Comparing Multiple Texts

When you read two books, articles, or websites about the same topic, you can compare them. Comparing means looking closely at both texts to see what is the same and what is different. This helps you build a fuller, clearer picture of the topic than one text alone could give you.

Comparing texts means reading more than one source about the same topic and asking two questions: What do these texts agree on? What does each text tell me that the other one does not? Answering these questions helps you understand the topic better, because each text is like one piece of a puzzle.

Start by finding facts that show up in both texts. If a book about bees says bees live in a hive, and a website about bees also says bees live in a hive, you have found a matching fact. When two texts agree, you can feel more sure that the fact is true.

You can count how many matching facts you find. Counting them helps you see how much the two texts overlap.

Next, look for facts that appear in only one text. Maybe the book about bees explains how bees make honey, but the website shows a video of a bee dance that tells other bees where flowers are. These are different facts, and both are useful. One text does not have to repeat the other text to be helpful.

Once you have the matching facts and the different facts, you put them together into one complete picture. Think about two texts on frogs. A book might show pictures of a frog's life cycle, from egg to tadpole to adult frog. A website might have a short video of frog sounds. Both texts agree that frogs are amphibians and live near water. When you combine all of this, you know more about frogs than either text alone could teach you.

Compare: To look at two or more texts and notice what is the same and what is different.

Matching Facts: Facts that show up in more than one text about the same topic.

Different Facts: Facts that appear in only one text and not the others.

Complete Picture: The full understanding you get when you put matching and different facts together.

Pick a topic you like, such as sharks or the water cycle. Read one short text and watch one short video about it. Make a two-column chart. On one side, write facts from the text. On the other side, write facts from the video. Circle any facts that show up in both columns. This is the same skill you use when you combine ideas from several sources into one clear summary.

Then write two or three sentences that use both the matching facts and the different facts to describe your topic in your own words.

Related lessons

• Finding Info Across Sources