Classification and Division example

BRAINWORK / PREWRITING:

  • example topic: Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • example criteria for classification/divisions: elements of an episode
  • example idea/reason for classification and division: many stories, but most have same elements
  • example thesis/statement: "It is amazing how, despite different storylines, many episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation contain the same elements."
  • example extended thesis: "Considering the budget for Star Trek: The Next Generation -- frequently as high as one million dollars an episode -- one might think the series' creators had an inexhaustible resource in writers and technicians. Yet, it is amazing how, despite different storylines, many episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation contain the same elements, often reusing them."

    IDEA / MATERIAL GATHERING:

    Here, I jotted down what came to mind, in no particular order other than associative, all the similar elements of Star Trek: The Next Generation that I could think of.

    DIVISIONS CLASSIFICATION (within divisions)
    storyline: main plot and/or subplots, or two simultaneous main plots
    plot: 1) personal interest (focuses on one character's crisis; usually boring)
    2) ship in danger (usually exciting, unless Wesley saves it)
    3) impending disaster (to either crew or some planet -- may overlap #1)
    characters: main crew (Picard, Riker, Troi, Data, Geordi, Beverly, Worf, Tasha, Wesley -- the "regulars");
    secondary crew/cast (Guinan, Barkley, Lwaxana, Q -- all returning figures);
    "LIEUTENANT EXPENDABLE" = whoever has to get killed that episode (can't go killing off the stars -- learned this in the old series)
    guests: human and alien
    aliens: (why aren't humans ever referred to this way?) regulars = Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Vulcans, Betazoids, Borg, Q, etc. (stories got too caught up in all the Klingon culture sometimes); alien-of-the-week; all mostly bipedal variations of humans (saves on make-up and effects?)
    special effects: ships in space; weapons= phasers (personal and ship's big ones), photon torpedoes; explosions; beam up/down; morphing; sound effects (for effects listed); warp speed; planets and celestial phenomena
    music: theme; "big wonder" music (VERY annoying, especially in early episodes); danger music; battle music; best was in "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" for Borg ship
    dialogue: technobabble (for ship or scientific stuff);
    alien terms (khaplah; pon-far; p'tach);
    excellent speeches by Picard (sound wonderful in Patrick Stewart's voice);
    characters' catchphrases (Picard="make it so"; Data="fully functional"; Beverly="what IS that?"; Geordi="we've got a problem"; Troi="captain, I sense something"; Worf="I am a KLINGON"; Q="mon capitaine"; Borg="resistance is futile")
    costumes:
    Starfleet uniforms; alien; 24th-Century "fashion"

    Look at the table on p. 571 of the textbook, and see how the above material might be organized for discussion in an essay.Consider:

  • Is the order in which the material is presented of any importance? Is one division/category more important than the others?
  • How is material grouped? Can some items be moved from where they are and put with more similar material? Is there any overlap?
  • Are there sufficient specific examples of items with which readers might not be familiar? Is there too much?
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