Before beginning with the compare and contrast essay topics, let us spend some time on how to write and essay of this type and what it entails. Writing can be of many types - academic writing, journalistic writing, letter writing, essay writing, creative writing, and fiction writing. All these types require different writing skills, and the writing tips also differ for each of them. Writing skills can be acquired, if you are not already born with them, and hence there is no need to fear writing of any kind. Coming to our original topic, that is around essay writing, here's a small list of steps to write an essay.

• Choosing a Topic - In this stage, one not only has to choose a topic to be researched and written on but also decide on the scope of the chosen topic to be explored and covered. A topic can be vast. So, it is important to determine whether specific facets and angles of it will be covered in the essay or everything about it will be included. For instance, if writing about Mahatma Gandhi, one will need to decide whether his life from the day he was born to the moment he breathed his last will be covered or just one facet, such as his relation with his wife, will be concentrated upon.
• Brainstorming - Brainstorming on the essay content and body will make researching about it easier, since you will know exactly what to look for.
• Research and Analysis - This step involves gathering all possible information on your essay topic. All the irrelevant and unnecessary information can be ignored while writing the body of the essay.
• Thesis Preparation - This is where all the information gathered is put through the sieve of relevancy. All the important ideas are highlighted so that they are surely covered in the essay.
• Structuring - This is where a rough structural formatting of the essay is done by the writer. This is the ready-for-implementation plan.
• Writing the Essay - Here, the actual essay gets written, using the information gathered. It is written in the format that is decided in the previous step, containing a proper introduction, body, and conclusion in an unbiased, objective manner.
• Citation and References - Essays mandatorily must contain this section in order to validate the points of argument raised in the essay as well as to avoid plagiarism charges. Proper credit HAS to be given to the information sources in this section.

Comparative essays have a different structure altogether. There are two distinct styles to format a compare-contrast essay and they are as follows:

• Introduction with quotation or anecdotes that lay the ground for the thesis statement.
• Next, Topic A is introduced in great detail. The exhaustive description can continue for quite a few paragraphs. All aspects of this topic that will be used later for comparison should be discussed in this section in great detail. Topic B should not be mentioned in this section at all.
• The third section should have comprehensive details about Topic B. The same rules apply for this section as well. No mention of Topic A should be made here.
• The next section is where you compare the two elements you have chosen to pit against each other and bring out the similarities and differences in them optimally.
• Finally, a complete summarization and good conclusion to reaffirm the thesis stated in the introduction.

• An introduction giving a briefing of all that the essay will cover.
• Portion containing all the similarities between topics A and B.
• Section containing all the differences between the two topics.
• The conclusion containing a summary of everything highlighted in the essay.

Now that we have seen the two writing styles of comparative essays, let us have a look at some compare and contrast topics for essays. To Start With

• Your Best Friend vs. Your Archenemy
• Vogue Magazine and Elle Magazine
• Music and Books
• Celebrity Influence vs. Parental Influence
• Watching Movies in Theaters vs. Watching Movies at Home
• Rap Music vs. Pop Music
• Acting vs. Lying
• Fear and Confusion
• Natural Beauty vs. Cosmetic Beauty
• Being Rich vs. Being Famous
• Online Classes vs. Traditional Classes
• Soul Music vs. Country Music
• Daily Soaps vs. Reality TV Shows
• Tarzan vs. Mowgli
• Bullies vs. Dictators

Once you have tried your hands at these topics, you can move on to heavier ones. People and Personalities

• Adolf Hitler vs. Joseph Stalin
• Abraham Lincoln vs. Thomas Jefferson
• Joseph Stalin vs. Napoleon Bonaparte
• William Shakespeare vs. Christopher Marlowe
• George Carlin vs. Richard Pryor
• Paris Hilton vs. Lindsay Lohan
• Beyonce Knowles vs. Rihanna
• Karl Marx vs. Max Weber
• Ellen DeGeneres vs. Oprah Winfrey

Health and Fitness

• Bulimia Nervosa vs. Anorexia Nervosa
• Yoga vs. Aerobic Exercises
• Low Fat Diet vs. Low Carb Diet
• Acupuncture vs. Acupressure
• Allopathy vs. Homeopathy
• Condoms vs. Birth Control Pills
• Dyslexia and Dementia
• Herbal Medicine vs. Allopathic Medicine
• High Fiber Diet vs. High Protein Diet
• Dyslexia vs. Learning Disabilities
• Cosmetic Surgery vs. Liposuction

Wars, Revolution, and Governments

• Current Russia vs. the Former USSR
• Communism vs. Democracy
• Nazism vs. Fascism
• Republican Ideals vs. Democratic Ideals
• The Two World War Sides - Allies and Axis
• Democracy vs. Dictatorship
• The Iraq War vs. the Vietnam War
• The World War I and the World War II

Time Periods and Eras

• The 18^th Century vs. the 21^st Century
• The Pop Culture in the 1960s and the Pop Culture in the 1990s
• Life in the Past vs. Life in the Future
• The Neanderthal Man vs. the 21^st Century Man
• Women 100 years ago and Women Today
• The Writings of Confucius and Hammurabi's Code of Laws

Science and Technology

• Windows vs. Linux
• Microsoft Zune and Apple iPod
• Yahoo Search Engine vs. Google Search Engine
• Hurricanes and Blizzards
• Inventions vs. Discoveries
• Facebook vs. Twitter
• Kindle vs. Nook
• Snowfall and Rainfall
• Creationism vs. Evolutionism
• SRAM vs. DRAM (Static Random Access Memory vs. Dynamic Random Access Memory)
• Mitosis vs. Meiosis
• Nuclear Fusion and Nuclear Fission

Flora and Fauna

• Compare Cultivated Flowers vs. Non-cultivated Weeds
• Pet Dogs vs. Pet Cats
• African Elephant and the Asiatic Elephant
• African Lions and the Asian Tigers
• The Australian Flora and Fauna vs. the African Flora and Fauna
• Fruits vs. Vegetables
• Evergreen Forests vs. Coniferous Forests

Geography and Topography

• Volcanoes vs. Earthquakes
• The African Continent vs. the American Continent
• The Mediterranean Weather vs. the Sub Tropical Climate
• Pollution in the United States vs. Pollution in China
• Compare Germany vs. America
• Europe vs. Africa

Religion and Faith

• Spirit Worship vs. Idol Worship
• The Bible and the Quran
• The Bhagavad Gita and the Quran
• Hinduism vs. Islam Religion
• Christianity vs. Judaism
• Paganism vs. the Wiccan Faith
• Buddha and Jesus Christ
• The Gospel of Matthew vs. the Gospel of Luke
• Islam vs. Christianity

Sports and Adventure

• The NASCAR vs. the Formula One
• Venus Williams vs. Serena Williams
• Cricket and Soccer
• Baseball and Rugby

Human Interest and Popular Culture

• Fox News vs. CNN
• Country Living vs. City Living
• Physical Beauty vs. Inner Beauty
• eBooks vs. Real Books
• A Good Boss and a Bad Boss
• Hostel Living vs. Home Living
• Disparity vs. Discrimination
• Reservation Quota vs. Equal Opportunity
• F.R.I.E.N.D.S vs. Charmed
• Cinderella and Snow White
• Beowulf and Odysseus
• Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer
• Sherlock Holmes vs. Hercule Poirot
• Albus Dumbledore vs. Gandalf
• Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald
• Poetry vs. Prose
• Tragedy vs. Comedy
• Romeo and Juliet vs. Much Ado About Nothing
• Pride and Prejudice vs. Sense and Sensibility
• Harry Potter Series and The Lord of the Rings Series
• Victorian Culture vs. Gothic Culture
• Catholic Schools vs. Public Schools
• Being an Employee vs. Being Self-employed
• Church Sermons vs. Campaign Speeches
• College Life vs. High School Life
• Classical Economics vs. Keynesian Economics
• Perception and Sensation

Here's something you should always keep in mind when choosing the two (or more) subjects to be compared in an essay - they must belong to the same league in some way or the other. For instance, comparing the achievements of Nikola Tesla and Gabriel Batistuta in any way will be an effort in vain as only then will you be able to do optimal justice to your essay. Their fields of work are completely different and in no way can any parallels be drawn between the two. However, the achievements of Nikola Tesla can always be compared to that of Thomas Edison for very obvious reasons. Also, choose two subjects of equal strength and weightage. Macbeth and Hamlet can be studied in tandem, but you cannot possibly compare Nick Bottom to Hamlet just because both are characters created by Shakespeare. As long as these threads of rationality can be maintained in your choice of comparable constituents of your essay, there will never be a dearth of topics that you can coin and opt for.