提示单
写分类论文

Classification is sorting things into groups or categories on a 单的基础上 of division. A classification paper says something meaningful about how a whole relates to parts, 或者部分与整体相关. 喜欢浏览, 扫描, 套用, 和总结, classification requires the ability to group related words, 的想法, 和特点.

预写和目的
这是一位难得的作家, 学生或其他, who can sit down and draft a classification essay without prewriting. A classification paper requires that you create categories, so prewriting for a classification paper involves grouping things in different ways in order to discover what categories make the most sense for the 目的 you intend.

An important part of creating useful categories is seeing the different ways that things can be grouped. 例如, a list of United States 总统 may be grouped in any number of ways, 取决于你的目的. They might be classified by political party, 上任年龄, 或者以前的职业, 但你也可以这么做, 取决于你的目的, classify them by the pets they keep or how they keep physically fit. If your 目的 was to analyze presidential administrations, you would group information focusing on the 总统' more public actions–say, cabinet appointments and judicial nominations. 另一方面, if you intended to write about the private lives of 总统, you might select information about personal relationships or hobbies.

Make sure the categories you create have a 单的基础上 of classification and that the group fits the categories you propose. 你可能不会, 例如, write about twentieth century 总统 on the basis of the kinds of pets they kept if some of those 总统 did not keep pets. The group does not fit the category. If you intend to talk about all the 总统, you must reinvent the categories so that all the 总统 fit into it. In the example below, the group is "all U.S. 总统" and the two categories are "those who kept pets and those who did not":

一些你.S. 总统 have indulged their love of pets, keeping menageries of animals around the White House, and others have preferred the White House pet-free.

Alternatively, in the following example, the group is "twentieth century U.S. presidential pet-keepers" and the three categories are "dog lovers, 爱猫者, 外来鱼类爱好者."

Among the twentieth century 总统 who kept pets, presidential pet-keepers can be classified as dog-lovers, 爱猫者, or exotic fish enthusiasts (for who can really love a fish?).

撰写论文
Once you have decided on your group, 目的, 和类别, develop a thesis statement that does the following three things:

• names what group of people or things you intend to classify
• describes the basis of the classification
• labels the categories you have developed

Here is a thesis statement for a classification paper written for a Health and Human Fitness class that includes all three of the above elements, 强调:

我们的 最后五个U.S. 总统 have practiced physical fitness regimens that varied from the very 正式到非正式. 他们要么是 regular private gym-goers, disciplined public joggers, or casual active sports enthusiasts.

订购类别
Order is the way you arrange 的想法 to show how they relate to one another. 例如, it is common to arrange facts and discussion points from most- to least-important or from least- to most-important, or from oldest to most recent or longest to shortest. The example thesis statement above is ordered from most- to least-formal physical fitness activities. There is no one right way; use an ordering system that seems best to suit your 目的 and the type of information you are working with.

例如, suppose you are writing about the 最后五个U.S. 总统 for a psychology class. If you wish to show that these 总统' public decisions spring directly from negative issues in their personal relationships, you might order your information from most private to more public actions to clearly establish this connection. Or, if you wish to give the reader the impression that he is moving into increasingly intimate knowledge of personal presidential foibles, 你可以选择相反的, ordering your information from public to private.

信号词
Signal phrases, or transitions, typically used for classification papers include the following:

• 这种类型的...
• 几种...
• 在这个类别中...
• 可分为...
• 根据...
• 分类如下...

These phrases signal to the reader your intention to divide and sort things. They also contribute to the unity of the paper.

Classification requires that you invent (or discover) abstract categories, 把它们放在一个具体的整体上, and derive something new-a tall order that you can, 不过, manage if you resist the temptation to skip the brainstorming steps. Remember that clinical dissection is never an aim in itself; the point of classification is to reveal and communicate something meaningful.