy as a composition paper but has nothing to do with complexity like a dissertation. In fact, most of the colleges prepare the syllabus for students or give access to helpful online materials to check the instructions. However, even in the events, when a student does not have a clean-cut scheme of how to start a paper, there are always plenty of videos, manuals or recommendations online, and most importantly they are with step-by-step instructions.
A compare and contrast essay is a paper that evaluates similar and distinctive features of two selected objects, relevant to one’s specialty. In your case, it will be two chosen subjects related to Women and Female Studies. Students tend to opt for trending topics that are on everyone’s lips. For instance, Feminism, and sexism. However, those who want to impress a professor go for less popular topics in order to differentiate from others and be not trite. The common examples are topics about Women’s Career Opportunities or Women’s Role in History.
All in all, this type of essay is not considered a tough but only if you know how to get a reader hooked on the thesis. Once an introduction is done, all the other parts will only develop your creativity and researching skills.
Setting a Goal when Writing a Compare and Contrast Essay in Women and Female Studies
You won’t succeed in writing any paper if you lack understanding of its goal, isn’t it obvious? To be more precise, it is possible to outline even several goals but all of them are mainly focused on boosting one’s skills and knowledge. First off, this essay shows how a student masters academically comparing and contrasting. It is not just about taking two objects and describing them. It is a research of prominent distinctions and resemblances that are worth writing about. Secondly, this essay allows a person to think critically. It is a kind of academic mastership of thinking and writing without biased thoughts and opinions.
Third, by composing a paper, students demonstrate whether they are on the same page with a professor or they are worth getting a degree. Finally, fourth, it helps to improve your speech, language, and writing skills. A student works on enlarging the topical vocabulary, understands the grammatical tenses, and hits the proficiency in terms of professional research.
By the way, do not forget that a compare and contrast essay is a true exercise for your future career. Most probably, you will daily face communication with people with whom it is a must to identify commonalities and differences of one matter. So, do not consider this assignment as a burden but do your best to show a talent.
Compare and Contrast Essay in Women and Female Studies: Mother-Structure
The first key stage is fully dedicated to preparation. Do not pull foot to start writing. It is recommended to spend some qualitative time compiling thoughts about the requirements, helpful materials, and of course, topic. Let’s start with the latter.
● Topic
It should be a perfect match demonstrating one’s creativity, and knowledge about a study. Usually, the syllabus offers some options for students or the classes in colleges may pose one’s interest in a topic. However, the first rule is to never go for easy-manageable themes. They are the targeted choice of lazy-bones, and they may be checked twice in order to detect plagiarism. The easier the topic, the more information found online to copy. So, professors are aware of all the students’ tricks. Do not choose the path of the least resistance. One more time, a compare and contrast essay is an exercise for your career. For your convenience, find the following topics that might be interesting for your paper:
- Gender Stereotypes: Women vs Men;
- Adoption Rights: Who Have More Chances of Adopting a Kid?
- Same-Sex Marriage: Tolerance to Gay and Lesbian Couples;
- Women in WWI;
- Female and Male Military Officers: Stereotypes;
- Tolerance to Abortions in the US and European Countries;
- Women Rights in the US and Middle-East Countries;
- Education of Girls at School and Family;
- Women and Men Salaries;
- Two Women Who Changed the History: Marie Curie vs Margaret Thatcher;
- Rebel or Peace: Diana, Princess of Wales vs Mother Teresa;
- Career-Oriented Women vs Family Women;
- Women in Politics: Angela Merkel vs Theresa May.
And, of course, one of the leading topics is Feminism. Students may speak of this occurrence as of trend, compare and contrast female organizations in different countries.
Moreover, it will be interesting to analyze the society you live in. For instance, research the opinions of other students regarding women’s rights. Make sure, to ask for a professor a consent in case you come up with your unique topic.
● Structure
Depending on one’s college or university, the requirements toward the word count may differ. Most commonly, this essay contains 500-1500 words. Accordingly, the more you write, the more prolific and analyzed your context is. The same as other papers, it should have an introduction with thesis, main body, and conclusion.
Introduction. A student should introduce a reader to two selected objects he researched. Add a brief history of why you chose them, why they are important, and whether they can contribute to Women and Female Studies in general.
Thesis. It should be one to two sentences that will hook a reader. If possible, after receiving the professor’s permission, you can add a joke or rhetorical question. For example, in a topic – Gender Stereotypes: Women vs Men, you write the following:
● ‘Why men who have many ladies are considered macho, while women who have had many men are women of easy virtue? What stereotypes do surround us in everyday life?’ – The first sentence is a rhetorical question that will make the reader think. The second one is food for thought to provoke a desire to learn more stereotypes.
Main body. Usually, it consists of three paragraphs. But, again depending on the word count you can enlarge the volume. The first paragraph should be dedicated to the introduction of basic information about two objects. The second one is for contrasting and comparing. And, the third one should crown it all, and lead to some results, thoughts or contributions. Make sure to use helpful linking words.
Conclusion. It should be the easiest part of writing an essay but some students keep on doing the same mistakes. First off, they write new information 1) not related to the topic; 2)related to the topic but that was not disclosed in the main body; 3) they continue comparing and contrasting.
It is very wrong, you should only summarize the information or research mentioned before, and make a conclusion of the results you approached when writing the essay. That’s it. In addition, this part is also suitable for a rhetorical question or joke.
Comparing and Contrasting Essay in Women and Female Studies: Venn Diagram and Table
Most of the writers tend to turn to auxiliary tools when writing papers. They do not simply sit and think of differences and similarities but choose a Venn diagram or table.
Venn diagram is a scheme that helps to spot the relations between two or more objects, and it is perfect for individuals who learn through visuals.
As you may see, it is necessary to write in two objects in two circles, and start taking notes of everything that may somehow illustrate the differences and similarities. A student does not need to attach it to an essay but this scheme can serve as an outline before finalizing the paper. For the top results, it is recommended to spend a few hours up to one day thinking about the relations, or research them through materials until the circles are full with sufficient amount of features. Note, 5 different and 5 same characteristics will be a required and recommended limit to get an A-grade.
Table. You can do it on your own using programs, or download a sample from the Internet and fill in the empty gaps. Otherwise, you can wake up your inner artist and draw it in any form suitable for you. 5 on 5 features are also encouraged for this table.
Once a student has a clear idea of different and same features, it is worth analyzing them on relevance. For example, no need to write men are stronger than women (today, women do not consider themselves weak creatures but they fight for equality). Do not research the behavior or genetic peculiarities (it is obvious that ladies have more functions historically and genetically as giving birth or having inherent to them health conditions). All you need to do is to find out the relations toward today’s life that can explain to others the problems women face, and how they deal with them. If you plan to research two women like politicians, it will be interesting to compare and contrast their accomplishments or negative outcomes that caused harm to society, and so on. Or, write about their contribution to Women and Female Studies as a subject.
Final Observations on Compare and Contrast Essay in Women and Female Studies
Now, as you finally understand the structural peculiarities of this type of paper, you will need to submit it to a professor. But, do not hurry up because the final stage will require you to proofread the essay. Students who neglect this stage submit the works that are hard to read and even evaluate. It happens when spelling distorts the text or your grammar cannot allow a professor to understand whether you speak about present times or past. These mistakes are possible to avoid. Check the next tips:
- Count the words. They should not be less than 500 but also should not exceed the limit. Professors usually do not appreciate such manifestations because it is an additional workload for them;
- Check the spelling or grammatical mistakes. There are plenty of online editors that will come in handy when your eyes are too blurred to spot any mistake;
- Ask your friends to read it. Sometimes, it is crucial to ask someone’s feedback about the relevance of the essay. Friends may ban it as an uninteresting topic or find it very engaging. Otherwise, for more unbiased opinions, you may find online social-network groups where students share their works and ask for feedback as well;
- Leave work for some time. Whenever a student spends much time writing a project, his mind and brain urgently need a restart. After finishing, spend some time on your own, take a nap, and come back to your essay after a few days if you do not have a deadline. Then, you will be fresh and ready to spot mistakes as well;
- Check if two objects are equal in differences and similarities. It won’t work if one object has 5 different features and the second one only 3. It may look like you prefer one side more, and you are again biased;
- Check a slang. Modern professors encourage students to use any language they want to understand their real thoughts or opinions. But, it does not mean you can use swear words (unless a topic requires, and a professor approved it). Make sure, your language and topical vocabulary are understandable and appropriate. Otherwise, a supervisor may reject receiving your work or will straightaway lower the grade.
The last but not least, a compare and contrast essay is a great practice for developing your life philosophy. You learn how to persuade people, provide supporting evidence for any words and sentences said. And, of course, it is an exercise to prepare yourself for future assignments that might be even more difficult. Save this guide for your upcoming papers, and refer to the above-mentioned tips whenever you struggle with the composition.
References:
- Ignotofsky, R. (2016). Women in science. Ten Speed Press.
- Jones, J. (2016). How Do I Write a Compare and Contrast Essay?.
- Neumann, J. (2016). A professor’s guide to writing essays. Jacob Neumann.
