CLASSIFICATION ESSAY

Is an essay that classifies, sorts, or

groups ideas or things into
categories in a logical way.

Purpose: To make things easier to

understand.
STEPS TO EFFECTIVE CLASSIFICATION

Three Steps to Effective Classification:

 Sort things into useful categories.
 Make sure all the categories follow a
single organizing principle.
 Give examples that fit into each category.
 For example, say you need to sort the stack of
papers on your desk. Before you would put them
in random piles, you would decide what useful
categories might be: papers that can be thrown
away; papers that need immediate action; papers
to read; papers to pass on to other coworkers; or
papers to file.
 The thesis statement usually includes the topic
and how it is classified. Sometimes the
categories are named. (Three categories are the
most common way).
 (topic)...(how classified)...(category) (category)
(category)
 Ex: Tourists in Hawaii can enjoy three water
sports: snorkeling, surfing, and sailing.
 Burns fall under three categories: first degree,
second degree and third degree.
HOW TO WRITE AN EFFECTIVE CLASSIFICATION
ESSAY:

1. Don’t leave out a critical category:

For example, if you say water sports of Hawaii include
snorkeling and sailing, but leave out surfing, your essay
would be incomplete because surfing is Hawaii's most
famous water sport.

On the other hand, don't include too many categories, which

will blur your classification. For example, if your topic is
smart teachers, you may include the ones that prepare well,
pay attention to students and those who offer extra help, but
not the ones that act nicely to trick their students.
PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIFICATION
 Three common principles of organization for a
classification essay:
1. Degree: Students in this college can be classified based
on their intelligence: those who are brilliant, those who
are average and those who are bellow average.
2. Location: housing: those who live on campus, off
campus or at home.
3. Year(Chronology): those who are in the freshmen year,
the ones in the sophomore, junior or senior year.
2. Support equally each category with examples. In
general, you should write the same quantity, i.e., give
the same number of examples, for each category. The
most important category, usually reserved for last,
might require more elaboration.
INTRODUCTION

 The basic part of the introduction is the thesis

statement.
The thesis statement has a very determined logical
structure (the number of categories is suggested to
be limited to three in order not to blur the
classification).
For instance: Exchange students can have three
benefits: education, experience and cultural
exchange.
Example

 Have you ever thought of the meaning of the

word learner? The common sense concept of a
student in any logical person’s mind is
equivalent to a perfect knowledge seeker with
excellent level of intelligence. People would
always think that a student’s job is only to study
and spend most of his/her time between books’
pages. Well, this is a perfect picture of any
student in every parent’s mind and dream.
However and unfortunately, we have to always
Example

 bearin our minds that not all students think the

same and are equally smart. Therefore, students
can be classified into the following categories
based on their level of intelligence: the weak
student, the average student and the ideal one.
Body
 First category (The least important category).
 Second category
 Third category (The most important one and requires
brighter examples).
 In a body paragraph for this type of essay you need to
do the following:
 1. introduce the category and explain it.
 2. Starting from body paragraph two, show similarities,
differences to a previous category or either.
 3. Introduce examples of the categories.
The Average student
 Average students are those learners who do their
best to succeed but not receive high marks most
of the time. This type of learner strives to get
excellent grades but rarely succeeds. On the
contrary, they usually get C’s as their final marks
and are mostly satisfied with these results
because they know that this is their level.
However, they try to change this reality, but most
of the time, they can’t. An example of a student
who falls under this category is my friend Sara.
This girl’s marks are always in the seventies, and
this has never bothered her. Furthermore, she can
The Average student
 go on with her life happily and move easily into
the next chapter of her life without feeling
annoyed by her average marks. This group of
students is different from the previous lazy group
in the way that they know how to use their brain
on a regular basis. Meaning, their brains are able
to function naturally unlike the previous group
who doesn't’ have even an average level of
intelligence and don’t bother to try improving
and using their brains. Finally, this group exists
vastly among new high school students who are
in their early teenage years and have many new
ideas to think of in their minds.
Conclusion:
 The conclusion is the summary of the analyzed
categories or the restatement of the thesis
statement.
Common Classification Transitions:
 The first kind, the second kind, the third kind

 The first type, the second type, the third type

 The first group, the second group, the third group

Resource

 Regina L. Smalley et al. Refining Composition

Skills. 6th . Heinle ELT, 2000.
Chapter 8