Comparing things is something we do every day when we have to make decisions. For example, you might think of similarities or differences when we are buying a new MP3 player or choosing a place to study English.
You may need to evaluate two sides of an issue you have studied in a class or two proposals for research or projects at your workplace. In these cases, you will need to write an essay or report to discuss your ideas about the topic. This is a comparison and contrast essay.
Some of the essay topics below may seem to contain subjects that have nothing in common. But think again! You'll find contrasting characteristics as well as similar characteristics in each individual set.
The following 140 ideas will help you avoid time waste and elbow grease:
Compare and Contrast Essay Topics:
- Gone with the Wind' and 'The Thorn Birds';
- 10 Your family home and the house of your dreams;
- A big college campus to a small college campus;
- A female friend and a male friend;
- A good boss and a bad boss;
- A real vacation and a dream vacation;
- A starting pitcher and a reliever;
- Abolishment of slavery and anti-segregation laws;
- Abraham Lincoln with Thomas Jefferson;
- Acting to lying;
- Acting to singing;
- An active student and a passive student;
- An online class compared to a traditional class;
- Aztecs and Maya civilizations;
- Barack Obama and Margaret Thatcher;
- Being a teen to being a toddler;
- Being afraid to being bored;
- Being grounded to being in jail;
- Being rich to being famous;
- Being the president to being a homeless person;
- Best Friend and Archenemy;
- Camping in the deep woods to sleeping in a motel;
- Catching flu and not getting enough sleep;
- Catholic and orthodox churches;
- Charlie Chaplin and Charlie Sheen;
- Christopher Columbus to early astronauts;
- Church sermons to campaign speeches;
- Comparing Harry Potter with Lord of the Rings;
- Comparing the Two World War Sides, Allies and Axis;
- Comparing Volcanoes with Earthquakes;
- Cowboys and Indians;
- Creationism vs. Evolutionism;
- Crimes and deviant behavior;
- Driving a car and a plane;
- Earphones and street music;
- Eating at home and in the open air;
- Eating fast food and cramming for exam;
- Electric cars and gas cars;
- England’s colonies in India and Africa;
- Ethnic and sexual minorities;
- E-waste and radioactive waste;
- Facebook and Google+;
- Facebook vs. Twitter;
- First man on the Moon and first Europeans in America;
- Going to a movie to having a movie night at home;
- Gun control and homeless animals control;
- Harry Potter--on the page and on the screen;
- Hunting in ancient times and nowadays;
- Hurricanes and Blizzards;
- Immigration and emigration;
- Introverts and extraverts;
- Invention of motion pictures and television;
- Inventions vs. Discoveries;
- Jungle animals and dessert animals;
- Karl Marx with Max Webber;
- Kindle vs. Nook;
- LinkedIn and SimplyHired;
- Living on a farm to living in the city;
- Living on campus and living off campus;
- Makeup and Photoshop;
- Making an apple pie to making a mud pie;
- Malevich and Pollock;
- Mammals and Reptiles;
- Marriage and civil union;
- Marylyn Monroe and Angelina Jolie;
- Messengers and written correspondence;
- Microsoft's Zune and Apple's iPod;
- Nascar to Formula One;
- Online and real life dating;
- Online Teaching and Traditional Teaching;
- Paganism and Catholicism;
- Physical beauty to inner beauty;
- Playing Xbox games to playing baseball out in the fields;
- Pollution in United States and Pollution in China;
- Population in China and Population in India;
- Poverty to paranoia;
- Poverty to richness;
- Pride and Prejudice with Sense and Sensibility;
- Psychoanalysis and Psychology;
- Racism and sexism;
- Radio and newspapers;
- Reality TV shows to high school;
- Reservation Quota vs. Equal Opportunity;
- Riding a roller coaster to loving somebody;
- Romeo and Juliet with Much Ado About Nothing;
- Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting;
- School bullies to dictators;
- School violence and workplace violence;
- Selfies and first black and white photos;
- Shakespeare and Chekhov;
- Sincere and hypocritical smile;
- Single Moms and single Dads;
- Smartphone and personal computer;
- Snowfall and Rainfall;
- SRAM to DRAM;
- Steve Jobs and Walt Disney;
- Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson;
- Talking to your mom and talking to your friends;
- Television advertising and Print Advertising;
- The 1970s to another decade;
- The Battle Hymn of the Republic to "God Bless the USA";
- The Beatles and Backstreet Boys;
- The benefits of cold to the benefits of heat;
- The Bible and Torah;
- The car you own and the car you dream of owning;
- The Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge;
- The influence of celebrities to the influence of parents;
- The influence of music to the influence of Internet;
- The life of a dog to the life of a cat;
- The life of a horse to the life of a cat;
- The Pop Culture in the 1960s and the Pop Culture in the 1990s;
- The Sound of Music (movie) to The Diary of Anne Frank;
- The Sound of Music (movie) to The Parent Trap;
- The Star Spangled Banner to "American Pie" (the song);
- The Toyota Camry hybrid and the Camry sedan;
- The Wizard of Oz to Huckleberry Finn;
- The World War I and the World War II;
- Theatre and 3D movies;
- Two approaches to parenting;
- Two candidates competing for public office;
- Two fast-food restaurants;
- Two perspectives on the same place: morning and night;
- Two pets in the same household;
- Two pieces of technology or equipment that you tried;
- Two places that are special for you in various ways;
- Two stages of a person's life;
- Two ways of losing weight: one healthy, the other dangerous;
- Vegan and vegetarian diet;
- Volcanoes and Earthquakes;
- Warm weather vacations and cold weather vacations;
- Washing dishes to washing laundry;
- Watching a match at a stadium and on TV;
- Weeds to flowers;
- William Shakespeare with William Wordsworth;
- Windows vs. Linux;
- Working as a waitress to working as a flight attendant;
- Yoga and Pilates;
- Your best birthday to your worst birthday;
- Your experiences before and after giving up a bad habit;
- Your happiest day to your saddest day.
Have you already grabbed a topic for you compare and contrast essay? By the way, feel free to leave a comment below which one you've chosen, so that your classmates know and avoid repetition.