classification essay
Assignment: Write a 3-page classification essay based on factors shaping worldview (race, gender, socioeconomic status, education, culture, religion, etc.) in The Absolutely True Diary of an American Indian. A classification essay requires you to combine similar items (items that have a common thread but are also different) and label or classify each item. To find a topic for this essay, you will need to understand factors shaping worldview and their connections to each other within the text.
Getting Started: To finalize your topic for this essay, you will first need to read the text and form your own opinions about the book. Then you can begin to create groups to discuss in your essay. Here are a few ideas to help you brainstorm:
Explore how different characters respond to factors shaping worldview and how those reactions might be grouped or classified. Think also about the purpose behind the reactions. Your thesis, the argument, will answer the question: Why did the author choose to have the characters react in the ways that they do? Your evidence will be examples that show and explain the characters’ responses.
Choose three factors shaping worldview and explore how the author uses each factor to help a character or characters reach a goal or overcome a problem, using the factors as groups or classifications. Your thesis, the argument, will answer the question: Why is reaching a goal or overcoming a problem relevant to specific factors shaping worldview; how are the two related?
A successful classification essay will incorporate the following:
Organizational patterns and effective strategies common to both academic essays and classification essays
An academic or formal tone
MLA format (see pages 143-144)
Recognizing and correcting grammatical issues we’ve covered in class
Sentence patterning techniques we’ve learned to make your paper interesting, descriptive, and grammatically stronger Requirements:
Paper must be typed in Times New Roman 12, double spaced and in MLA format
The length must be 3 pages long
