diff --git a/tests/test_pelican.py b/tests/test_pelican.py
index 15088ed0..78f083f9 100644
--- a/tests/test_pelican.py
+++ b/tests/test_pelican.py
@@ -35,6 +35,18 @@ class TestPelican(unittest.TestCase):
         rmtree(self.temp_path)
         locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, self.old_locale)
 
+    def assertFilesEqual(self, diff):
+        msg = "some generated files differ from the expected functional " \
+              "tests output.\n" \
+              "This is probably because the HTML generated files " \
+              "changed. If these changes are normal, please refer " \
+              "to docs/contribute.rst to update the expected " \
+              "output of the functional tests."
+
+        self.assertEqual(diff.left_only, [], msg=msg)
+        self.assertEqual(diff.right_only, [], msg=msg)
+        self.assertEqual(diff.diff_files, [], msg=msg)
+
     @unittest.skip("Test failing")
     def test_basic_generation_works(self):
         # when running pelican without settings, it should pick up the default
@@ -47,27 +59,7 @@ class TestPelican(unittest.TestCase):
             pelican.run()
             diff = dircmp(
                     self.temp_path, os.sep.join((OUTPUT_PATH, "basic")))
-            self.assertEqual(diff.left_only, [], msg="some generated " \
-                    "files are absent from the expected functional " \
-                    "tests output.\n" \
-                    "This is probably because the HTML generated files " \
-                    "changed. If these changes are normal, please refer " \
-                    "to docs/contribute.rst to update the expected " \
-                    "output of the functional tests.")
-            self.assertEqual(diff.right_only, [], msg="some files from " \
-                    "the expected functional tests output are absent " \
-                    "from the current output.\n" \
-                    "This is probably because the HTML generated files " \
-                    "changed. If these changes are normal, please refer " \
-                    "to docs/contribute.rst to update the expected " \
-                    "output of the functional tests.")
-            self.assertEqual(diff.diff_files, [], msg="some generated " \
-                    "files differ from the expected functional tests " \
-                    "output.\n" \
-                    "This is probably because the HTML generated files " \
-                    "changed. If these changes are normal, please refer " \
-                    "to docs/contribute.rst to update the expected " \
-                    "output of the functional tests.")
+            self.assertFilesEqual(diff)
 
     def test_custom_generation_works(self):
         # the same thing with a specified set of settings should work
@@ -75,24 +67,4 @@ class TestPelican(unittest.TestCase):
                             settings=read_settings(SAMPLE_CONFIG))
         pelican.run()
         diff = dircmp(self.temp_path, os.sep.join((OUTPUT_PATH, "custom")))
-        self.assertEqual(diff.left_only, [], msg="some generated " \
-                "files are absent from the expected functional " \
-                "tests output.\n" \
-                "This is probably because the HTML generated files " \
-                "changed. If these changes are normal, please refer " \
-                "to docs/contribute.rst to update the expected " \
-                "output of the functional tests.")
-        self.assertEqual(diff.right_only, [], msg="some files from " \
-                "the expected functional tests output are absent " \
-                "from the current output.\n" \
-                "This is probably because the HTML generated files " \
-                "changed. If these changes are normal, please refer " \
-                "to docs/contribute.rst to update the expected " \
-                "output of the functional tests.")
-        self.assertEqual(diff.diff_files, [], msg="some generated " \
-                "files differ from the expected functional tests " \
-                "output.\n" \
-                "This is probably because the HTML generated files " \
-                "changed. If these changes are normal, please refer " \
-                "to docs/contribute.rst to update the expected " \
-                "output of the functional tests.")
+        self.assertFilesEqual(diff)