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Structures Used in Comparison Paragraphs

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Lecture 2: Planning the Body
In planning the body of the paragraph, it is important to choose three points of comparison that are (or will become) important to the reader. Therefore, the writer should think about why the reader is reading this comparison and what he/she will do with the information after reading the paragraph. 
 
How does "knowing" the audience affect your purpose as the writer? You don't dress, act or speak the same way with your friends as you do to your grandparents, your future employer, or a professional. Similarly, when you write, you use a more formal style, you choose more sophisticated or elegant words, and you "dress up" your words more when you write for academic, business or professional purposes than when you write for personal or informal audiences.
 
As we have learned with all focused writing, the writer must consider:
 
1) Who is my audience? (Who is going to read what I write?)

2) What is my purpose? (Why am I writing this?)
 
The following activity helps you to put this type of thinking into practice.
 

Click here for Activity four:  Read a comparison paragraph and answer the questions.  

When you finish, close the new window and continue to the next exercise

Summary: When planning your comparison paragraph, think about who your readers are, and what they would want to know about your topic.

 
Lecture 3: Finding the Conclusion
Once you have introduced your topics and announced their similarity and explained your three major points of comparison, you are finally ready to close your paragraph. To finish your comparison, you need to make a general statement that is true of both things you are comparing. This statement could review the three major points of comparison or explain something about the usefulness or importance of both things.

  

Click here for Activity Five:  Choose the best concluding sentence for a paragraph about Texan Barbeques and Hawaiian Luaus.

When you finish, close the new window and continue to the next exercise.

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