Katie's Writing Notes

Development methods offer writers different ways of developing or writing about a topic, each with a unique approach or focus on the topic.  Analogy is an interesting method to use as it uses connections between two unrelated topics to show similar traits.

DEFINED

An analogy is a comparison of two different items showing similarities with five or six points.

WHEN TO USE IT

Create an analogy when you are discussing a complicated issue unknown to your readers.  In order for the readers to more clearly understand the complicated topic, find a familiar topic that has five or six points of similarity to your complicated topic.

TWO EXAMPLES

You could write about the circulatory system of the human body and the flow of blood throughout the entire system, and compare it with a freeway system.  The freeways themselves, those six to ten lanes of concrete, could be equated to the main arteries of the circulatory system; the off ramps and on ramps could be compared to smaller vessels.  As the size of the roadway diminishes, the size of the blood vessels of the body are used in comparison.

You could compare a movie studio production lot with a small town.  Each serves a relatively stable population with the same services: food, clothing, transportation, employment, and so on.  For those unfamiliar with a movie lot, this analogy could clue them into the vast complexities of the movie lot by just looking at their own town.

QUESTIONS FOR DETERMINING ITS USE

When might you use an analogy in your nonfiction writing?  Ask yourself these questions:

1. Does your topic include a complex or complicated subtopic with many aspects to discuss?

2. Assuming you could find a familiar item to use in comparison, would using an analogy actually help the reader understand your topic and the points being made about that topic?

3. Could the points of comparison (those five or six points) be actual points used to discuss the topic?  For example, with the circulatory system example above, might one of your points be the width of the blood vessels, the rate of blood flow through those blood vessels, and so on?

4. Is your audience sophisticated enough to understand the comparison you will be using between the two different items?

5. Do you have space for the extended discussion an analogy would require?  If your writing project is a short article, would a short analogy, briefly discussed and with only three points of similarity, actually help your reader? Or perhaps the article could be the analogy alone.

6. Does your genre allow analogies?  Some genre or fields of discipline might consider an analogy too informal.  Have you seen other authors in your field use analogies?

Analogies can add depth and greater understanding to your writing, if using the analogy fits with your topic and genre.  Play with the idea, and if appropriate, use it.  Have fun with analogies.