The Ultimate Topic List: 81 Comparative Essay Topics

During your career as a student, you will no doubt encounter the comparative essay – if you haven’t encountered it already. It is also known as the compare and contrast essay. This is a pretty complex writing assignment, we agree. However, we can assure you that you can surely write it. Furthermore, we are certain that you will manage to get a top grade. All you need to do is learn how to write comparative essay and then find some exceptional, original comparative essay topics. In this blog post, we will focus on helping you find the best comparative essay topics possible with minimal effort. In fact, we will provide 81 topics for you to choose from. Of course, you can change these best topics 2018 as you like. And yes, the topics are free for you to use as you desire. We are here to help college students with their assignments, and our professional writers are more than happy to provide you with the tips and topics you need to succeed.

What Is a Comparative Essay?

Before we start, let’s talk a bit about the comparative essay. We noticed that many students are having a hard time understanding what this assignment is and what it implies.

Basically, a comparative essay requires you to compare two subjects. Of course, these subjects must have at least some similarities. In your essay, you will compare the subjects – which can be anything you can think of – and note the similarities and the differences. It may sound easy, but be aware that everything you write needs to be properly researched and referenced. Remember, this paper must be written following all relevant academic writing standards.

If you are not familiar with academic writing, we suggest you start learning about it. Another option is to get some help online from an academic writer who has extensive experience with this kind of assignment (and with original comparative essay topics).

Why Comparative Essay Topics Are So Important

Most often, college students who know how to write an academic paper will start writing about the easiest topic they can come across. This is not the way to do it though! You need very interesting comparative essay topics if want a top grade on your paper. Why? Because professors pay a lot of attention to the topic you choose to write about. Think of it this way: your teacher has read hundreds of papers, all of them written on the same couple of topics. It tends to get boring. When you come up with some original, intriguing comparative essay topics, you instantly get bonus points. When you pique the interest of your professor, you can be sure that your paper will stand out from the rest in your class. This is why comparative essay topics are so important.

Ultimate List of 81 Comparative Essay Topics

Beginner’s Topics

• Comparing apples and pears
• Feeling sad versus feeling lonely comparison
• A comparison between hiking and surfing
• Comparing coffee and tea (with effects)
• Driving the car or taking the bus: which is better?
• Stay in a village or move to a big city?
• Humans and orangutans: similarities

General Interest Topics

• The differences between high school and college
• The PhD versus the Master’s degree
• Are education and employment so different after all?
• The major similarities between US and UK English
• Comparing Donald Trump to Barrack Obama
• Are argumentative and persuasive essays the same thing?
• Major differences between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches.
• The differences between legal cannabis use in two states of your choosing.

History Topics

• Comparing the Baroque Epoch to the Renaissance Epoch
• Are there any similarities between the Soviet government and the American government?
• Was King Louis the XIV better than King Henry the VIII?
• Differences between the North and the South ideologies during the Civil War.
• What changed from World War I to World War II (why casualties were far higher in WWII)?
• Comparing Stalin’s regime to Hitler’s regime.
• How similar were Washington’s ideas to Lincoln’s ideas?
• Comparing the United States to the European Union in terms of prosperity.

Political Topics

• Comparing the attributes of the UK Prime Minister to the US President
• Were Fascism and Nazism the same? If not, why?
• Similarities between Barrack Obama and George W. Bush
• President Trump’s border protection measures compared to Obama’s measures
• All political parties are the same in many aspects. Why?
• Compare the situation in Ukraine to the Syrian war.
• The differences between civil union and marriage in the United States
• Comparing the 1950s political regime to Trumps’ administration

Opposite Subjects

• The major differences between male humans and female humans
• Compare eBooks to printed books and find out which is better
• A quick comparison between the Moon and the Sun
• Coke versus Pepsi: which one is better?
• Attending university or getting hired: which is better?
• Comparing red and green: any similarities?
• What are the major similarities between asylums and jails?
• A comparison between Star Trek and Star Wars: Why they are different in all aspects

Social Media Topics

• Facebook and Twitter – Which one to choose?
• Facebook image posting or video posting?
• Comparing Facebook in the US with Facebook in Russia
• Facebook or Myspace when it comes to opportunities to interact with other users
• Social media marketing versus traditional marketing
• Online dating or real-life dating: which is better and why?
• Selling products on Facebook compared to selling products on eBay
• Facebook or Instagram – which is more damaging to college students?

IT Topics

• Comparing emails to traditional mailing: the similarities
• Which is more engaging, video games or smartphone games?
• Searching for jobs traditionally versus searching for jobs online
• Comparing Booking.com to AirBnb: major differences
• Comparing Kaspersky Labs antivirus to BitDefender antivirus
• Wide screen monitors versus ultra-wide monitors for productivity
• AMD or Intel processor? Why?
• Virtual Reality versus real life: similarities
• Comparing Alphabet to Microsoft in terms of product innovation

Philosophy Topics

• Comparing the philosophical views about life and death
• The difference between physical needs and mental needs of human beings
• Choosing a fantasy world over the real world: why?
• Hamlet and Macbeth: comparing the main ideas
• Are historians and philosophers similar? If not, why?
• What makes good good and evil bad?
• Humans are as wild as wild animals in some cases: comparing the two

Literature Topics

• Comparing the Indo-European languages to the Sino-Tibetan languages
• Comparing a drama to a comedy: major differences
• Non-fiction versus fiction literature
• What do you prefer, prose or poetry? Why?
• Comparing Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter (the books, not the movies)
• Comparing Shakespeare’s Othello to his Hamlet
• Comparing a British author to an American Author: Similarities and Differences
• Comparing the Greek Mythology to the Roman Mythology
• Comparing your two most bellowed authors. Any similarities between writing styles?

Most Popular Compare Topics

• Which is more difficult, driving a car or a bicycle?
• Which one do you like most, comic books or novels? Why?
• Comparing the Japanese vision of beauty to the American vision of beauty
• Things that Julius Caesar and Macbeth have in common
• Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump. Any striking similarities?
• Comparing textbooks to tablets for use in schools in the United States
• Which is better, communism or capitalism? Explain why.
• Comparing paid OS (Windows) to free OS (Linux).
• The major differences between South Korea and North Korea

How to Write Comparative Essay: Tips and Tricks

Now that you understand why you need new essay topics and have selected a topic from the comprehensive list above, it’s time for some comparative essay tips. The first tip is to start early – as early as possible. Make sure you have plenty of time to finish your work and then proofread it at least twice (this is the second tip). Make effective use of an outline, which must be created before you start writing the sections. Speaking of sections, make sure you familiarize yourself with the five paragraph essay structure. It’s simple to use, and you don’t even need to know how to write comparative essay to use it. Of course, another tip would be to find the most interesting comparative essay topics. However, make sure that you know at least something about the topic, otherwise it can be pretty difficult to write a paper about it. These tips will surely help you write the best comparative essay in your class. And remember, our best topics 2020 are free to use. Good luck!