Compare and contrast sentence starters are exactly what you need in order to write a good comparison essay.
A compare/contrast essay takes two ideas and compares plus contrasts them. The purpose of this type of writing is to explain subtle differences between two concepts.
An important task when writing a compare and contrast essay is to connect the two ideas meaningfully.
Demonstrating the differences between two very similar ideas or showing the similarities between two concepts that are obviously very different keeps readers engaged.
How is all of this done?
One way to facilitate the process is by using compare and contrast sentence starters.
These transition words help writing ideas flow, guiding readers in understanding the message of the paper.
Compare and contrast sentence starters are also beneficial because they…
- Connect ideas seamlessly,
- Aid in emphasizing important distinctions or similarities, and
- Give an essay a more academic and/or polished feel.
How to Use Compare and Contrast Sentence Starters
A comparison and contrast essay normally follows the format of introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
Compare and contrast signal words and phrases should ideally be sprinkled throughout the text from beginning to end.
They should flow naturally and be used alongside evidence that supports your ideas. The starters help to connect those ideas.
See an example of a compare and contrast essay. There are more comparison/contrast examples here.
Compare and Contrast Sentence Starters
Following you will find a variety of sentence starters for comparison and contrast writing such as essays.
The starters are categorized by introduction, body, and conclusion for ease of use.
Introduction Sentence Starters
1. A similarity between _____ and ____…
2. _____ and _____ are similar because…
3. _____ and _____ share many differences.
4. Both _____ and _____ have…
5. A difference between _____ and _____ …
6. _____ and _____ are different because…
7. Experts agree that…
Body Sentence Starters
8. Above all…
9. After all…
10. Albeit…
11. Alternatively…
12. Although…
13. Although this may be true…
14. Another difference is…
15. Another reason…
16. Another similarity is…
17. Another way they are alike is…
18. Another way they are different is…
19. As a result…
20. As much as…
21. As well as…
22. At the same time…
23. Besides…
24. Both
25. But…
26. Comparatively…
27. Compared to…
28. Complementary to this…
29. Conversely…
30. Correspondingly…
31. Despite…
32. …differs from that one because…
33. Equally…
34. Even so…
35. Even though…
36. For example…
37. For instance…
38. For this reason…
39. Furthermore…
40. However…
41. Identically…
42. In a similar fashion…
43. In addition to…
44. In comparison…
45. In contrast…
46. In reality…
47. In spite of…
48. Instead of…
49. In the meantime…
50. In this case…
51. …is just like…
52. …is comparable to…
53. Just as…so does…
54. Just like…
55. Likewise…
56. Meanwhile…
57. Moreover…
58. Nevertheless…
59. Nonetheless…
60. Notwithstanding…
61. Of course…, but…
62. On the contrary…
63. On the negative side…
64. On the one hand…
65. On the other hand…
66. On the positive side…
67. One other thing…
68. Other than…
69. Otherwise…
70. Outside of…
71. Rather…
72. Regardless…
73. Similar to that…
74. Similarly…
75. That being said…
76. The differences between the two are…
77. The same as…
78. Then again…
79. The opposite could be said…
80. These two ideas are connected because…
81. They are also different because…
82. They are also similar because…
83. This can be seen…
84. This is in contrast to…
85. Though…
86. Unlike…
87. What they have in common…
88. Whereas…
89. With this in mind…
Conclusion Sentence Starters
90. By comparing ____ to ____, we learn that…
91. Though _____ and _____ are very different, their similarities…
92. To summarize…
93. As you can see…
94. In either case…
95. All in all…
96. By and large…
97. Usually…
98. To sum up…
99. Obviously…
100. In the final analysis…
101. For the most part…
102. In the long run…
103. Finally…
104. Unquestionably…
105. In conclusion…
106. As a result…
107. Consequently…
Final Thoughts
Highlight the differences and similarities well in your writing using these useful compare and contrast sentence starters.
For more transition words and ideas, see this helpful guide on sentence starters.