diff --git a/Sorting/WordSorter.java b/Sorting/WordSorter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28e082b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Sorting/WordSorter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+package Sorting;
+
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.time.Instant;
+
+public abstract class WordSorter {
+
+    protected String sortType;
+    protected String[] words;
+    protected long comparisonsUsed = 0;
+    protected long writesUsed=0;
+
+    public WordSorter(String sortType, RandomWordFileReader reader){
+        this.sortType = sortType;
+        words = new String[reader.getWords().size()];
+        reader.getWords().toArray(words);
+    }
+
+    abstract void sort();
+
+    protected int compare(String a, String b){
+        comparisonsUsed++;
+        return a.compareTo(b);
+    }
+
+    protected void writeToArray(String[] array, int index, String value){
+        array[index]=value;
+        writesUsed++;
+    }
+
+    protected void swap(String[] array, int indexA, int indexB){
+        String tmp = array[indexA];
+        array[indexA] = array[indexB];
+        array[indexB] = tmp;
+        writesUsed+=2;
+    }
+
+    public WordSortResult measuredSort(){
+        if(words.length!=0){
+            Instant start = Instant.now();
+            this.sort();
+            Instant end = Instant.now();
+            Duration time = Duration.between(start,end);
+            WordSortResult output = new WordSortResult(sortType, words, comparisonsUsed, writesUsed, time);
+            return output;
+        }
+        else{
+            System.out.println("Nothing to sort using "+sortType);
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+
+}
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