Creating An English Literature Comparative Essay: 5 Great Suggestions

A comparative essay has one major goal. It is to discuss features of two items by comparing and contrasting them. In English literature, you may be assigned to compare items such as, two novels, styles of two writers, two genres, etc. It requires a lot of hard work, so it’s better if you keep in mind a few useful suggestions on how to make your paper a success.

1. Choose a strong topic.

The best topic is one that is filled with interesting information that can be shared in your project. If you are not interested in comparing two objects from the sphere of English literature, the essay you are about to compose will be uninteresting for readers, as well. Check whether your research in this topic can be confirmed with reference information.

2. Choose a suitable method of comparing.

There are several comparing methods that can be used. However, not all of them provide the clearest picture. If you are comparing many features of literature aspects, you should compose your comparative essay in a way that features the same aspect in both objects. That is, if you are comparing a novel to a narrative, build it in the following way: compare sizes, depth of the narration, time frames of each story, etc. Don’t make a mess by putting together all the features of one piece and comparing it to a range of features of the other piece.

3. Emphasize the main points.

There is an opinion that a comparative essay that highlights some points, leaving others with less attention, is weaker than a “balanced” one. That opinion is incorrect. This is because when you focus attention on aspects that are the most related to the topic, it is better than spreading it out over all the numerous details that are not as important.

4. Omit obvious conclusions.

You should never end with saying that the two compared objects in English literature are similar yet different. Such a conclusion is too plain and is too often found in essays. Conclusions like that are able to spoil the whole impression created by the comparative essay.

5. Make sure that the conclusion is full and detailed.

Quite often, students paraphrase the introduction in a way that makes their conclusions illogical. If you have come to the conclusion, you definitely have a couple of arguments to voice out along with proof of their trustworthiness.