Understand What Classification Is

Classification

Writing That Sorts Things into Groups

Understand What Classification Is

Classification is writing that organizes, or sorts, people or items into categories. It uses an organizing principle: how the people or items are sorted. The organizing principle is directly related to the purpose for classifying. For example, you might sort clean laundry (your purpose) using one of the following organizing principles: by ownership (yours, your roommate’s) or by where it goes (the bedroom, the bathroom).

Four Basics of Good Clasification

  1. It makes sense of a group of people or items by organizing them into categories.
  2. It has a purpose for sorting the people or items.
  3. It categorizes using a single organizing principle.
  4. It gives detailed explanations or examples of what fits into each category.

In the following paragraph, the numbers and colors correspond to the Four Basics of Good Classification.

1 In researching careers I might pursue, I have learned that there are three major types of workers, 2 each having different strengths and preferences. 3 The first type of worker is a big-picture person, who likes to look toward the future and think of new businesses, products, and services. 4 Big-picture people might also identify ways to make their workplaces more successful and productive. Often, they hold leadership positions, achieving their goals by assigning specific projects and tasks to others. Big-picture people may be drawn to starting their own businesses. Or they might manage or become a consultant for an existing business. 3 The second type of worker is a detail person, who focuses on the smaller picture, whether it be a floor plan in a construction project, a spreadsheet showing a business’s revenue and expenses, or data from a scientific experiment. 4 Detail people take pride in understanding all the ins and outs of a task and doing everything carefully and well. Some detail people prefer to work with their hands, doing such things as carpentry or electrical wiring. Others prefer office jobs, such as accounting or clerical work. Detail people may also be drawn to technical careers, such as scientific research or engineering. 3 The third type of worker is a people person, who gets a lot of satisfaction from reaching out to others and helping meet their needs. 4 A people person has good social skills and likes to get out in the world to use them. Therefore, this type of worker is unlikely to be happy sitting behind a desk. A successful people person often shares qualities of the other types of workers; for example, he or she may show leadership potential. In addition, his or her job may require careful attention to detail. Good jobs for a people person include teaching, sales, nursing, and other health-care positions. Having evaluated my own strengths and preferences, I believe that I am equal parts big-picture person and people person. I am happy to see that I have many career options.

You use classification anytime you want to organize people or items.

COLLEGE In a criminal justice course, you are asked to discuss the most common types of chronic offenders.
WORK For a sales presentation, you classify the kinds of products your company produces.
EVERYDAY LIFE You classify your typical monthly expenses to make a budget.

In college, writing assignments probably will not use the word classification. Instead, you might be asked to describe the types of ____ or explain the types or kinds of ____. You might also be asked, How is ____ organized? or What are the parts of ____? Words and phrases that signal that you need to sort things into categories require classification.