Classification Essay

When classifying one should break up the members of a groups into divisions the members of which possess characteristics that are alike. However, the question arises: how should one formulate a basis for assigning the members into divisions or categories? Therefore, you have to understand that before anything else you would need a principle of classification, a sort of detailed manual for the classifying procedure. The examples can be many: let's say you decide to classify the classmates from your Biology class on the basis of the country of origin or their native language. So you would break down the students into groups of Spanish speakers, Arabic speakers, Russian speakers, and so on. However should you decide to include a different group in your classification, based on “who in the class studies the hardest” principle you would inevitable find that your initial classification will get messed up as the members of the two groups are likely to overlap. You will see that the members from the first group may or may not be present in the second group. In fact, there is nothing wrong with applying different principles in your classification essays, what you should remember however, is that in any one particular essay you should use only one classification principle.

Make an effort to make your classification as complete as possible

Now that you have decided on your classification principle, it is time to check whether the classification is going to include all members of the group. So when you are doing classification of the students in your Biology class, you have to make sure that the categories you have formed encompass all of your classmates, if possible. Just think about it: if you decide to classify the students in one of the two groups, let's say, the group of “jocks” and the group of “nerds” – that would leave out of the classification perhaps the larger part of your class. To avoid situations such as this it would be a good idea to create more than just two groups. In fact, it is generally more convenient to come up with at least four categories for your classification essay.

How to organize a classification essay

Now that you have made up your mind on the principle of classification and have split your object group into several categories you need to put forth a well rounded discussion of each of the categories. It would be generally sufficient to allocate one paragraph per category. The following points should be covered:

1. Identify your group. Give it a name, as distinct as possible to avoid any possible confusion in the reader.
2. Provide a thorough and clear description of the category. What are the characteristics shared by the members of the category? Once you have defined the category in your classification, smoothly proceed to discussing common characteristics of that category's members.
3. Provide relevant examples. It may also be handy to come up with good illustrations of the characteristics used in your classification. Just try to remain on objective side avoid inaccurate and vague generalizations about things.

4. Provide a clear distinction of how one category is different from the others. Make use of compare and contrast techniques when referring to different categories. If possible, remain coherent with regards to the order of the characteristics you discuss.