DEFINING UNITY
In essence, if your essay is unified, your thesis statement covers everything that is in your essay, and there is no extra stuff that doesn’t fit within your thesis statement. Additionally, your paragraphs in the body aren’t unified if the topic sentence announces one thing, and then you have information in the paragraph that doesn’t fit there. Remember that a thesis statement is a promise to readers telling them what will follow, and a topic sentence announces what will be in that paragraph. You wouldn’t like a server in a restaurant telling you that the soup of the day is split pea and them bringing you chicken noodle! An essay that isn’t unified has lost focus and is usually a result of not organizing and mapping it out. If you try to just write it off the top of your head, it will rarely be unified. In-class or timed essays are likely to be less unified, so please briefly outline your topics on some scratch paper before you write. That five minutes or so can really make a difference.
EXAMPLES OF NON UNIFIED WRITING
Here are some examples of paragraphs that are NOT unified. See where they goes wrong:
Example 1
I have always been interested in learning languages. My father is from Brazil, and my mother is from Mexico. At home, we would have a Portuguese week or Spanish week, and I was allowed to speak only the language that was assigned for that particular week. With friends in the neighborhood, I would speak English. Because of this situation, I speak three languages well. I am now studying French, and I hope to become fluent in that language as well. I do well in language classes, but I have trouble in chemistry and math. I plan to learn as many languages as I can and eventually to become a professional interpreter.

Everything looks fine until this writer discusses his trouble with chemistry and math. That phrase has nothing to do with the topic sentence I have always been interested in learning languages. The writer gets back on track in his concluding sentence, but there is still a brief lack of unity here.
Example 2
I like my girlfriend April because she is intelligent and very understanding. She received a 4.0 average in high school, and we often do our homework together because she can help me with my math. Whenever I have a personal problem, I can talk it over with her, and she tries to understand what is bothering me. We try to talk the whole situation over together, and then we reach a decision on how to handle the problem. She is really good looking, too. She has big, dark, beautiful eyes, long hair, and great legs. I feel she really cares for me, so I tell her everything. April is a very special person.

See what happened here? This young man got caught up in thinking about her looks and got off the subject of her PERSONALITY and INTELLIGENCE. The part about her looks does not fit the topic sentence, does it? There are many good details here, and description is a good writing technique, but the paragraph isn’t unified the way it is written. See below for a suggestion on repairing this paragraph.

In most cases, you will not be writing about topics such as these. They are a little simplistic. However, the concept of unity becomes even more crucial when you are discussing the root causes of a war for a history class or the process of conducting a scientific experiment for a chemistry class. So, in English 100, you must strive to keep all paragraphs, and therefore the essay unified, and get rid of the weeds so you can just see the literary flowers.

TWO WAYS TO REPAIR LACK OF UNITY

(1) In the first example, the paragraph lost its focus only briefly, and the rest of the paragraph is fairly complete. In this case, the best remedy is to remove the sentence entirely about chemistry and math. When you revise essays, look for sentences that don’t fit directly to your topic sentence. The sentence might be a topic sentence for a whole new paragraph if it is an important point that is relevant to your thesis. Often, though, it was just a random thought that shouldn’t be there.
(2) Occasionally, the thought can be incorporated by simply changing the topic sentence to allow you to mention it. If it is a brief but interesting point that might not need its own paragraph, go ahead and alter the topic sentence and then keep it in. Here’s the revision of the topic sentence in example 2: I like my girlfriend April because she is intelligent, understanding, and beautiful. Now, you have given yourself permission to talk about her looks, so the paragraph is unified.

So, either remove the unrelated details or modify the topic sentence so that your details belong and have a purpose.
Learning Object Info: Unity Type: HTML Submitted By: Meri Rogoff
Classification Essay

CLASSIFICATION
You will do a five paragraph minimum 1,000 word essay in the classification style.
Classification is a simple process we do every day. We sort out the laundry by grouping all the dark clothes, the white clothes, and the medium clothes. When we fill out a government form, occasionally we are asked whether we are Caucasian, Asian, or African-American. When we go to a restaurant, the waiter might ask whether we want a red wine, white, or rosé. These are all types or classifications of a larger group. Mathematically, we might call them subsets. In essay writing, we write about these classifications, sometimes called divisions. It is a scientific form of writing that takes an ability to outline before jumping into the drafting stages.
First, you select the main topic, such as CARS. Next, you pick a way to categorize cars, such as PRICE. Then, you divide the big topic into three categories, such as what KIND of cars could there be? Then, we begin to name specific kinds of cars within each category. Let’s do a diagram to show you how to go about this.

 
I. CARS€”Way we are categorizing: PRICE

A. Paragraph 1 of Body: Expensive

§ Specific examples: Mercedes, Porsche, Rolls Royce.

§ Give information on each one and discuss expensive features that each one has, such as the type of expensive engine, comfort features, such as electric seat adjustments and temperature controls, and fine stereos

B. Paragraph 2 of Body: Moderate

§ Specific examples: Camry, Accord, Mazda 626.

§ Give details on the kinds of features these cars have in comparison to the expensive ones. What type of engine, seats, stereos, extras do they offer?

C. Paragraph 3 of Body: Cheap

§ Specific examples: Hyundai, Yugo, Honda Civic.

§ Give information on the inexpensive features. What is their stereo like, their seats, their engine, and so on.

Then, you construct your introduction and conclusion, and you are ready to start the refining process to finish up and hand it in!
REMEMBER: There must be the following parts to your essay:

1. Overall large category

2. Way of breaking down into three subcategories, such as Price

3. Three categories

4. Three examples for each category

5. Information that is similar for each example to the other categories.
You can do this in many ways. You can take the same category of CARS and do it another way:

I. CARS€”Way we are categorizing: FUNCTION

A. Sports

§ Specific examples: Porsche, Ferrari, Jaguar.

§ Main features of this category: speed, feel of the car, engine features

B. Outdoor Activities

§ Specific Examples: Recreational vehicles such as Suburbans, Ford Expedition, Chevrolet Blazers.

§ Main feature of this group: hauling capacity, space inside of the car to put equipment, children, camping gear, sports gear, Items for driving long distance: built-in televisions and VCRs, ice chests, and so forth.

C. Luxury

§ Specific Examples: Lexus, Mercedes (top models), Lincoln Towncar.

§ Main features: luxuries such as electric seat adjustment, memorized presets for each driver, temperature controls for each passenger, leather interiors, deluxe stereos, and so on.
There are many other ways to break down a car classification. Just look up cars in a search on the Internet, and you’ll see many categories to choose from. The same can be done for almost any large category, even people. There are many types of people aside from ethnic groups. You can categorize people by personality, work habits, professions, styles of dress, and so forth. Pick a topic that interests you, and if you have a question as to how to organize it, let me know, and I’ll help steer you in the right direction.

Choose a topic and write your own classification essay. Email me if you are not sure your idea is on the right track.

Suggestions: For all papers, give a minimum of two examples within each category and discuss their characteristics as they fit in the category. Do not just describe the category in general.

*** Please do NOT select Breakfast Foods as a topic. It is so overdone on the Internet.

1) Types of stores
2) Types of restaurants or bars
3) Types of movies, tv shows, or books. Could be broken down into categories such as dramas, cop shows, detective shows, news programs, dramas, children’s shows, sports shows, reality shows and so on
4) Types of animals (dogs, cats, birds, fish, and so on)
5) Types of sports (water sports, ball sports, field sports, and so on)
7) Types of clothing (work, dressy, casual, athletic€¦)
8) Types of food
9) Types of recreation
10) Types of attractions (zoos, museums, parks, amusement parks€¦)

11) Others? Ask to make sure you are on the right track.