Division and classification are related processes. Logically, classification precedes division. In classification you look at numerous individual things (cars, people, songs, movies, buildings, boats, cats, birds, trees, etc.) and put those in the same category that share common traits that distinguish them from other things of a similar but not identical kind. In division, you look at a large universe of things (cars, people, songs, movies, buildings, boats, cats, birds, trees, etc.) and separate this group into its different subgroups.

Almost any subject can be divided in a number of ways. The system you choose depends on various factors such as what you know about the subject, what you want to tell your readers, and your reason for telling them. Choose a subject that you are interested in and think about the different ways this subject can be divided. For example, you might think about commercials, movies, motor vehicles, colleges, or college students. If you choose the subject of television programs, you might initially divide them in one of the following ways:

• Situation comedies

• Soap operas

• Detective mysteries

• Cop shows

• Documentaries

• News magazines

• Westerns

• Hospital dramas

• Reality TV

• Made for TV mini series

• News

Suppose you decide that your first division will be "Entertainment and Information." Before you go any further, you will need to work out some satisfactory definitions of these terms. An entertainment program, you may decide, is one that presents created characters and situations or which presents real characters and situations for their voyeuristic interest alone. An information program, on the other hand, is one which conveys real facts and informed comments about the world whether through creative means or real life reports. You could now create an outline that might look like this, filling in the specific examples as they occur to you:

I. Entertainment

      A. Situation Comedies

          1. Seinfeld

          2. Fraiser

          3. Fiends

          4. Living Single

      B. Westerns

          1. Dr. Quinn

      C. Cop Shows

          1. Hill Street Blues

      D. Mystery/Deceptive

II. Information

      A. News

          1. Network news

               a. Local

               b. National

      B. Documentaries

          1. The Civil War

      C. News Magazines

          1. 20/20

          2. Sixty Minutes

      D. Children's Educational Programing

          1. Bill Nye the Science Guy

Notice that as you arrange your brainstorming ideas, that they fall into levels and each successive level in the outline becomes more specific. Sometimes a level can be subdivided. For example, look at network news. This can be subdivided into local and national.

Remember, if you do subdivide, you must make the subdivisions inclusive. That is, whenever a category is subdivided, the subdivisions must include everything in the original group. If you are doubtful about the number of items, or if you are not sure you have included all members of the previous group, you can create that catchall category, "other," designed to pick up whatever is left over.

Writing: A good main idea sentence for a classification paper will let readers know what is being divided (the topic); what method of explanation you are using (division); and the point of view you are taking (what the first division is based on). Look at the following examples:

1. Three kinds of people consult fortunetellers: those who believe, those who are not sure, and those who are just spoofing.

2. In early April, many American taxpayers spend time sorting last year's expenses into those that can be deducted and those that cannot, as a preliminary to listing deductible expenses under the six categories the Internal Revenue Service allows.

3. Prehistoric people had tools made of horn, tooth, and bone, each kind used for a specific purpose.

4. Commercial advertisements can be classified according to the way they appeal to potential customers.

5. Depending on the amount of training they have had, nurses fall into three general groups--registered nurses, practical nurses, and aides--all with quite different responsibilities.

The topic sentence of each paragraph will name the major divisions, and these paragraphs will be developed by describing examples of the objects or persons that fall into this division. If there are subdivisions, then subtropic sentences can be used to introduce these subdivisions. See the handout "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" for examples of how subtropic sentences are used.

Your final paper should be from three to four pages long. The overall structure of the paper should be that of a hierarchy, and each paragraph should also have a hierarchical organization. You should write so an English speaking person anywhere can understand your paper without having to ask you questions.

You will need an outline for this essay. The outline should begin with your thesis (main idea sentence). Each main point in your outline (those indicated by Roman numerals) should be expressed as a complete sentence. This same sentence should then be used in the body of your essay as a topic sentence for a paragraph. Each subpoint in your outline (those indicated by capital letters A, B, C, etc.) may be expressed as a word or phrase; however, when this idea is introduced in the body of your essay, it should be put into the form of a complete sentence there. The idea is for your outline to provide a map of the content of your essay and the order of ideas in the outline and the essay should match.

The completed essay must be at least 500 words. There is no limit on length, but all essays should be concise, informative, and correct. Longer essays that multiply errors simply provide more justification for a poor grade. Microsoft Word will tell you how many words there are in a document.