Elements of Comparative Analysis

ENGL 111Module 6

What is comparative analysis?Comparative analysis is an intellectual activity in which you examine the similarities and differences between two or more things in order to come to new insights or conclusions about those things. You could…• Reveal something remarkably similar about

two or more things that seem really different• Reveal something remarkably different

about two or more things that seem really similar

• Make a judgement about the quality of something by comparing it something else (judging whether one thing is “better” or more “effective” than another thing)

• Examine both similarities and differences of two things (especially texts) to synthesize (or combine) distinct “ideas, themes, or elements into a coherent new idea” (Yagelski 183)

Comparative Analysis & Writing Project 2CHAPTER 7 in Writing: 10 Core Concepts prepares students to write a comparative analysis on just about any subject.For Writing Project 2, you will compare two core readings, that is, two texts.You could…• Reveal the similarities (in ideas, themes, arguments, language,

rhetorical elements, etc.) in two apparently different texts.• Reveal differences (in ideas, themes, arguments, language,

rhetorical elements, etc.) in two apparently similar texts.• Make a judgement about the quality (e.g. their rhetorical

effectiveness, coherence of ideas or arguments made, etc.) of one or both texts by comparing them.

• Examine both similarities and differences of two texts to synthesize distinct ideas, claims, and/or arguments and come to a new conclusion about an issue or problem.

Pick a second core reading!To complete Writing Project 2 – Comparative Analysis, you must select a second core reading with which you can compare the core reading you wrote about for Writing Project 1.To find a second core reading, take a look at the other core readings available in Module 6.To help you come to a decision, review what you and others wrote for the Summary and Response and for the Modules 3 and 4 Discussion on Critical Rereading…• Compare new core readings to your Writing Project 1 draft or to

your initial discussion post, looking for common features that fascinated you.

• Read your peers’ Writing Project 1 first drafts or their initial discussion posts to learn more about core readings you didn’t write about, thinking about how they might compare to the one you did write about.

An Example: Nursery Rhymes As an example for this presentation, here are two texts, in this case well-known nursery rhymes, which will be used to illustrate how to make valid comparisons. Read these nursery rhymes carefully, then proceed. Nancy Dawson (Real Mother Goose 48)

Nancy Dawson was so fineShe wouldn’t get up to serve the swine;She lies in bed till eight or nine,So it’s Oh, poor Nancy DawsonAnd do ye ken Nancy Dawson, honey?The wife who sells the barley, honey?She won’t get up to feed her swine,And do ye ken Nancy Dawson, honey?

Little Tom Tucker (Real Mother Goose 48)

Little Tom TuckerSings for his supper.What shall he eat?White bread and butter.How will he cut itWithout e’er a knife?How will he be marriedWithout e’er a wife?

Looking for a valid basis for comparison…CHAPTER 7 of Writing: 10 Core Concepts explains that you must find a valid basis for comparison, some significant similarity or similarities that makes the comparison reasonable and interesting.Consider the two nursery rhymes above. Is there a valid basis for comparison?• They are both nursery rhymes, so that’s something, but there are

a lot of nursery rhymes. Why these two?• Well, nursery rhymes often are recited to children and often offer a

bit of wisdom, to teach them something about life.• Notice, also, that each of these rhymes comment on a young

person, one on a female and one on a male. Could there be some interesting comparisons to make about what each teaches boys or girls about life?

You don’t have to have everything figured out yet to find a valid basis for comparison. You just have to find something interesting to investigate further.

Before you develop a main claim…To develop a main claim, it is helpful to dig a little deeper into the similarities and differences that you found between the two texts. Once you’ve identified interesting points of comparison you can begin select which ones you’d like to focus on for the main claim of your comparative analysis

Step 4 of Writing Project 2: Analysis – Comparative Analysis (In Module 6) provides a list of similarities and differences that can be used to find a valid basis for comparison.

Finding interesting points of comparisons: an example…Not all possible similarities and differences are useful when comparing two texts. Consider the nursery rhymes…

Similarities

Is this interesting? Differences

Is this interesting?

They rhyme Not really. Don’t most nursery rhymes rhyme?

Length of verses

I don’t know, it’s certainly not why I’m interested in them.

They’re nursery rhymes

Gives some basis of comparison, but needs more to go on.

They use old-fashioned language

Yeah, but isn’t that just because they’re old? Like from the 17th or 18th centuries?

Finding interesting points of comparisons: an example…Here are some more useful and interesting points of comparison…Similarities

Is this interesting? Differences

Is this interesting?

Both comment on a young person

Maybe. There are nursery rhymes that focus on all sorts of things. These in particular have something to say about young people.

Different subjects (boy vs. girl)

One comments on a young woman, another on a young man. Is there any difference in the message of the rhyme based on this?

Both mention marriage

That’s also interesting. Maybe there’s something that the rhymes are saying about young people and marriage?

Both bring up work

Hmmm…. If rhymes like this teach life lessons, both rhymes seem to say something about work and marriageability

Coming up with a Main Claim:Ask What?, How?, and Why?

After you developed some interesting similarities and differences, you can more easily come to conclusions about those points of comparison. Interpret those points of comparison by asking What?, How?, and Why?EX:Why do they two rhymes focus on work and marriage? What do they both have to say?How big a difference does it make that one rhyme comments on a young woman and the other comments on a young man?

Also use Step 4 of Chapter 7 in Writing: 10 Core Concepts for guidance.

Coming up with a Main Claim:Come to your conclusions…

Answer those What, How, and Why questions to make an assertion about the similarities and differences you found and to form a main claim.EX: A possible main claim…

Both nursery rhymes communicate a practical message to children about what makes a young man or woman marriage material – that only those with a strong work ethic and gainful employment should be desirable to a potential spouse. That being said, “Nancy Dawson” seems to be more judgmental about its female subject than “Little Tom Tucker” is about its male subject, possibly reflecting the misogyny present in the culture for which they were written.

Finding and Using Research…Remember that Writing Project 2 also requires you to find and use a secondary source from the Ivy Tech Virtual Library that helps you justify your comparison and enhance the arguments you make about the texts:EX:

Carroll, Heather. “Tart of the Week: Nancy Dawson.” The Duchess of Devonshire’s Gossip Guide to the 18th Century, 7 Jan. 2011, georgianaduchessofdevonshire.blogspot.com /2011/01/tart-of-week-nancy-dawson.html. Accessed 25 June 2015.

This blog post by art historian Heather Carroll covers what is known about the real Nancy Dawson, who, as a well-known dancer and actor in the 1800s, was the subject both praise and mockery.This helps to support my assertion that “Nancy Dawson” contains considerable misogyny as it also ridicules, by implication, the kind of work (dancing and acting) the real female subject did as especially impractical or frivolous.

Every comparative analysis is different Have fun finding and explaining what

YOU see as the most significant aspects of the core readings you are comparing

Your readers will learn a lot about the core readings from your analysis—and you will learn a lot from theirs.

Works CitedThe Real Mother Goose. Rand McNally, 1944.Yagelski, Robert. Writing: Ten Core Concepts. 2nd Ed.

Cengage Learning, 2018.