Humanities › English 30 Writing Topics: Analogy Ideas for a Paragraph, Essay, or Speech Developed With Analogies Print JGI / Getty Images English English Grammar An Introduction to Punctuation Writing By Richard Nordquist Richard Nordquist English and Rhetoric Professor Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester B.A., English, State University of New York Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on November 18, 2019 An analogy is a kind of comparison that explains the unknown in terms of the known, the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. A good analogy can help your readers understand a complicated subject or view a common experience in a new way. Analogies can be used with other methods of development to explain a process, define a concept, narrate an event, or describe a person or place. Read More The Value of Analogies in Writing and Speech By Richard Nordquist Analogy isn't a single form of writing. Rather, it's a tool for thinking about a subject, as these brief examples demonstrate: "Do you ever feel that getting up in the morning is like pulling yourself out of quicksand? . . ." (Jean Betschart, In Control, 2001)"Sailing a ship through a storm is . . . a good analogy for the conditions inside an organization during turbulent times, since not only will there be the external turbulence to deal with, but internal turbulence as well . . ." (Peter Lorange, Leading in Turbulent Times, 2010)"For some people, reading a good book is like a Calgon bubble bath — it takes you away. . . ." (Kris Carr, Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor, 2008)"Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. . . ." (Lewis Thomas, "On Societies as Organisms," 1971)"To me, patching up a heart that'd had an attack was like changing out bald tires. They were worn and tired, just like an attack made the heart, but you couldn't just switch out one heart for another. . . ." (C. E. Murphy, Coyote Dreams, 2007)"Falling in love is like waking up with a cold — or more fittingly, like waking up with a fever. . . ." (William B. Irvine, On Desire, 2006) British author Dorothy Sayers observed that analogous thinking is a key aspect of the writing process. A composition professor explains: Analogy illustrates easily and to almost everyone how an "event" can become an "experience" through the adoption of what Miss [Dorothy] Sayers called an "as if" attitude. That is, by arbitrarily looking at an event in several different ways, "as if" if it were this sort of thing, a student can actually experience transformation from the inside. . . . The analogy functions both as a focus and a catalyst for "conversion" of event into experience. It also provides, in some instances not merely the To discover original analogies that can be explored in a paragraph, essay, or speech, apply the "as if" attitude to any one of the 30 topics listed below. In each case, ask yourself, "What is it like?" Thirty Topic Suggestions: Analogy Working at a fast-food restaurantMoving to a new neighborhoodStarting a new jobQuitting a jobWatching an exciting movieReading a good bookGoing into debtGetting out of debtLosing a close friendLeaving home for the first timeTaking a difficult examMaking a speechLearning a new skillGaining a new friendResponding to bad newsResponding to good newsAttending a new place of worshipDealing with successDealing with failureBeing in a car accidentFalling in loveGetting marriedFalling out of loveExperiencing griefExperiencing joyOvercoming an addiction to drugsWatching a friend destroy himself (or herself)Getting up in the morningResisting peer pressureDiscovering a major in college Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Nordquist, Richard. "30 Writing Topics: Analogy." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/analogy-writing-topics-1692445. Nordquist, Richard. (2023, April 5). 30 Writing Topics: Analogy. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/analogy-writing-topics-1692445 Nordquist, Richard. "30 Writing Topics: Analogy." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/analogy-writing-topics-1692445 (accessed April 24, 2024). copy citation