+ Division and Classification By. Gary Gao, Jeremy Po, Christian Cruz, Brandyn Baker, Melissa Ramey

+ What is classification and division? Classification and Division: Two methods of organization and explaining information. Classification: Placing examples of subjects into categories or classes. Division: Separating a subject into sections.

+ What Classification and Division is not.. Comparison and Contrast: Methods of organizing and developing ideas and often serve as an essay’s primary rhetorical strategy. Comparisons examine similarities; contrasts examine differences. Comparison and Contrast can be used to analyze several subjects; Classification and Division focuses on one subject.

+ Purpose of Classification & Division On one level, the main purpose of classification and division is to simply clarify or explain how something works or how it is similar or different. The purpose may also be to analyze, justify, and/or criticize the principles that underlie a subject. An example of a critique on principles is in “U.S. Students Fare Badly in International Survey of Math Skills.”

+ “U.S. Students Fare Badly in International Survey of Math Skills” By: Floyd Harris (Précis) 1. In “U.S. Students Fare Badly in International Survey of Math Skills, Floyd Norris classifies the U.S. as a deteriorating academic country falling behind 27 nations. 2. Norris solidifies this claim by classifying the U.S. as one of the "bottom" nations in revealing their test results and statistics. 3. Norris contradicts American ideology of overspending on education to prove that regardless of its riches, America is far from academically superior. 4. Given the technical language used in the article, the intended audience is students and teachers serving to show that the American education system is not in the hands of the nation but in the hands of the individual.

+ Effect of Classification & Division Classification is used to sort things into groups. Because it creates order, it gives the effect of helping make sense of things (experiences and our surroundings). With it we are able to see correspondence among alike things and distinguish them from unlike things. Helpful especially when making a decision or encouragement of others to see things from a point of view.

+ Classification & Division Process Writers who classify, often, follow a three-step process: 1. Separate things into their elements, using method of division or analysis. 2. Isolate the similarities among the elements. 3. Group or classify the things based on those similarities, matching like with like.

+ Example of Basic C. & D. ClassificationDivision Soda  Candy  Ice Cream  Chips  Dr. Pepper, Coca-Cola Skittles, Milky Way, Snickers Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry Takis, Lays, Cheetos

+ Examples continued… “The domain Crocodilia contains the family’s alligator, caimen, crocodile, and gharial. There are twenty-three species contained in this domain, and they are the closest living relatives to birds. This order had been in existence for the past 84 million years since the dawn of the Cretaceous period.” -- Essay written on Reptiles

+ Examples continued… Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. I was giving a talk to a large group of people, the same talk I had already given to half a dozen other groups. The nature of the talk was about my writing, my life, and my book, The Joy Luck Club. The talk was going on well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. -- “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan (Pg. 542, Composition)

+ Points to Remember when writing essay… Determine whether you want to explain an existing or create your own system of classification. Divide your subject into smaller categories by applying the same principle of selection to each category. Make sure that your division is complete by establishing separate and consistent types of categories. Arrange categories chronologically. Demonstrate the significance of your system by calling your reader’s attention to its significance.