CLASSIFICATION AND DIVISION A type of analysis

Analysis Breaking something down into parts to understand or explain it better Division takes a whole and separates it into smaller parts (an essay is made up of three parts: an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion) Classification takes a part and identifies what group it belongs to (a person could belong to a group based on hair color, or eye color, or any other feature that groups can be made of) In the end, it is the reason for making the groups that matters.

In the end, whether classifying or dividing, it is the reason for the groups that matters. There must be a single reason to create the groups. For example, the parts of the essay or the color of someone’s eyes is the reason to make the groups. Essays for this class must include an element of opinion to open the groups up for discussion (persuasion). Eye color is not debatable, but dividing students into “good” and “bad” is.

When Classifying or Dividing: Find a reason first Make your reason INCLUSIVE Make your groups EXCLUSIVE Be parallel in your discussion

Find a reason first Consider how you could divide a class of students: hair color, birthdate, financial aid type, shoe size, attitude toward school, and the list is endless Decide on ONE reason which will allow you to make the divisions EXAMPLES ARE NOT GROUPS. Make sure you are focused on the one reason for breaking your group up and that you identify both the larger group to be discussed and the reason (not the groups) in your thesis.

Make your reason INCLUSIVE Every member of the larger group you will discuss must fit into a smaller group. Divide students in the class into groups according to their major How many majors would that be? You can’t leave any out.(you are in vegetable science? No group for you!) That’s too many groups to discuss in your essay. Pick a reason that allows for a reasonable number of groups because you must include a discussion of all of them. For this essay assignment, your reason is attitude, but how you decide to sort out those attitudes will determine how many groups you end up with.

Make your groups EXCLUSIVE Every member of the larger group must fit into ONLY one of the smaller groups. Divide the class into the following groups: males, females, those who live in the dorm ???? Does this mean dorm students are neither male nor female???? Which group does a female dorm student go into?? Or a male one???? The groups you choose must fit with the reason and limit how you organize. For this essay assignment: Dealing with attitude makes it easy to break your group into smaller ones, but be sure you actually do it!

Be parallel in discussion Give each group “equal time” in discussion Thesis: Customers at Walmart can be divided into three groups according to how they treat employees. Groups: nice, detached, mean The reason and the groups meet the previous requirements, but the actual paper has a reasonably sized paragraph for groups one and two, and a huge paragraph for group three because group three is the one that most people would remember the most about. (Let me tell you about these people getting on my LAST nerve!!) This throws the discussion out of balance. Instead, consider this thesis: Mean customers at Walmart can be divided into three groups according to how they treat the employees. Groups: nasty, having a bad day, and chip on their shoulder customers Even these could be made smaller: group three could divided into racists, snobs, had bad experience at the store before For this essay assignment, Some of the groups WILL BE too big to be meaningful unless you focus them. Huge groups also lead to STEREOTYPING. “You know how ’those’ people are like, and she is one of ‘those’ people.” If you choose to do customers, I expect different groups than my example!!

Some examples: Doctors at Riverside Memorial can be divided into three groups according to their bedside manner. (good, average, bad) Study habits can be divided into three main groups. (obsessive, casual, nonexistent) There are three main types of reality shows. (showcase talent, showcase interesting things, showcase meaninglessness) Single parents face unique burdens based on their lifestyles. The groups listed are for example. They would not appear in the thesis. Each group will be turned onto a topic sentence for a body paragraph. Remember, your assignment eliminates some of these examples as acceptable.

Essay Assignment Pick a specific group of people and classify/divide them according to a specific attitude that relates to the group. Your group should have at least 15 members but should not be so large that you do not know them all or have interacted with them all personally (like customers that you may not know, but you personally have served them). If your group is a church group, then the reason for dividing them should be something church related; if they are a work group, then work related, and so on. Your thesis can be the following: ___________ can be divided into three groups according to _________. The first blank is the whole group, and the second blank is the REASON you are breaking them up. Do NOT list the groups!! Ex: Students can be divided into three groups according to their commitment to their education. See the previous pages for different examples that might work.

Decide on the groups Use the material provided here to decide on your groups. Pay careful attention to the things that you must do to get the right kind of groups. Once you have them, you will then write one body paragraph for each group in your paper. Before you do that though……..

Write an outline The outline must be in MLA format, which means everything has to be done exactly the way the example shows. The handout showing the correct format is on Canvas and opens up in Word so you can see it the way it is supposed to look. The outline will be a separate grade for this assignment. That means that even though you will turn it in with your paper, (it will be page one of your paper), it will not be part of that grade, but will have its own separate grade in the gradebook.

Writing the introduction Your first paragraph should identify the MAIN group you are going to break apart and explain your connection to it. If it is the people you work with, for example, you could tell about your job first. Then you must lead to the thesis at the end of the paragraph. You cannot list your smaller groups anywhere in the first paragraph!

Writing the body paragraphs: Each body paragraph should have the following elements: A topic sentence which NAMES the group, but does not start describing it. (This sentence must also be on your outline.) A few sentences that describes the whole group. A specific example of ONE person from the group that shows what that group is like with specific details. This can be by name or just identified in some way. A conclusion sentence about that group. Here is a short example for a body paragraph with the thesis for the essay being: Doctors at Riverside Memorial can be divided into three groups based on their bedside manners. The first group of doctors is the teddy bears. These doctors are always friendly and approachable. They are willing to spend time with patients and treat them like people instead of diseases. One example of the group is Doctor Turner. He is never without a pocket full of lollipops. He always takes the time to ask the patients about things that don’t have to do with why they are in the hospital, and he is always willing to talk to the family. He is very patient and makes sure the patients understand what is going on. All the doctors in this group have a way of making people feel comfortable in even the most uncomfortable situations

Writing the conclusion You decide how you want to end the essay, but a typical way for this kind of paper is to bring all the smaller groups back together in the end. In my hospital essay, for example, I might say that even though each group has its own way or dealing with patients, all of the doctors at Riverside Memorial are committed to providing excellent patient care (or whatever the real truth is about the people I am discussing!).