sec 2 history sbq skill: compare and contrast

What is it?What does it involve?What are the questions like?How to answer?Are there steps we can follow?

What is comparison?Looking at two or more objects and their features or characteristics, and looking at their similarities and differences.

SoccerSoccerBasketballBasketball

Criteria- A standard/a reference point by which

something is measured/compared.

Starting line/reference pointStarting line/reference point

• False matching– Wrong criteria used to compare– E.g. The shape of the two waterbottles are different.

Waterbottle A is round while waterbottle B is blue.

A B

• No match– No criteria used for comparison – E.g. Spotting the difference: Waterbottle A is red,

Waterbottle B is not red. – E.g. Waterbottle A is big. Waterbottle B is blue.

A B

SBS BusSBS Bus SMRTSMRT

• Provenance– Type of source (textual versus pictorial) – Government versus non-government

• Content (inferences) • tone• purpose

Question types Required answers

How similar are sources A and B?How different are sources A and B?To what extent are sources A and B similar?To what extent are source A and B different?

BOTH similarities AND differences

In what ways are Sources A and B different? Differences

In what ways are Sources A and B are similar? Similarities

Para 1: Similarities

Sources A and B are similar.

Both agree about __________________. (Basis of comparison)

Source A states that “(evidence)”. Source B states that “(evidence)”.

L1 (state that sources are similar)

L2 (given your basis of comparison

L3 (your evidences)

How to answer Compare and Contrast questions?

How to answer Compare and Contrast questions?

Para 2: Differences

Sources A and B are different.

Both disagree about ______________________. (Basis of comparison)

Source A states that “(evidence)”. However, Source B states that “(evidence)”.

L1 (state that sources are similar)

L2 (given your basis of comparison

L3 (your evidences)

Steps to answering Compare and Contrast

1. Read the question – what is the question asking for?

2. Read the topic – what is the issue?3. Read the sources

[highlight phrases related to the issue]4. Look for similarities/differences, identify

basis of comparison5. Write your answer!

• Criteria– Correct way of comparing (having a valid criteria for

comparison)– Wrong way:

• False match• No match

– 4 types of criteria used to compare sources

• Question requirements • Template to answer• Steps to answering

Now you try…

Topic: Housing problems experienced in the

1960sSource A: A historian describes the housing situation in Singapore in the 1960s.

Over half of the residents lived in cubicles with an average size of about 9 square metres; a high proportion of these cubicles had no windows; sanitary conditions were unbearable and the buildings badly run down.

Source B: Lim Kan San, first Chairman of the Housing Development Board, shares about his experience entering a crowded shophouse

I went into a three-storey shophouse. We counted 200 tenants living there. It was so dark and damp. Underneath the staircase was a single plank. A man was lying on the plank covered with a blanket. I paused to ask him if he was sick. “Why are you covering yourself with a thick blanket?” He replied, “I am covering myself out of respect for you. I am wearing only undershorts. My brother is wearing my pants.”

Source A: A historian describes the housing situation in Singapore in the 1960s.

Source B: Lim Kan San, first Chairman of the Housing Development Board, shares about his experience entering a crowded shophouse.

Over half of the residents lived in cubicles with an average size of about 9 square metres; a high proportion of these cubicles had no windows; sanitary conditions were unbearable and the buildings badly run down.

I went into a three-storey shophouse. We counted 200 tenants living there. It was so dark and damp. Underneath the staircase was a single plank. A man was lying on the plank covered with a blanket. I paused to ask him if he was sick. “Why are you covering yourself with a thick blanket?” He replied, “I am covering myself out of respect for you. I am wearing only undershorts. My brother is wearing my pants.”

Writing your answer…

• What is the question asking for?– Similarities ONLY.

• How many must I write?– 2 similarities

• What is my basis of comparison?• Where is my evidence?