ENGL000: Pre-College English

The goal in all good writing is to make the job of the reader easy. Part of this means putting ideas together in a way that is logical and easy to follow. 

There are two common patterns of organization, but they are not the only way to organize ideas:

• chronological – this means that ideas are put in order of time
• emphatic (from the root word "emphasis") – this means that ideas are put in order of importance from least important to most important (you might find it easier to remember this as "save the best for last")

How you go about organizing your ideas will depend entirely on the nature of your topic and supporting evidence. For example, if I were going to describe what I liked about my vacation, it might make sense to talk about my ideas in the order in which they happened. Let's say I open with the topic sentence:

"My vacation to Virginia Beach was really wonderful for many reasons".

My three reasons might be:

1. fun adventures getting there
   
2. the beach
   
3. the amusement park we visited on the way home

Since these main points happen in a chronological order (the trip there, the beach once we got there, and the amusement park on the way home), it would make sense to write about them in that order.

Certainly some topics will necessitate a chronological order. For example, a process essay (explaining how to do or make something) is going to have to be in a chronological order. If I were explaining how to make chocolate chip cookies, I would need to talk about the steps in a chronological order. Imagine how confusing it would be to readers if I were to say, "First you ball up the dough and place it on a baking sheet. Then you need to get out all the ingredients".

Other topics might lend themselves more nicely to an emphatic order of ideas. For example, if were writing about what I dislike about the local bus system, I might want to organize the them so the biggest difficulty I have dealt with is last, so my essay ends on a powerful note. Let's say I open with the topic sentence,

"There are many reasons why I do not like the local bus system".

My three reasons (in an emphatic order) could be:

1. the buses always stink of diesel fuel
   
2. the stops I use don't have bus huts forcing me to wait in the rain or snow
3. the buses are always off schedule making me miss the bus or be late where I am going
   

Since these main ideas are not of equal value, it makes sense to put them in an emphatic order.  The smell is unpleasant, but standing out in the snow and rain is far worse. And worst of all, is that the buses don't follow a schedule making me unable to get where I am going when I need to be there. Keep in mind that emphatic order is entirely dependent on the perspective of the author. If the author of this paragraph about disliking the local bus system is allergic to the smell of diesel fuel, the order might be a little different with the smell being the final and most important point.

This order of ideas will not work for all essays, but is something to keep in mind if you have one point that is stronger than the others. Think of it like watching a movie. Movies will often save the biggest moment or fight scene for near the end with the idea of keeping you at the edge of your seat. While you will not necessarily have your readers at the edge of their seats reading a paragraph, you want to think along those same lines.

Source: Erin Severs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.