The Classification Essay – Features and Proper Help

Classification Essay – A Guide On Doing The Task Easily

There are several types of essays, and you will always meet them. It seems not a problem at all to remember these types and their characteristics. However, when you start to get regular writing tasks, you see numerous other essay subtypes. One of such specific essay types is the classification essay.

The Character of the Classification Essay

The classification essay is a particular essay type focusing on generalization and categorization. The goal of the student is to organize things by specific criteria into groups. There can be many criteria, but the student must provide an explanation for them. Also, it is necessary to prove that things match those formal criteria.

Doing the classification essay is a frequent task in high schools and colleges. But higher education levels use this exercise too. It is helpful for analytical skills.

Types of Topics Suitable for the Classification Essay

The classification essay is under the same requirements to the structure and contents as coming for the rest of the essay types. But before we proceed to examine these requirements, let’s consider the essay topics.

The topic choice is the initial step for any essay. In many cases, it can determine your success. A champion topic gives you an advantage on start, and you can develop it further.

The rules of the topic choice are the same as always:

  • Take an appealing topic. You will have to run researches, collect data, and process them to get a solid background for your essay. It will be much more pleasant if you feel personally engaged.
  • Avoid topics implying too many categories. The classification essay demands that you explore each type. Hence, it would be too long.
  • If you’ve chosen the topic, consider the classification approaches. You can use one method only, so make sure it is applicable for all categories. If not – you will have either change the approach or switch to a different topic.
  • Check which categories each topic can cover. They all must be meaningful, as you will describe them and assign formal criteria to them. Make sure that the theme allows doing that.

Below you can find a list of notions that we hope to inspire your classification essay.

Social

  1. Social network users.
  2. Social trends of 2020.
  3. Social stereotypes in movies. 
  4. Main cultural trends in the USA.
  5. Criteria for employees to get the promotion.
  6. Monarchy types in the modern world.
  7. Main communication patterns.
  8. Main social movements on Twitter.
  9. Personal identity issues.
  10. Cultural distinctions of diasporas.

Biology

  1. Genetic factors of obesity.
  2. Most prominent discoveries in biology in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
  3. Main types of desirable mutations.
  4. Methods of improving immunity.
  5. Biologically active substances classes.
  6. The consequences of vegetarianism.
  7. The main types of chemical agents affecting plants.
  8. The types of hormones.
  9. Methods of genetic engineering.
  10. Types of allergies.

Literature

  1. Main themes of the in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novels.
  2. The main subjects of the science fiction novels in the 21st century.
  3. Fanfiction categories.
  4. Social trends in the modern family sagas.
  5. Mass literature criteria of the 20th century.
  6. Distinctive features of the Scandinavian thrillers.
  7. Thematic references to the Ancient Greek dramas in modern literature.
  8. Characteristics of the “lost generation” novels.
  9. Main categories of the fantasy genre.
  10. The stages of the detective stories development.

Entertainment

  1. The leading movie franchises.
  2. The categories of 19th-century music.
  3. The most influencing video games companies.
  4. The leading themes of reality shows.
  5. The main categories of American music.
  6. The main stages of pop music evolution.
  7. The main trends of folk music.
  8. The types of moviegoers.
  9. Characteristics of the Marvel fans.
  10. Multiple Oscar winners – the study of genres. 

Sports

  1. The most popular winter sports.
  2. The most popular summer sports.
  3. The leading sports in the USA.
  4. The primary sports of Europe.
  5. The most outstanding athletes of the 20th century.
  6. The types of “sports moms.”
  7. The types of sports fans.
  8. The main approaches in sports marketing.
  9. Cybersport categories.
  10. Main classes of sports drugs.

When you decide which topic you will explore, research it thoroughly. Examine the categories you want to use and make an accurate description for each one. Then, consider the characteristics of each type and list them separately. At this stage, you should already detect similarities and differences between these classes.

You may check for the other authoritative experts’ opinions on classification. Also, you can gather the stats information and develop your own categories. You have only one requirement for the classes – they must be provable.

Writing the Classification Essay: Develop the Structure

The “classification and categorization” mean that you have to care much about the structure. The standard three-parts scheme includes the Introduction, the Main Body, and the Conclusion. The classification essay follows this structure too. The distinction features relate to the contents.

The Introduction

Classification essays you write in high school and college are not very large. As a rule, these are the standard 5-paragraphs essays, though they can have more sections.

The Introduction must achieve the following goals:

  • Identify the subject overall. You should not start categorizing things. First, you have to explain which items you will classify.
  • Provide catchy information about the topic – the “hook” of an essay. It can be some interesting facts, stats, jokes, quotes, etc.
  • Explain the purpose of the essay. Here, you can tell why you wanted classification of this or that thing. This sense fragment serves as the link to the thesis statement – the bottom line of the Introduction.

Thesis statement

Though the thesis statement belongs to the Introduction part formally, it should get special attention. This element defines the main idea of your essay and plays a pivotal role by organizing all the other fragments.

In the particular case of the classification essay, the thesis statement must do the following:

  • Define the groups (categories) for the items;
  • Explain your criteria briefly;
  • Justify the reason for classification this way. For instance, you may want to rank the categories by significance.

You need to have the thesis statement before you start to compose the text. It will be your reference point.

The Main Body sections

In this section, you expose your reasoning and arguments with the evidence. For the classification essay, note the following features:

  • The number of your categories should define the number of paragraphs: one section for one class. You can split one paragraph into several smaller ones if it makes your essay more accurate and readable. Pay attention to direct logical connections between smaller parts.
  • Each paragraph should start from defining the criteria for the category and, optionally, their strong and weak points.
  • The statements you offer must have the support of the relevant evidence.
  • The paragraph must have its logical final – the mini-conclusion.
  • Logical connections between the sections must be your priority. All elements must come in strict order, each one leading to the next one.

The Conclusion

The final of the classification essay should describe the essence of all your previous reasoning and facts:

  • Summarize each of your categories.
  • Define if you consider some of your criteria or classes to prevail over the others (optional).
  • Make the impressive ending to provoke the reaction of your audience again – ask a question, or apply a broader context.

The Writing Process for the Classification Essay

Organize the data – choose the evidence for your statements. The next step is to outline the classification essay.

Outline

Many students try to avoid this stage. Still, we’d recommend you to take the time and make a detailed sketch. Nothing helps better for organizing your thought and polishing the essay structure. 

For instance, you write the classification essay about the comic book movie adaptation. The essay outline might be as follows:

I. Introduction

  • Comic book adaptations make the most of the world movie box office.
  • Style and approach of the comic book movie adaptations evolved throughout history.
  • The thesis statement: the adaptation approaches had significant differences in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. 

II. Category I: The 1990s

  • The resurrection of the “Batman” saga in Tim Burton’s films.
  • The artistic approach and features of the director’s individual style.
  • Critical and audience’s reactions.
  • Other notable mentions of that period.
  • The influence of these movies on the comic book adaptation genre. 

III. The 2000s

  • The new approach to comic book adaptations: “Spiderman” and Nolan’s “Batman.”
  • Authors’ styles, critical and audience’s reactions.
  • The most notable experiments in the genre.

IV. The 2010s

  • The rise of the “Marvel” franchise.
  • An original approach to making comic books movies.
  • Authors’ styles, critical and audience’s reactions.
  • The influence of Marvel’s success on the genre.

V. Conclusion.

  • Restate that the comic book movie adaptation had their characteristics in different periods.
  • Summarize the most prominent features.

Outlines help you to organize the thoughts, and also they are excellent for tracking references. You can at once assign the necessary facts and citations to the argument. Also, it is much more convenient to play with the structure and contents in the outline.

The final version of the outline is a detailed vision of the entire essay. You understand what you will write and how.

The tips to make the task easier

When you appeal to examples, choose the most typical ones. Note that you should provide an equal number of samples for each category.

  • Pay attention to the language – it should be clear and concise, but it must not be banal. Make use of thesaurus carefully. It is an excellent practice to take synonyms to make your text brighter and replace the overused and trite verbs and adjectives. Avoid rare and complicated words with vague meanings. Instead, use regular and more precise synonyms.
  • Revise the essay after completion. Reread it several times and give yourself enough time to rest between the revisions. Track and fix all vague or awkward issues. Check the logical connections, consider the contents in general. If you want to re-write a part of the essay, it is normal.
  • Proofread your classification essay. It mustn’t have any spelling or grammar errors. Note that even the most advanced online checker is not enough. Automates have their weak points when it comes to the context. So, reread the essay yourself then and make sure that it meets all academic requirements.

Create the Exquisite Classification Essay with Our Help!

As the classification essay is one of the regular college writing assignments, you need to get familiar with all its peculiarities. We hope that this article was of help and that you got all the helpful information on how to do this task.

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