C h a p t e r 7
Classification
I
f you need to clarify relationships, you can develop your writing by means of clas-
sification. That method of development examines the parts and their relationships
so that readers may better understand the whole.
To develop a piece of writing by means of classification, a writer divides his subject
into logical groups. In an English class, for instance, a student may group authors
by the period in which they wrote or group poems by their theme. In a social sci-
ence class, the writer may group leaders according to the causes they represented or
group eighteenth-century immigrants according to the geographical areas in which
they settled. In a science class, where scientific method relies heavily on classifica-
tion, the writer may group animals according to their habitat or group plants accord-
ing to their reproductive means.
In addition to developing a paper whose sole purpose is to classify, a writer often
needs to use classification along with other methods of development. For instance, a
paper that examines the economic opportunities in a geographical area may classify
opportunities into two kinds: investment opportunities and employment opportuni-
ties. When readers see the parts in relationship to the whole, they understand the
subject. Using classification helps achieve that end.
CHARACTERISTICS
A paper developed by classification usually exhibits most, if not all, of the following
characteristics
-^ a clear statement of the subject,
-^ an identification of the means by which the subject will be divided into smaller
groups,
-^ a statement of the number of smaller groups the writer will address,
-^ an explanation of each of the smaller groups, which identifies the groups and
distinguishes between or among them,
-^ clear transitions that help readers identify and follow the explanation of each
of the divisions,
-^ a clear organization that limits the discussion of a single division to a single
paragraph or single section of the paper,