Division and classification are strategies that allow us to organize our daily activities and process the enormous amount of sensory stimulation that we experience each day. The process called division involves “taking a single unit or concept, breaking the unit down into its parts, and then analyzing the connections among the parts and [the connections] between the parts and the whole.” Classification, on the other hand, asks you to think in the opposite way: “bring two or more things together and [categorize] them according to type.” This sorting process allows you to see the qualities that individual units or concepts have in common. Our textbook authors tell us that “classification can be useful for imposing order on the hodge-podge of ideas generated during prewriting."

Like the other patterns for writing, division and classification can be used to develop a variety of essay types: description, process, definition, cause-effect, or argument.

Your authors suggest several ideas for using division-classification successfully in writing an essay:

1. Select a principle for dividing and classifying that is consistent with your purpose. There are any number of principles that can shape your division and classification process. Consider who your audience is and what you hope to achieve in the essay.
2. Apply the principles of division and classification consistently and logically throughout the essay.
3. If your entire essay is guided by division and classification as its only pattern, incorporate both your attitude and the principle you are using for division and classification in your thesis.
4. Organize the paper logically. Keep the categories separate and develop each similarly. Make sure that your transition devices help the reader move from one division to another easily.
5. State conclusions and recommendations in your final section. Your conclusion for this assignment should answer the question, “So what?"

Copyright © 1995-2010, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Longman Legal and Privacy Terms