THE CLASSIFICATION ESSAY

Prof. Mara LunaENGL 3104

Marketing and Advertising

• Advertising is everywhere.

• We see it on television; we hear it on the radio. There are print ads in every newspaper and magazine we read, on billboards, on the sides of buses and on many Internet sites.

• Advertising, however, is just part of the marketing effort that companies (and governments, candidates, and other groups) put forth to further their cause of getting us to buy a product, change our minds about an issue, change our behavior, or vote for a candidate.

• The reading in this chapter explore the question: “What is marketing and why does it work? 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Building vocabulary

• A prefix is a letter or group of letters that are attached to the beginning of a word to change the word’s meaning.

• Studying prefixes is a good way to improve your reading comprehension, but it is also a good way to help you increase the number of words you can use productively –in your speaking and writing.

• Some of the most common prefixes give the root word a negative meaning.

Building vocabulary

Prefix Example Prefix Example

dis- discomfort un- unenthusiastic

in- / im- interminable /impossible

il- / ir- illegible /irresponsible

non- nonviolent de- destabilize

anti- antibiotic

Classifying

• The patterns of exposition are really ways to organize thoughts, to develop ideas in an organized fashion so the reader can follow them easily. Some topics are best developed as comparison and contrast essays.

• There’s another common pattern of exposition: classification and division. This pattern, like process analysis and cause-and-effect analysis, is used for analyzing topics.

• When analyzing a subject, you break it down into parts to study or determine the relationship of the parts or the nature of the parts.

Principles of classification

• When you classify, you need a principle of classification – a guideline for your classifying procedure.

• The important thing is to remember to use only one principle of classification in an essay.

• Three common principles of classification are:degree chronology – dividing the subject

according to time periodslocation

Making the Classification Complete

• Once you have decided on a principle of classification, check to see if the classification includes all members of the group.

• To avoid omitting members and oversimplifying the analysis, then, it is generally a good idea to divide the group into more than two categories.

• For most college essays, three or four categories are the average.

Organizing the Classification essay

• After deciding on the principle of classification and dividing the group into categories, you need to discuss each of those categories.

• Plan on devoting at least one paragraph to each category.

Organizing the Classification Essay

For each category include the following:

1)Identify the group. If it has a special name, identify the name.

2)Describe or define the category. What are the general characteristics of the members of this category?

3)Illustrate the generalizations you make by giving one or two examples of typical members of the category.

4)In the second and subsequent developmental paragraphs, distinguish the new category from the other categories. Discuss the characteristics of the second category by comparing and contrasting them with those of the first category.

Introducing Categories

• In an introductory paragraph it is often a good idea to introduce the categories by mentioning the names of the groups.

• The thesis statement for the classification essay can be one that simply introduces the classification and the categories.

• When you name the categories in the introduction, express them in parallel structure: that is, express them in the same parts of speech.

Introductory Paragraphs

In Chapter 6 you learned about the Funnel.

• Like the Funnel, the Turnabout opens generally and congenially, but unlike the Funnel, the Turnabout has a dramatic shift in ideas.

• In the Turnabout, the writer sets up the opponent’s view for attack.

Transitions for Classification

• A classification essay is really a combination of the example and comparison-contrast essays.

• Therefore, expect the transitions for this type of essay to be generally the same as those for the example and comparison-contrast essays.

Type Explanation Examples

to introduce categories these are generally additive transitions

The first group…The next group…The last category…

to show similarities and differences

it is important to clarify the distinctions between the categories.

Unlike…However…In contrast to…

to introduce examples A good example of…An excellent example of…

Additional Resources

• http://writing.wikinut.com/How-to-Write-a-Well-Developed-And-Organized-Classification-Essay-5-Paragraphs/nb3g58w_/

• http://www.ehow.com/about_4597015_what-classification-essay.html

• http://www.ehow.com/video_4757585_what-classification-essay.html