How to Write a Classification Essay -Expert Writing Tips

Last Updated: 24 August 2023
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When in high school or college, students are given classification essays. The classification essays help tutors or instructors gauge the understanding, generalization, and critical thinking of students. Although it might seem awkward, some students do not know how to write a classification essay. Therefore, the aim of this comprehensive essay writing guide is to give you tips and tricks in writing classification essays. Our delight is to see you get the top grades in the class.

With the knowledge on choosing classification essay topics, finding a classification essay online help, and writing a classification essay outline.

Definition of a Classification essay: What is a Classification essay?

If you plan to write a highly scoring classification essay, you must understand what it is! Well, as its name suggests, a classification essay is a piece of academic writing that is meant to sort, organize, and categorize things or concepts into diverse categories.

It entails arranging things or ideas into groups and offering examples and facts about why they fit in each grouping. Mainly, it would be best if you were very clear on the classification criteria. An example of a classification essay is that classifying mobile phones. Some of the potential classification criteria could be operating systems, price range, manufacturer, type of screen, and many more features.

Therefore, any essay that sorts or arranges objects, people, or ideas into specific groupings based on different criteria is a classification essay.

How to Structure a Classification Essay

When learning how to write a classification essay, structure comes first. A typical classification essay follows the popular five-paragraph format. You can always break this rule depending on how many words your classification essay is. Here is the basic outline of a classification essay.

The Introductory Paragraph

Like any other essay, the introduction comes first. It should begin from wide to narrow. Here, your focus is to explain what you are categorizing, why you are categorizing them, and what criteria are you using.

The introduction must feature the thesis statement, identifying the groups and the classification criteria.

The Body Paragraphs

They can be three or more, depending on the total word count. Mostly, for 500-word essays or 1000-word essays, they should be three paragraphs.

Each should have its introductory sentence, the facts, and the concluding sentence. Break the paragraphs into shorter ones and make sure that you use transitions.

The Conclusion

The conclusion summarizes the main ideas of your classification essay.  It should restate your essay's thesis and, to some extent, have recommendations. If you make such recommendations, be sure to support your choice.

Transition Words for a Classification Essay

You should use specific transition words for a good flow when writing a classification essay. The transitions build ideas in your essay. The transition words include first type, first class, the third kind, and the first group, for example, as an illustration, first grouping, etc.

The transition words explain the criteria, describe the pros and cons, and give examples in a group/class.

Writing a Thesis Statement for a Classification Essay

Introducing a classification essay should have an outstanding thesis statement. Having a good thesis statement at the early stages of essay writing is prudent. The thesis statement should contain what is being classified. It should also highlight the list of different categories and the properties used in their classification/categorization.

The thesis should explain the purpose of classifying the ideas or items and whether or not the superior category will be identified in the end. Mostly, the thesis statement can be amended as the essay develops. Essays are like wine, as they age (in hours or days of writing) they become better.

Related Reading: Writing a descriptive essay.

List of the Unique Classification Essay Topics

Classification Essays on Movies

Classification Essays on Food

Classification Essays on Sports

Classification Essays on Politicians

Classification Essay Topics on Music

Choosing a Classification Criteria for a Classification Essay

After selecting the topic, the next step is to choose the classification criteria. Before selecting the best criterion or set of criteria, it is important to direct your thought along the following lines:

Fundamentally, how you successfully write a classification essay depends on the classification criteria.

General Tips on How to Write a Classification Essay

Now that you have identified the topic and developed an outline for your classification essay, you need to get things started.

Thanks for stopping by our blog. We are certain you now know how to write a classification essay. Our fast essay writing service offers different kinds of academic writing help we avail.