Division and
Classification
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I. What is Classification
and Division?
Division is the process of breaking a
whole into parts (from abstract to
concrete); Classification is the act of
sorting individual items into
categories (from concrete to
abstract).
See Example 1
• How many attributes can you use to
classify the students in our
university?
• The most obvious way to classify these
individuals might be according to their
year in colleague----freshman, sophomore,
junior, or senior. But you could also
classify students according to their major,
racial or ethnic background, home state,
grade point average, political affiliation,
or any number of other principles.
II. Why do writers use
classification?
• To break an overwhelming amount of
information down into manageable
parts.
III. How to recognize
classification?
• Can you name some indicator words
that will occur in the thesis and topic
sentences:
• The first type / The second kind /
The last category / Can be sorted
• Can be divided /Can be classified
/The next level /Another group
IV Guidelines for
Classification and Division
• All the categories should result
from the same principle.
• See Example 2 (T/F?)
• If you decide to divide television
shows into soap operas, police shows,
and children's programs.
•
•
See Example 3 (T/F ?)
If you are classifying
undergraduate at your school as
freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior
and the students receiving financial
aid.
•
•
•
All of the subclass should be on
the same level.
See Example 4 (T/F ?)
Students are divided as
sophomores, undergraduates,
graduate students and extension
students.
• You should treat all subclasses that
are significant and relevant to your
discussion and include enough
subclasses to make your point, with
no important omissions and no
overlapping categories.
• See Example 5 (T/ F ?)
• the students are divided as freshman,
sophomore, juniors and transfers.
V. Uses of Classification
and Division
• This picking and choosing, sorting and
grouping, reduces your material until
it is manageable and eventually
suggests your thesis and the main
points of your essay.
VI. Structuring a
Classification and Division
• Before you begin, you must decide
what principles of classification you
are going to use---what quality you
regard your items as having in
common. You system must be logical
and consistent.
Example 7 Decide the
following principles:
• When you are at the bookstore with
only twenty dollars---?
• So you decide which books to carry
across campus ---?
• Finally as you study and read ---?
See Example 7
• When you are at the bookstore with only
twenty dollars the cost of different books
may be the only principle by which you
select them.
• So you decide which books to carry across
campus, however, weight may matter more.
• Finally as you study and read, the quality
of the books should determine which ones
you concentrate on.
introduction, body, and
conclusion.
• Your introduction should orient your
readers by mentioning your topic, the
principle by which your material is divided
and classified, and the individual
subclasses you plan to discuss. Your
paper's thesis should also usually be
stated in the introduction. Once your
readers have this information, they can
easily follow your paper as it develops.
• In the subsequent body paragraphs
you should treat the categories one
by one in the order in which your
introduction presents them.
• Finally, your conclusion should
restate your thesis, summing up the
points you have made, and then
perhaps move on to consider their
implications.
VII. Below are some
sample topic sentences.
• I am interested in several kinds of
work opportunities.
• Television shows may be classified
into five types.
• My present life is divided into four
aspects.
• My friends (enemies) may be grouped
into three major types.
• Several steps led to former
President Nixon's resignation from
the White House during the
Watergate scandal.
• Literature is classified into four
different forms: short story, novel,
drama, and poetry.
• So far in life I have experienced
three kinds of love: parental devotion,
deep friendship, and romantic
attraction.
• The people I know may be classified
into mere acquaintances, casual
friends, bosom buddies, and loved
ones.
• The people I know fall into four
different political groups: radical,
liberal, conservation, and indifferent.
• The people in my life are classifiable into
three distinct classes, each with its own
peculiar way of behaving: lower class,
middle class, and snooty.
• My friends, relatives, and acquaintances
fall neatly into three groups: the werefats, the are-fats, and the will-be-fats.