Examples of Unique Ways of Sorting

     I've advised enough students over the past few days to realize not all of you are comfortable with this idea of a "unique way of sorting" a category or topic. Let me share some examples with you and see if I can help.

     UNIQUE DIVISIONS FOR THE BROAD TOPIC OF FOOD

          Nutritional Value 

     Salena learned from the lecture Wednesday that nutritional value might be a good way to divide the huge category of food into smaller categories. I replied that it was a perfectly reasonable way to divide food, but that it wouldn't be interesting until she found a "unique way of sorting" foods according to their nutritional value.

• The nutritional value of different types of foods is pretty boring.
• The nutritional value of fruits versus vegetables is equally boring
• The nutritional value of breakfast, versus lunch, versus dinner is still boring

     I suggested to Salena that she think creatively. Instead of comparing foods everybody thinks of as having nutritional value, what about foods everybody thinks have NO nutritional value, like junk foods.

     Salena knows about Halloween, the American holiday when kids come home with bags of candy they've collected from neighbors. Look inside that Halloween bag, I suggested; then divide and classify the junk foods you find there according to their nutritional value.

• Some of the treats, like hard candies and gum, are pure sugar.
• Some, like chocolate bars, are a mixture of sugar and fats, maybe some milk.
• Some, like Raisinets or Snickers, contain fruits and nuts and actual nutrition.
• Some, like pretzels and cookies, contain wheat and other grains. 

     In other words, nutritional value is a solid, logical method of division, but to make an essay interesting, your own unique sorting method is essential!

     You could make a similar survey of junk foods standing in front of any vending machine on campus. Or you could pay attention to how food is sold at the cafeteria. How easy is it to make nutritional choices? Are they the most affordable choices? Or does price favor the junkier choices? The closer you get to the cash register, do the nutrition values change? Are the cheapest, least healthy choices right there at the register where you're vulnerable to make a bad choice?

          Emotional Value

     Foods can be divided in dozens of ways. We all know how different foods have different effects on our moods, for instance.

     Suppose I want to write an essay about my wife's emotional attachment to certain kinds of food. I'll be dividing food into types and classifying them according to her emotional reaction to them. For example:

• I bring her coffee every morning with foamed milk and a dusting of ground cinnamon so her day will begin with a gesture of affection.
• When her family couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving the way they should, I roasted her a turkey with gravy and cranberries because food is important to her sense of tradition.
• When she is homesick or nostalgic, I make her foods that comforted her in her youth, like soups and simple grilled cheese sandwiches.

     See what I mean? A personal method of sorting food into categories that can be classified according to a theme, in this case, emotional reactions to food groups, makes a division-classification more interesting than the categories everybody uses.

          Surprising and Humorous

     Let's try just one more, to be sure you understand. Suppose I'm strolling through the supermarket looking for ways to divide and classify foods for my essay. While I'm there, I notice I can find fruit in almost every aisle of the store.

• Of course, it appears as whole fruit in the produce section
• I also find raisins and dried fruits in the baking section.
• Many breakfast cereals contain fruits
• Some, like Fruit Loops, are completely fake versions of fruit.
• The dairy section offers yogurts with fruit.
• The bakery sells fruit pies.
• Etc., etc., etc.,

     Then, I notice something else that makes the essay writer inside me very proud! The shampoo aisle is full of fruit! There are strawberry shampoos and coconut soaps, and conditioners with lime and apricots and every other fruit you can name. Lotions and creams and pastes are made with every kind of produce, all of them designed to make us think the contents are as healthy as what grows on trees! Then I find apricot-scented dish lotions, and scented detergents, even lemon-scented trash bags! I can't wait to get home and write my essay dividing and classifying the entire grocery store into categories of fake fruit products!

          Student Feedback

          A student wrote last night to ask me if she could divide foods into three categories: 

• Foods we eat when we are emotional
• Personal preference
• Availability

           The good news, I told her, is that this is a personal sorting system, so it satisfies the assignment in that way. The problem with the categories is that they don't have enough in common, so the essay will have no Unity.

          In paragraphs with Unity, every sentence is relevant to a single topic and closely related to the other sentences.

          In essays with Unity, every paragraph is relevant to the thesis and closely related to the other paragraphs.

          I advised the student to find a theme that will connect the three categories she has chosen.

          To write about foods we eat when we're emotional, she could choose three emotional states, for instance, foods that cheer us up when we're sad; foods that help us enjoy our favorite season, and foods we use to celebrate when everything is going right.

          If availability is her theme, she can write about foods she chooses when everything is available (such as in a grocery store); foods she choose when she doesn't have much choice (such as when someone takes her to a restaurant she doesn't like); and foods she doesn't think she would choose under any circumstances (things she don't think are even edible).

          I didn't give her advice for the Personal Preference category. Maybe you could, after looking at these other examples? Is everybody getting the idea? The more your three categories have in common, the more unified your essay will be.

     Please Let Me Know

Does this help anybody? Have some fun writing about foods, or movies, if you've chosen the movie topic. Use your imagination to come up with something original and entertaining. The contents of your essay are only an excuse to demonstrate how well you can organize your thinking and use specific details. You don't have to be bored in writing class. Your readers don't have to be bored either!