How to Write a Classification Essay in Statistics: Professional Recommendations for All University Levels

A never-ending flow of graphs numbers, figures and research data included in the classification essay in college can make you feel like you will never accomplish this assignment. However, you have to understand one important thing – statistics is significant to the field of research, which means you cannot be irresponsible to your classification essay.

When you’re working on your classification essay in statistics, you will have to realize that you’ll have to deal with various types of data that can be found in the spheres like biostatistics, statistical modeling, probability, data mining and many others.

On the one hand, writing a classification essay in statistics might be challenging, but if you know all the basics of it, it’ll be easier to work on the paper. Our brief guidelines will help you to start with the essay and accomplish a high-quality project.

First Steps

First of all, you have to understand the purpose of the classification essay in the sphere of statistics. The basic duty is to organize your data into logical categories and show how these categories are being connected.

Why is it important to submit a top-standard classification essay in statistics? The number one reason would be to get high grades of course, while the other one is about passing your message to the target readers who are going to analyze your work.

To succeed with your classification essay in statistics class, you will have to choose an interesting topic. But before you pick any particular topic, make sure to think – will you be able to break it into several parts in order to explain to your readers some terms, events or concepts? What is more, you have to make certain that you have sufficient amount of information, data, materials and even skills to work with this or that topic. For a classification essay in statistics you have to choose your topic cleverly for the reason that it is the first thing that your readers see. It is your topic that will make your readers want to know more about your paper or just throw it away.

In case students have problems with choosing the best topic for a classification essay, we recommend you using a simple method in order to come up with a researchable subject matter. Here it is:

• Comprehend and research your potential topic in order to know what categories should be included in your classification essay.
• Choose a certain field of statistics – descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, applied statistics, statistical computing, mathematical statistics or any other to address in your essay.
• Brainstorm the most researchable ideas that you personally are interested in.
• Cross out irrelevant issues.
• Make your final choice.

Before you choose the final topic, ask yourself – ‘Will I be able to categorize it?’ For instance, if your topic is ‘Sampling Methods’, you can easily divide it into the following categories: cluster sampling, systematic random sampling, simple random sampling, voluntary sample, multistage sampling. However, if you choose to classify voluntary sample, you may have problems with dividing the term into sub-sections.

Introduction

Just like argumentative, narrative, cause and effect or any other academic essay, classification essay in statistics begins with an introductory paragraph. Since writing a classification essay is about classifying events, data or people, use your introduction to tell your readers what you’re going to categorize. This is important to help your reader (in case with a classification essay in statistics, your professor is going to read your paper) understand your message.

• What subject are you going to concentrate on?
• What is the goal of your project?
• Why is your classification important in the sphere of statistics?

Explain it to your readers in your introduction.

At the end of your introduction, you will have to place your thesis statement that is the central point of your classification essay. As a rule, your thesis statement will include an independent and dependent clause. From this part of your introduction, your readers will have an idea of what statistical subject you’re going to discuss in the next section.

Before we proceed to the body sections of the classification essay, we’d like to draw your attention to the importance of using a hook sentence in your introduction. A hook is a piece of information that will catch your readers’ attention and make them want to read the rest of the project. Here’s what you can use as a hook:

• Quote of a famous statisticians like Gerolamo Cardano (a well-known pioneer on the math of probability) or Karl Pearson, who was a founder of mathematical statistics.
• Fact (For the past 1000 years, the population of Earth has grown 22 times bigger)
• Piece of statistics (In Kenya, kids aged 0 to 14 years make 40% of the population, while in Germany the same age group makes up just 12% of the population)
• Humor (Statistics is the art of never having to admit that you are wrong)

Body: The Main Components of the Classification Essay

The author of a classification essay in statistics has to include the main elements of the project into the body section. In contrast to the introduction and the conclusion, the body of the essay is the central part. This is where you state your main idea, describe each of the categories and show how they intermingle.

It is important to support your categories with reliable examples that will help your readers understand what you mean by your classification. When you decide how many categories your essay should include or what examples would work best, remember an old saying – “too many cooks spoil the broth!” In other words, you risk to overuse examples and make your classification essay a mess. What is more, examples should be provided only when the context requires them. If allowed, you can compare the elements from different categories in order to guarantee consistence of the body section of your essay.

One of the most typical mistakes that students make in the body section of the statistics essay is that they do not provide smooth transition between paragraphs (in case with the classification essay – categories). This, in turn, leads to the readers losing the idea of the paper. Considering this the author of the essay should ensure the paragraphs are logically connected by means of transition phrases like ‘in the same fashion’, ‘equally important’, ‘to put it another way’, ‘another key point’ and so on.

Conclusion

In a classification essay in statistics, your conclusions should be the logical result taken from the body of your paper. When you’re done with the discussion of your categories, take a look at your paragraphs in order to take out the key ideas and list them in your conclusion. Mention the thesis statement that you provided in your introduction and make sure to tell your readers why it is important to divide the topic into categories.

Some Final Useful Tips on A Classification Essay in Statistics

• Do not include a statistical procedure into your classification essay that you don’t understand. First of all, you have to learn the aspects of it or consult your professor about it and only then include it into your paper.
• If you do not fully understand any statistical issue, do not try to interpret it in your classification essay. Instead, approach your professor or statistician in order to get some help with understanding the process of interpretation.
• Think about your target audience. You have to find out if your readers have profound knowledge in the sphere of statistics to make sure they will understand your message. In case their knowledge leaves a lot to be desired, you will have to explain in details some terms or statistics procedures that you’re using. The best way to make certain that your readers understand what you classify in your essay is by providing enough relevant information. We recommend you to use footnotes to enrich your explanations.
• Provide information about the statistics sources that you’re using in the process of writing. In case you include any information that has no source, think twice before you do that because your readers should know where and how you got this or that data. When you mention the sources in your work, you provide your readers with an opportunity to check for themselves that what you say corresponds to the truth.
• If possible, make sure to include as many details as you can in order to help your target audience to interpret and comprehend any of your classification categories.
• Use Oxford Dictionary of Statistics, Cambridge Dictionary of Statistics or any other trusted resource to look for correct definitions of any terms that you use in your paper.

Do the Revisions

Even if you believe that you did a fantastic job in your classification essay in statistics, you have to recheck it, especially if you hope to get high grade. The thing is that you can do in-depth research, read many different sources and write a full project, but you can’t even imagine how many mistakes college students tend to overlook in their statistics works. Never skip doing revisions and proofreading!

At this point, you have a classification essay that cannot be submitted just like that. In case you get lazy and decide to skip the part where you edit it, you rink getting lower grade. But after all of your efforts, you definitely don’t want that kind of outcome.

Here is what we recommend you to do:

• Read your classification essay several times and even more. Does it flow logically? Do all statistical details look appropriately? Or, maybe, you should approach your professor or some qualified statistician for more information? Did you use all graphs, figures or numbers properly? Keep in mind that all statistical data should be rechecked and edited, if needed. If any of your friends is good at statistics or, perhaps, you’re lucky to know a qualified statistician, don’t lose a chance to talk to one about your project.
• Will your readers understand what you want to say by your statistics classification? Statistics is one of the exact sciences, which means you can’t use the words like ‘maybe’, ‘probably’ or anything else that has something to do with uncertainty. What is more, it is highly important to avoid inappropriate language like anecdotes or jargons. We understand that many college students want to sound more authoritative in their works. However, you have to keep in mind that you’re not working on a literature essay. For that reason, any pompous languages should be avoided, unless your professor lets you use it for some particular reasons.
• To end with, make sure to do the proofreading of your work. You know all the grammar and punctuation rules, and even though you’re dealing with an exact science, your classification essay must be free from any sort of mistakes.

When you write your classification essay in statistics, it is your freedom to use various writing strategies. However, you will have to stick to the standard format: the introduction that informs your readers about your topic and the classification approaches you’re going to use; the body paragraphs (three or more) that describe specific characteristics of each category; and the conclusion that brings all details together and clearly reveals the purpose of your project.