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Writing Skills Topic Five: Classification basic

A. Purpose

The fifth writing skill here introduced is “Classification.” The purpose of “Classification” is to organize information into groups so that the subject could be better understood. For example, you may try to describe the Taiwan legal system, and then you can use this writing skill to illustrate different sections of the system.

B. Elements

There are five elements in the “Classification” writing skill: (1) subject (e.g. human beings), (2) classification principle (e.g. gender), (3) number of categories (e.g. 2), (4) name of each category (e.g. man/woman), and (5) characteristics of each category (e.g. differences between categories, important similarities between categories). Generally, an author may directly or indirectly explain the classification principles.