Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast
In ‘compare and contrast’ type of essay, IELTS examiners want you to discuss the points of comparing and contrasting the two things i.e. similarities and differences between the two. Therefore, it is important that you find out relevant points of similarities and differences of the two mentioned things after reading the question for IELTS Writing .
Let’s look at an example:
Some people want to live in a house while others prefer living in an apartment.
Does living in a house bring more advantages than living in an apartment?
With this type of essay for IELTS Writing , you have two points to be discussed as follows:

• 
  Benefits of living in a house/apartment
  
• 
  Issues of living in an house/apartment
  

You must discuss both of them by giving reasons and support them with examples. And at the end, mention which of the two is better and why.
If you do not discuss any of the above two points in the essay, you will lose marks.
So, in this type of essay, you must explain both the points.
How to structure IELTS Writing asnwer?
The essay can be structured mainly in 4 paragraphs as follows:
Paragraph 1: Introduction
Paragraph 2: Benefits of living in a house/apartment
Paragraph 3: Issues of living in a house/apartment
Paragraph 4: Conclusion
Further structuring of the paragraphs can be done as follows:
a. Paragraph 1- Introduction
Sentence 1- Paraphrase the Question
Sentence 2-Outline the sentence
b. Paragraph 2- Body Paragraph 1 (Apartment)
Sentence 1- State the benefit
Sentence 2- Explain how it brings this benefit
Sentence 4- Write an example
c. Paragraph 3 – Body Paragraph 2 (House)
Sentence 1- State the issue
Sentence 2-Explain how it leads to this issue
Sentence 3- Write an example