It is a naturally occurring sorting method exemplified through a card player arranging the cards dealt to him. He picks up the cards like they are dealt & added them into the needed position. Therefore at every step, we add an item into its correct place in an already ordered list.

We will demonstrate insertion sort along an example before presenting the formal algorithm.

Example:  Sort the given list using the insertion sort method:

Figure: Insertion sort

Therefore to find the correct position search the list until an item just greater than the target is searched. Shift all the items from this point one down the list. Insert the target in the vacated slot. Repeat this procedure for all the elements in the list. These results will be in sorted list.