ShmoopTube

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Compare and Contrast, a la Shmoop.

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Remember that essay you wrote last year that

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completely knocked it out of the park?

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Your teacher drooled over it, your classmates were green with envy,

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and you absolutely obliterated the curve?

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Yeah, of course you remember it.

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But... do you also recall that essay you wrote the following semester?

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The one your teacher is still using to line her gerbil cage?

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Believe it or not... we are already comparing and contrasting.

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Any time you want to look at how two things are the same...

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...or how they are different...

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...you are comparing or contrasting.

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Let's take a look at the first one.

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When you compare, you look at how things are the same.

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For example, if you're writing an essay on the success of the fast food joints that have

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started experimenting with food vacuum technology...

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...you can compare these establishments with the older, more traditional places that still

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pass their food through a drive-thru window.

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Sheesh. What dinosaurs.

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What do they have in common?

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Well, they both serve roughly the same food...

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...the prices are the same...

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...the quality of service is the same... et cetera.

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But your paper is exploring the question of whether or not the success of these restaurants

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is directly related to their new technology...

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...so we'll need to contrast them as well, to see what things are different.

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Well, clearly, the presence of the high-tech vacuum tubes is different.

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You also note that all of these fast food places are located in the Midwest.

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Not a huge surprise.

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And you also mention that they are all burger places.

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Something about chicken meat not responding as well to the suction.

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Whatever conclusion you arrive at based on

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all your comparing and contrasting is up to you...

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...but at least you've laid out all the facts. And that's all there really is to it.

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Be wary of people who use the two terms interchangeably...

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Comparing and contrasting are not the same thing...

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...regardless of the fact that 75 percent of the population thinks they are.

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You will often hear people say "compare these two things" or "contrast these two things"...

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...when they really mean "compare AND contrast these two things."

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Don't mix them up.

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Just remember... the two go together like olives and ice cream.

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Or something like that.

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