How to Write a Classification Essay Outline?

An essay outline is written to enlist all the ideas and points that are further going to be elaborated in the essay. An essay outline provides a proper structure to the essay and determines the flow of content.

A classification essay outline will help you classify and organize the subjects being discussed. This is done in such a way that it is easy for the reader to understand and comprehend.

Not just the classification essay, but every type of essay requires you to draft an outline first. This is considered to be the prewriting phase of essay writing.

“How do you write an outline for a classification essay?”

To create a logical flow of information in the essay, a general format of a classification essay outline has the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. Body Paragraph 1
3. Body Paragraph 2
4. Body Paragraph 3
5. Conclusion

The number of paragraphs in your essay may vary according to your topic or the essay requirements. However, the general three sections of an outline are Introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion.

How to Write a Classification Essay Introduction?

The first section of a classification essay is its introduction. The introduction paragraph introduces the topic and the terms being discussed in the essay.

To ensure that a reader reads your essay thoroughly with interest, hook them to your essay right from the beginning. So, it is recommended to begin your introduction paragraph with a hook sentence on an attention grabber.

Once you have successfully hooked the reader to your essay, you can introduce the topic to your reader and provide relevant background. Lastly, you need to put forward our thesis statement towards the end of your introduction paragraph.

An effective introductory paragraph for a classification essay will have the following elements:

• Hook:

A hook is an interesting attention grabber that compels your reader to read the essay further on. There are multiple types of hooks that can be used. You can view hook examples to select an appropriate hook for your essay.

You can select an appropriate hook according to the nature of your essay and the topic. If it is a serious topic you can begin with a fact or a quotation. However, if it is a funnier topic you can go for a light-hearted anecdote.

• Topic Introduction:

Introduce the topic of your essay. If there are any technical terms try to explain them here. Otherwise, give a general overview of the topic briefly.

• Background or Purpose:

Tell the background of your topic or the purpose of writing an essay on this specific topic. This will help in developing the context of your essay.

• Thesis Statement:

A thesis statement is a two-three sentence statement. It tells your viewpoint or main claim of the essay to the reader. It should be concise and clear.

To properly end the introduction paragraph you can add a transition sentence at the end. This sentence will create the flow of your writing and connect the introduction paragraph to the upcoming body paragraphs.

How to Write a Classification Essay Body Paragraphs?

The next section of your classification essay is the body. All the details that are to be written in an essay are mentioned paragraph-wise in the body section.

Usually, there are three body paragraphs. However, the number can increase according to the number of categories that you make.

Each body paragraph begins with a topic sentence that highlights the separate category being discussed in the paragraph. After the topic sentence, mention the supporting details and then end the paragraph with a concluding sentence.

The body paragraphs of a classification essay can be written in the following manner:

• Category: Here you will mention the categories into which you have classified the subject or the topic. You also need to tell the criteria for classifying the subject accordingly.
• Explanation: Explain the merits and demerits of the category or classification. Also, explain the classification more for clarification.
• Example: Provide the relevant examples to authenticate your classification. Examples mostly act as evidence of your claim. So, make sure to write examples that are relevant and support your point of view.

How to Write a Classification Essay Conclusion?

Lastly, you will end your essay with a conclusion paragraph. The conclusion section is drafted to summarize the whole essay and to conclude the discussion.

Keep in mind that no new information or argument is ever added in the conclusion paragraph. Instead, the conclusion paragraph only summarizes the essay.

A wise strategy is to summarize each of the outline points in a single sentence within the conclusion paragraph.

The concluding parargaph of a classification essay should include the following information:

• Summary of the Arguments/Points: All the categories or the classification discussed previously are summarized logically in the conclusion paragraph. Also, don’t forget to reiterate the thesis statement here.
• Mention the Future Recommendations: At the end of the essay and the conclusion, mention the recommendations or future interventions. This means you can also provide a call to action.

Make sure to effectively conclude the essay else your whole essay can fall flat. Your conclusion should be such that it leaves the reader thinking about your essay

Significance of Writing a Classification Essay Outline

Most students usually jump directly to essay writing and start with an essay without creating an outline first. This is not a wise strategy and can cause writing troubles for you. Here is why writing a classification essay outline can help you:

• Provides a Clear Focus: An outline helps the writer to remain focused on their topic and main points. Without an outline, you can get sidetracked and write extra on unnecessary information.
• Ensure a Logical Flow: An outline helps you organize your points well. Thus, it ensures a logical flow and a smooth transition from one point to another.
• Prevents Structural Issues: Through an outline, you clearly divide the information into the introduction, body, and conclusion sections of your essay. So, there are less chances of making any structural mistakes.
• Makes the Essay Concise and Precise: Unnecessarily elongated pieces of writings are not at all impressive. It is always recommended that an essay should be concise and precise, rather than unnecessarily extensive. An outline helps you achieve this preciseness as it prevents you from deviating to irrelevant points.
• Helps to Organize Information: While brainstorming ideas for an essay you think about multiple points to be written in your essay. However, not every point is relevant or important enough to be mentioned. So, with the help of an outline, you filter out the relevant points and organize them correctly for the essay.

These points tell you how significant it is to write an essay outline. They show you how an outline can help you improve your academic papers and writing skills.

Classification Essay Outline Examples

Students are mostly looking for examples and samples to learn from while writing their academic assignments. So, here are some classification essay outline samples for your help:

Classification Essay

Definition:

In a classification essay, we organize things into categories and give examples of things that fit into each category. For example, if you choose to write about types of computers (PCs and servers), each of your developmental paragraphs will define the characteristics of a different computer type.

Classification criteria:

Before writing, it is necessary to decide on the classification criteria. We should think according to what properties we are going to classify things. The criteria must be discriminating and the emerging classes should be non-overlapping.

In the sample essay about types of computers, the computers are classified according to their functions and capabilities, as:

Organization:

The introduction of a classification essay is quite straightforward. In the thesis statement, you mention that there are (number) types of (something) according to their (properties).

In the developmental paragraphs, you need to define each type you mentioned in the thesis. You may also need to show the similarities and/or differences of these types. Giving examples would enable your readers to understand better.

Language:

The common transitions used while classifying are the first kind / type

/ group, the second kind / type / group, the third kind / type / group.

Sample classification essay:

Types of Computers

There are a lot of terms used to describe computers. Most of these words imply the size, expected use or capability of the computer. While the term “computer” can apply to virtually any device that has a microprocessor in it, most people think of a computer as a device that receives input from the user through a mouse or keyboard, processes it in some fashion and displays the result on a screen. Computers can be divided into five according to the purpose they are used for and their capabilities.

The most familiar type of microprocessor is the personal computer (PC). It designed for general use by a single person. While a Mac is also a PC, most people relate the term with systems that run the Windows operating system. PCs were first known as microcomputers because they were a complete computer but built on a smaller scale than the huge systems in use by most businesses. A PC can come in two types (three if we include the Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that differ from PCs not by the working policy but in appearance as well.): Desktop and laptop. The former is not designed for portability. The expectation with desktop systems is that you will set the computer up in a permanent location. Most desktops offer more power, storage and versatility for less cost than their portable brethren. On the other hand, the laptops – also called notebooks – are portable computers that integrate the display, keyboard, a pointing device or trackball, processor, memory and hard drive all in a battery-operated package slightly larger than an average hardcover book.

Another purpose for using a microprocessor is as a workstation. The computers used for this purpose have a more powerful processor, additional memory and enhanced capabilities for performing a special group of task, such as 3D Graphics or game development.

A computer can also be used as a server. For this, it needs to be optimized to provide services to other computers over a network. Servers usually have powerful processors, lots of memory and large hard drives. Servers also have the capacity to store data related to the company. If there is an Internet connection, a server is also enables the company workers to observe who is visiting their pages from which server. This helps developing the business.

A fourth type, a main frame is the heart of a network of computers or terminals which allows hundreds of people to work at the same time on the same data. It is indispensable for the business world. These machines are huge both in size and in capacity. Generally they are kept in a separate room where nobody can reach since their breakdown can cause a fortune to the company.

Sometimes, computers can be used for specialized fields as well. The supercomputer is the top of the heap in power and expense. It is used for jobs that take massive amounts of calculating, like weather forecasting, engineering design and testing, serious decryption, and economic forecasting.

With the increasing demand in different specialties, new adjustments are being made to microprocessors and new types of computers that serve different purposes emerge. In this ongoing process, it would not possible to put a full stop here. What we suggest is that it is better to keep en eye on the development of science in this field and keep updating our knowledge in order not to be out-of-date like the computers of old times that were as big as a room.

Written by Oya Ozagac, May 2004Copyright @ 2006 Bogazici University SFL

This guide would have surely helped you and guide you well on how to write a classification essay outline. Follow the above-mentioned guidelines. You will be able to create a good classification essay outline for your own classification essay topic as well.

However, if you still think you won’t be able to manage it by yourself, then don’t hesitate to take help from an essay writing service.