Do you think it is better to put the similarities or differences first? I believe that the similarities should go first.

story 1
wonders
-Why is the president the head of the senate?
-Why must he vote if the senate is in a tie?
notices
-The house of representatives has 435 representatives.
-The amount of representatives is determined by the state population.
Story 2
wonders
-Why is there danger in tent camping?
-How long has tent camping been around?
Notices
-Tent camping is good for those who are on a budget.
-Going to a hotel is more comfortable.

I understand your concern. When it comes to official documents, in my opinion, it is important to consult only reliable and verified sources.

This is a very good introduction to the subject. It has the subjects that are being compared and contrasted and it shares the make up of the subject.

How many representatives does Idaho have?

In this introductory paragraph, it is obvious that the essay will be in block format because the thesis statement only points out that there are differences and similarities that will be discussed. It doesn’t go into individual points.

Is block paragraph a good style for my comparison of Gandalf and Dumbledore?

This is a point by point because it explains that the government of the US is broken into three branches and states the branch types.

This introduction seems to do that.

Differences are explained in this paragraph. But there are very detailed examples of each difference.

This is a point-by-point essay. The author gives the differences and similarities point-by-point, meaning he/she writes what the number of people in one house is, then what the number of people in the other house is, directly after, instead of giving each subject it’s own paragraph.

How many bills become laws in a single year?

This paragraph is an example of a block essay because instead of talking about each topic bu itself, this essay talks about the comparisons and differences all together. So, instead of saying something about the Senate in one paragraph and the House of representatives in a different paragraph, they are both compared in one paragraph.

This paragraph shows this is a block essay because the entire paragraph is dedicated toward differences of the two topics being compared.

If I have a bunch of differences can I have two paragraphs on differences?

The second and third paragraph is using the block style method. In the first paragraph, its talks about all of the differences between the two houses of Congress. In the second paragraph, it talks about all of the differences. Therefor, this is the block method.

This a point-by-point essay. The paragraph compares the Senate and House, one at a time, describing the differences.

So when writing a compare and contrast, should you add an opinion?

In this one, the first part after the introduction is all the differences. Then the similarities are the next part, followed by the conclusion.

This paragraph displays the differences of the branches, the next paragraph going on to explain the similarities. Because of this, I can determine that this is an example of a point-by-point essay. The first point is the differences between the houses, going on to explain one house and noting the differences in contrast; and the second point is to explain all of the similarities between the houses. In each paragraph, the author lists the beginning statement about one of the houses and then goes on to list the differences raised because of the other houses.

As said in the read-write-think lesson, "In this structure, you explain one point of comparison before moving to the next point. "

Hmm unfortunately I’m getting to this late and I see everyone’s post so it’s affecting what I’m thinking in a way. I don’t know if I read something different or if I skipped over some stuff on accident but this seems like a point by point essay. The author compares two subjects in the same point which is (what I thought) point by point.

This is a block style essay because it is covering only the differences between the two topics.

I’m surprised the Vice President votes only when there is a tie, I probably shouldn’t be but I need to learn more about this stuff. And it makes me wonder how many representatives Idaho has then for it’s size.

This talks about the similarities that the Senate and the House have. It talks about what they have in common.

My question is that is it a point-by-point or is it similarities and differences? Or both?

Still seems like point by point since they talk about both subjects in the same point.

Ha another thing I should probably not be surprised about and should know (or maybe I do I just don’t get it right now) but besides signing bills made into laws, what else does the President do with the House and Senate?

Before reading this, I thought there was only one type of lawmaker. Now I wonder about the rest of the government system and how it works.

Through the thesis we can see that this essay is a point by point essay.

This author does not mention camping or hotels in the introduction. I can’t find the thesis statement.

The author starts out with the positives and negatives of tent camping as a vacation choice.

This is an essay written in the block style. Block style is where each topic is given separate paragraphs to tell about their pros and cons, then at the end in the conclusion the author decides which is better, instead of contrasting each point to each other at the same time, then telling the conclusion in the conclusion paragraph.

Could I have every other sentence a difference and all the others be a similarity?

This essay appears to be in whole to whole style.

Talks about both the positives and negatives

This essay is a block essay. I can tell this because each of the following paragraphs explains one thing as a WHOLE (whole-to-whole is another term for block essays). The first paragraph explains the situations dealt with in tent-camping vacationing and the second paragraph explains the situations dealt with in hotel vacationing.
Each paragraph deal with each subject completely, not adding specific similarities and differences between the two.

Again it seems to me like this is a block essay but I’m starting to think I’ve read something wrong and don’t understand the difference. This paragraph focuses on one subject instead of combining both, that is a block type essay.

This is a point by point style essay because it’s covering one topics pros and cons at a time in a paragraph.

Then the author shares about the positives and negatives of hotel vacations. Over all the author prefers the hotel vacation over camping due to a bad experience.

For this question, I was wondering why in this essay “Vacations”, Why are the paragraphs so short? I think that there could have been more information but that may just be my own opinion.

Is point by point a better format for my comparison of Gandalf and Dumbledore?

Block… Still only talking about one subject (Hotels) in the paragraph which is block, right?

It’s not like you got camping in a city… usually if you do then you go to a hotel, not always about weather. I see how it can be about the price and budget but I think it’s more about what you prefer (after you plan a vacation where you actually have both options).

This paragraph is a point by point paragraph because it talks about both of the types of camping.

But don’t you think that camping in bad weather builds character?

So I made a wonder earlier asking whether or not we should add an opinion in a compare and contrast essay, and I found one here. It’s seems to that it’s up to the author.

The whole essay is nothing but opinion, so whould it even out the opinion to add more facts?

The introduction is stating what will be written about, followed by separate paragraphs. Each paragraph is one topic. The conclusion states the author’s thesis with opinion, and sums up the point.

This one seems to be.

Ha I wonder how bad his experience was if he completely recommends hotels. Usually you don’t get soaked because you can tell if it will rain or you stop it from raining on you before you do get soaked.