Classification or division essays are common in both high school and college. They are essays that require you to group things and give examples.
Teachers and professors like them because they know the essays force students to actually read widely to be able to group or categorize things and give examples. They also like them because the essays promote a greater understanding of things.
In this post, we will share with you everything important you need to know about classification essays.
Let's begin.
A classification essay is a piece of formal writing that groups or categorizes objects or subjects. For example, it could be about an idea, character, or place. When given a classification essay assignment, your objective should be to categorize objects or subjects based on their characteristics.
A classification essay, or division essay, breaks down broad subjects into smaller, more specific, and more manageable parts. For example, you could be asked to classify computers, cell phones, operating systems, healthcare systems, animals, people, leaders, etc.
The assignment instructions will almost always tell you what to categorize. So you do not need to worry about anything.
To get top marks when writing a classification essay, you simply need to classify things and offer good examples. Of course, your work should also make sure your essay is well-researched, well-written, well-structured, and well-cited. Submitting a classification essay that meets none of these requirements will most likely result in a poor grade.
The most crucial thing you need to learn about classification essays is their structure. Classification essays have a simple five-paragraph structure. In other words, they have the same structure as most essays, especially at the college level. Below is the standard classification essay structure. Learn more about what you should put in each part of it.
A classification essay begins with an introductory paragraph that introduces the broad topic. In your classification essay introduction paragraph, you want to clearly identify what you are going to categorize in the body paragraphs.
You also want to tell the reader the rationale for writing the essay. For example, why are you going to categorize? In addition to this information, you will want your introduction paragraph to have your thesis statement. Your thesis statement should identify the categories or groups you will put things into and perhaps the main reason.
Example of a classification Essay Introduction
When people talk of camping, they are often unaware that there are different types of camping. But, in actuality, groups or individuals can venture into many types of camping for leisure, sports, or spiritual purposes. To better understand the diversity in camping, it is imperative to break down the different kinds of camping: tent camping, van/RV camping, glamping, car camping, backyard camping, primitive camping, Overlanding, winter camping, bike camping, dry camping, workamping, adventure camping, and ultralight camping. Understanding these different types of camping can help with planning, executing, and reviewing camping activities to suit one's bucket list, depending on their schedule.
Note how the thesis statement explains the category and subcategories explored in the essay, including the rationale for breaking down the categories. Anybody reading the classification essay will be informed about the different camping types and can choose which suits their schedules. That is how to write the best classification essay introduction.
A quick tip for the thesis: topic +subtopics + rationale for subtopics equals your thesis statement.
After writing your classification essay's introduction paragraph, you will want to write three body paragraphs for your essays, assuming you are inclined towards achieving a five-paragraph essay structure. Three is the minimum number. The maximum number should roughly match the number of categories you will have in your essay.
Each body paragraph should focus on just one category when writing body paragraphs. This will make your work easier to understand. And each category-focused paragraph should start with a short introduction for the category, followed by the identification of subjects or things in the category and then relevant examples.
Between your paragraphs, you should try to create a flow. You should do this using transition words. Using transition words, especially between your body paragraphs, can make your essay much easier to follow and understand.
When your body paragraphs have a solid organizational structure, you will definitely tickle the professors or instructors for the best scores or grades.
The conclusion paragraph is the last thing you want to write in your classification essay. However, without it, your classification essay will not be complete. The right way to write the conclusion paragraph for your essay is by first rewriting your essay's thesis and then listing the categories you have classified objects or subjects into.
The last sentence in your conclusion paragraph should be a powerful closing statement that focuses on the significance of the categorization or classification you have just done.
The conclusion combines all the categories and subcategories to show the reader the bigger picture. For example, if you are writing about camping, give insights on the activities under the categories or elaborate on which camping activities are suitable for a specific type of schedule or duration.
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This section will discover the correct way to write a classification essay. You discover it through a step-by-step guide detailing every important process step. By the time you reach the last step in this section, you should be able to write an excellent classification essay on any topic.
The first thing you need to do before starting any research toward writing your classification essay is to choose a topic. Selecting a topic is essential only in cases where your professor asks you to choose a topic. You don't need to select a topic if you have been given a topic. You simply move to the next step below.
If you have been asked to choose a topic by your professor, you should choose a topic relevant to the course the professor is teaching. For example, if your professor teaches some English cause, you can write a classification essay that categorizes major language groups worldwide.
If you want inspiration for your classification essay topic, you should look at our list later in this post. In it, we have listed dozens of fun and inspiring topic ideas for college classification essays.
All you need to make sure after you choose a topic is that whatever you have chosen needs to be relevant to your course. If you are unsure, ask your professor if your chosen topic is okay. You don't want to spend time working on an irrelevant essay.
Formulating a thesis statement is the foundation of a good classification essay. A thesis is at the core of every good essay. You must ensure that it is strong and comprehensive, not simplistic and predictable.
It should be strong in the sense that it should make the reader understand precisely what is about to happen in the body paragraphs.
Since it is a classification essay thesis statement, it should focus on how you will categorize things in your essay. This piece of information will be very beneficial to your essay because it will tell the reader exactly what to expect, which is something you should always aim for when writing a thesis statement.
After choosing a topic and creating a thesis statement, you next need to plan how you will write your essay. And the easiest way to do this is to research your topic and create an outline.
Preliminary research entails finding all the vital information about the selected classification essay topic. Ensure the information you find is exactly what the reader expects after reading your thesis statement. When researching, organize the information and take notes because you will need them when incorporating references in your essay.
Once you find enough information to write your classification essay, you should create an outline. Your outline should be comprehensive. Ensuring that your classification essay outline is comprehensive or detailed is not bad. This is because a comprehensive outline will make it very easy for you to write your essay.
Your outline should, at the very least, include an intro, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
After conducting preliminary research and creating a comprehensive outline, the next thing you need to do is to conduct thorough research. Your research should be aimed at finding scholarly sources that support your thesis and the main points you have stated in your outline.
This step is not going to be easy. Nevertheless, it is a step you should embrace if you want to create a masterpiece. First, make sure the sources you find are scholarly. If you cannot find scholarly sources for your essay, you should use reputable non-scholarly sources.
Finding scholarly, valid, relevant, or reputable sources will ensure your professor has no reason to penalize you for bad non-reputable sources. It will also ensure that the information you have in your essay is credible and factual.
As you do thorough research, when you find new information that is not present in your classification essay outline, you should include that information in your outline.
After doing thorough research, you should start writing your classification essay. You should start by writing the introduction. Simply follow the outline you created plus the information you gathered during research to write your introduction. If you properly follow the outline you created, you will have an easy time writing your introduction and the rest of your essay.
When writing your classification essay introduction, you will want to start strongly with an attention-grabbing statement. This statement is what will make your professor/reader interested in reading the rest of your essay. You will also want to include a solid and clear thesis statement that states precisely what you will discuss in your essay.
When writing the body paragraphs of your classification essay, simply follow your outline. Write your classification essay body paragraphs just like you would write the body paragraphs of any other type of essay. The only difference is that your focus should be on making sure each body paragraph focuses on a different category and that there is a flow between your body paragraphs.
Lastly, when writing your conclusion, your aim should be to write an excellent and thorough conclusion. It should begin with conclusion signal words or phrases. You should then rewrite your thesis and followed by a restatement of your main categories or points. And it should end with a powerful closing statement that nicely wraps up everything. Make sure your conclusion is as brief as it can be and that it is non-repetitive.
After writing your essay, the next thing you need to do is to revise the first draft into a final draft. Submitting your classification essay immediately after you are done writing is a mistake. It is a mistake because it will most likely have many errors and issues. You need to eliminate all the mistakes and issues in it before submitting it if you want to get an excellent grade.
The easiest way to identify all the errors and issues in your classification essay is to read it aloud. When you do this, you will quickly notice mistakes, errors, and difficult-to-understand statements. When you notice these things, edit them to make your paper perfect.
After reading your entire essay and eliminating mistakes, take a full-day break and reread it. This will give you a fresh perspective and enable you to catch mistakes or issues you might have missed when reading your essay the previous day.
After revising your essay, it will be ready for submission. Do it before the deadline to avoid getting penalized.
Below is an example of how to write a classification essay. You can use it as a template for inspiration when writing yours.
As you brainstorm about ideas to put into your classification essay, here are some topic ideas, topics, and essay titles to get you started.
If you want your classification essay to be excellent, follow the tips below.
Writing a classification essay is not an essay job. However, it is totally doable. The trick is to start planning, researching, and outlining early. You might be bombarded by information overload, but that levels down as you own the writing process through the insights, steps, and tricks we have shared in this classification essay cheat sheet.
Following the best essay tips and steps provided in this post, you can write a brilliant classification essay.
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