Classification and Division Research Paper

Classification and division essays are the result of writers grouping information into categories (classes).  A single topic can possibly be classified in more than one way, depending on the authors purpose(s) and audience.

Division is the process of dividing a whole (an entire class) into parts.  An example would be the category automobiles which can be divided into several groups (cars, cabs, vans, trucks, busses, etc.). 

Classification is the process of grouping individual items into categories based on characteristics that they have in common.  An example would be classifying televisionshows that you are familiar with into groups (news, dramas, action/adventure, cooking, sports, soap operas).  For example, the television show Julia Child and Company would be grouped with the cooking shows and As the World Turns with the soap operas.

These two types of organization are ways of ordering or organizing information.  They make small bits of information useful by relating it to other categories of information.  Some helpful guidelines to follow when using classification or division as an organizational strategy are listed below.

1.   Make sure that classification and division are suitable as organizational strategies for your paper. 

2.   Divide your subject into categories or groups that are mutually exclusive.  An item should only belong to one category. 

3.   Make your division and classification categories complete by accounting for all items in a subject class. 

4.   State the conclusions that you draw from dividing and classifying your items clearly. 

Writing a Classification/Division Paper Thesis Statement

When writing a thesis statement of a classification and/or division paper, you give readers an overview of your essay by listing the categories you will discuss. Frequently, you introduce this list of categories with a colon, a punctuation mark whose purpose is to direct readers to look ahead for a series, list, clarification, or explanation.

When you use a colon to introduce your categories, the colon must be preceded by a complete sentence.

Correct:  College students today are affected by four kinds of pressure:  economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure.

Incorrect:  Four types of pressure affecting college students today are economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure.

Writing a Classification/Division Paper Outline                                                                                                                

The outline below is for a research paper about the American author Mark Twain.

Thesis statement:Most readers know Mark Twain as a novelist, but his nonfiction works -- his travel narratives, essays, letters, and especially his autobiography -- deserve more attention.

I.    Travel narratives

A.   Roughing It 

B.   The Innocents Abroad

C.   Life on the Mississippi

II.   Essays

A.   "Fennimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" 

B.   "How to Tell a Story"

C.   "The Awful Latin Language"

III.    Letters

A.   To W. D. Howells

B.   To His Family

IV.   Autobiography

Assignment:  Your assignment is to write a classification or division research paper that is a minimum of five (5) pages long, not including the reference page.  Your reference page must list at least four (4) sources.  Your paper should be double-spaced and have a cover page and a running head. 

1.   Consider any one of the following topics for a classification essay:  (a) movies or television shows, (b) clothing styles from different eras, (c) country music, (d) automobiles, (e) pets, (f) video games, (g) types of environmental, economic, marital, social or psychological problems, (h) types of motivation, (i) learning styles. (j) academic majors, (k) effects of El Nino, (l) television advertising. 

2.    Identify a product produced in the United States or another country that requires some kind of processing before it goes on the market.   Past essays have been about types of cheese, tea and beer. 

3.    Identify a prominent business, political, scientific, or literary figure.  Discuss aspects of his/her life's work and contributions to society. 

4.    Identify some agricultural or geographic regions in the United Stated or another country.  You might consider discussing such things as the types of products produced there, the challenges faced in this region, the region's contributions or lack of contributions to the economy, etc.