Writing a Compare-and-Contrast Essay about Presentation of Ideas

What does a point-by-point comparative essay do?

(B) It compares and contrasts by topic.

Read the excerpt from The Dark Game. On February 24, when Hall sensed that the Zimmermann telegram would tip the balance in favor of the U.S. joining the Allied forces, the British home secretary presented the telegram to President Wilson. One week later, news of the Zimmermann telegram was splashed across the front page of American newspapers. On April 6, 1917, the Congress of the United States declared war on Germany and its allies. This example best supports which statement?

(B) The Dark Game includes historical detail.

Review the paragraph from The Code Book. Ordinarily, if Alice wants to use RSA to encrypt a message to Bob, she looks up his public key and then applies RSA's one-way function to the message. Conversely, Bob decrypts the ciphertext by using his private key to reverse RSA's one-way function. Both processes require considerable mathematical manipulation, so encryption and decryption can, if the message is long, take several minutes on a personal computer. Which transitional word has the same meaning as "on the other hand"?

(B) conversely

Read Melissa's thesis statement. Both The Dark Game and The Code Book explain the importance of codebreaking. Which addition would strengthen Melissa's statement?

(B) subtopics explained in later paragraphs

Becca writes this sentence in her analysis of The Dark Game. The Dark Game is written in a narrative style that includes many fascinating details. Which line from the book best supports her analysis?

(C) She did what she could for the wounded soldiers, bringing them messages and money, and no small amount of food.

Read the description of Elizabeth Van Lew in The Dark Game. No one in Libby Prison hospital paid much attention to this tiny, birdlike woman with a thin nose and alert blue eyes as she went about her business of visiting the hospitalized soldiers. She read to them and brought them baskets of goodies. This description best supports which thesis statement?

(C) The author makes historical characters seem like real people.

Students should include examples in their comparative essays because

(C) examples support the thesis statement.

Which is the strongest thesis statement?

(D) Both The Code Book and The Dark Game explore codebreaking, but they are different in their tone, style, and language.

Read this line from The Dark Game. An uneasy peace prevailed between the Russians and the other Allies, but each side was suspicious of the other. Which is a transition word?

(D) but

Read the excerpt from The Dark Game. Tension between the two sides escalated until June 1948, when the Soviets blocked all western access to the capital. In this first real crisis of the Cold War, the West was not going to be denied by the Soviets. Since such tension was typical in the divided city, it should come as no surprise that Berlin in the early 1950s was a city of intrigue, espionage, and danger. Which term means "spying"?

(D) espionage