How to Write a Classification Essay in Business Studies: Ins and Outs of the Process

What do you know about a classification essay? Generally, this type of writing academic assignment involves the division of some items or notions into classes. It seems that it is enough to put the two keywords into the Google search tool — and your essay is practically finished. However, with a classification essay in business studies, things are never that easy.

You need to work on own original classification, explain each class in a straightforward way, and provide examples. What is more, all the blocks of your essay should be 100% original. Can you manage that? We believe you can. But to support you, generate more confidence and stimulate the process, we have decided to talk more about the details of the process. So, whether you are certain of your own grasp on power or not, keep reading.

How to Write a Classification Essay in Business Studies: The Division

Before you actually dig into the process of researching, drafting, writing, and proofreading, you need to understand that any classification has its own type of division. Primarily, there are three elements:

• The set
• The principle
• The classes

So, there is a set of things that are under classification. Whatever the set is, it must have some similar features or, on the contrary, be different from things outside this set of things.

Then there is the principle of selection. It is also commonly referred to as the scheme. When it comes to any classification, the usual criteria for choosing elements for a definite class is the quality or type. However, if you want your essay to be worthy and successful, we suggest you go with a classification theme that can be named effective. On the one hand, it should have some relevance. On the other hand, it must be really important. A bonus is when classification is presented in a valuable way to help a reader understand the set of things that are under consideration.

And finally, there are classes in which all of the sets of things are divided. You are expected to begin by explaining the main features or, in other words, characteristics that helped you in identifying the components of the class. You need to go with the characteristics that make your type of division stand out from other options. Expert writers always ask students to provide examples because they help with evaluating the worth of the class. While writing an example, you can go with several methods like description, narration, and definition.

Facts for How to Write a Classification Essay in Business Studies

It is a well-known fact that around 60% of the success of your classification essay in business studies depends on the quality and depth of the research. What does it mean? The first and foremost recommendation that we would like to start with is that you need to start your research really early.

The first stage is, perhaps, brainstorming for recalling all the data that you knew earlier or already have gathered. This will allow you to specify the information that is inadequate for your paper. Upon brainstorming, write down the notes on categories that you will probably write about.

Where to find some critical information? Keep in mind that critical facts are usually not available online, which means you are expected to spend a lot of time researching in the library. As you find the required sources of books and journals, study all the materials looking for details that might be very interesting in creating your own classification.

No matter how much valuable information you have found, it is essential to organize it properly:

• You see the scope of work done.
• You sift through the information and focus only on the most crucial details.
• You provide a basis for a classification essay in business studies that is not only valuable but is also plagiarism-free.

And what comes next? You need to start writing a draft of your essay.

How to Write a Classification Essay in Business Studies: The Parts

These are the structural parts that we are going to talk about. Why is the structure so important? The rule of structural importance applies not only to this essay but also to all other academic assignments. Typically, there are three primer blocks that you need to concentrate on: intro, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each one comes with own specifications and requirements. By neglecting a single rule, you put the entire work at stake.

1. Write the introduction to call attention to the topic of your essay

Whether the person will read your essay or not depends on how well you cope with writing the introduction part. What to mention in the intro block? A common rule is to give a reader bits of topic-related information. By reading this paragraph, the reader will try to predict if the essay is interesting.

Treat the intro block as a sort of a preview or a movie trailer: in the latter one, the director inputs the juiciest bits of the plot, yet never shares the ending. This is exactly what you need to do while working on the very first paragraph of your essay. Generate some heat for the audience, and they will surely keep reading.

2. Write the body paragraphs following three simple rules

Before we proceed to the rules, it is essential to point out that the body of your classification essay in business studies covers all the main components of the assignment. It means that this is exactly where the classification should take place. In this very part, you need to share your main idea. How to do it?

• Step 1 — Work on the determination of categories. Most experts suggest students be a bit aggressive while writing this part. How so? By being aggressive they mean to provide all categories without leaving any major players behind. For instance, since you are all in business studies and work on business models, you cannot talk on distributors, retailers, franchises, eCommerce, freemium and aggregators without mentioning manufacturers. It’s just the same as talking about top popular sports in Japan and say that locals like basketball more than Sumo.
• Step 2 — While classifying follow a single principle. Once you have thoroughly researched the topic, you surely have the classification in your head. However, to get a high mark, you need to make sure that all categories follow identical organization policies. To date, there is no one universal standard approach to the organization of categories in business studies. A single format of providing data doesn’t exist. We suggest you go with your own idea of arranging and presenting the information. The only possible requirement here is to make the organization clear and logical as well as keep to your own scheme throughout all the categories. The use of your own appropriate format in every category will allow you to avoid confusion during the process of creation.

NB. A very common problem with many student writers is that with more than six or seven categories authors mix the thoughts and make errors. Please, be very precise and clear in expressing your classification ideas from paragraph to paragraph. Every new paragraph should disclose a new category.

• Step 3 — Find relevant examples for every category. It’s true that examples show how deep the research was and how well you worked on presenting the categories. Nevertheless, while providing examples we suggest you minding the rule of too many cooks in one kitchen. It means that you need to be very careful when providing a great number of samples for one topic. Plus, prevent your samples — no matter how good they are — from taking the greater part of the body block. If you are illustrating a category, don’t present the illustration (the sample) under subheadings as they ruin the smooth flow between the paragraphs. The transition between paragraphs must be smooth.

NB. The final category in the business studies essay should be the most important, the major one. So start with the minor ones and slowly proceed to next.

3. Write the conclusion in a way to present your skills to the reader

Apart from summing up the thoughts previously presented in the blocks of the body, you are also recommended to support one of the thoughts that were disclosed in your work. Moreover, it is even better if you manage to provide the reasons for your decision.

Make this final three or five- sentence paragraph intriguing and thought-provoking. But never share any new (not mentioned previously) ideas.

What about the language and style of the entire essay? The paragraphs should be deprived of the first person usage (I am sure/I think/I suppose/To my opinion), even though the ideas you share are yours. The same goes for some sort of complicated terminology — its use is not typical to classification essay even in business studies. This is why any language that can go under the criteria of the academic type should be omitted.

4 Typical Mistakes of Writing a Classification Essay in Business Studies

1. You use too little categories and omit many important types or notions that should be mentioned.
2. You use too many categories making your essay look and feel rather disintegrated. Once too many categories are added, the assignment that should be an essay turns into nothing but enumeration.
3. You don’t provide an equal number of examples for each class. Thus, you emphasize some categories while others remain less important.
4. You don’t manage to use a single criterion for every classification. When there is no core criterion, classification is unclear. When the classification is unclear, the essay will look like a number of words that are not connected under one meaning.

How to Write a Classification Essay in Business Studies: Proofread It

Even though this is the final part of our expert guide, its importance should never be underestimated. Start with addressing the formatting of your classification essay. Your supervisor has definitely required to format the written piece in one of the top popular formatting styles like Chicago, Turabian, MLA, APA, or Harvard, hasn’t he/she? If he/she hasn’t, then you can choose whatever you like. While formatting, please keep in mind that formatting applies to the font size you use, the presentation of the title of your essay and the subheadings if any. It touches upon the line spacing (double or single) and the citation of quotations and references. If you are planning to use the footnotes and endnotes, they are to be formatted accordingly as well.

Then you need to move on to proofreading the work. Upon completion, check the assignment for spelling, punctuation as well as grammar mistakes. We encourage you to pay very close attention to the layout, the inconsistencies in the structure and essay organization.

If it happened so that you can’t find a reliable person (like a family member or a friend) to help you with proofreading, we encourage you to use free online tools. However, keep in mind that there are types of errors that they usually don’t find. Don’t forget to check your essay for plagiarism as only original works are allowed to be handed in.

Many students get worried about the spelling or punctuation mistakes that they may miss while proofreading. If you are one of them, you need to remember the following rule: the content of your classification essay is way more important than the spelling. And since there are a few minor mistakes, they won’t have any major effect on the final grade.

Take your time and be patient. Reread the tips and write an outstanding classification essay in business studies.

References:

1. Bodine, P. (2009). Perfect phrases for business school acceptance : hundreds of ready-to-use phrases to write the attention-grabbing essay, stand out in an interview, and gain a competitive edge. New York: Mcgraw-Hill.
2. Tissington, P. and Hasel, M. (2017). How to write successful business & management essays. Los Angeles, Calif.: Sage.