importance of organization essay

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9.3 Organizing Your Writing

Learning objectives.

Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

Chronological order
Order of importance
Spatial order

When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research.

Chronological Order

In Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

To explain the history of an event or a topic
To tell a story or relate an experience
To explain how to do or to make something
To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing , which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first , second , then , after that , later , and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first , then , next , and so on.

Writing at Work

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

Writing essays containing heavy research
Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first , second , then , and finally .

Order of Importance

Recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” that order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

Persuading and convincing
Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly , almost as importantly , just as importantly , and finally .

During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

Spatial Order

As stated in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up most of the wall, which is the color of lavender.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

Just to the left or just to the right
On the left or on the right
Across from
A little further down
To the south, to the east, and so on
A few yards away
Turning left or turning right

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Organization and Structure

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

There is no single organizational pattern that works well for all writing across all disciplines; rather, organization depends on what you’re writing, who you’re writing it for, and where your writing will be read. In order to communicate your ideas, you’ll need to use a logical and consistent organizational structure in all of your writing. We can think about organization at the global level (your entire paper or project) as well as at the local level (a chapter, section, or paragraph). For an American academic situation, this means that at all times, the goal of revising for organization and structure is to consciously design your writing projects to make them easy for readers to understand. In this context, you as the writer are always responsible for the reader's ability to understand your work; in other words, American academic writing is writer-responsible. A good goal is to make your writing accessible and comprehensible to someone who just reads sections of your writing rather than the entire piece. This handout provides strategies for revising your writing to help meet this goal.

Note that this resource focuses on writing for an American academic setting, specifically for graduate students. American academic writing is of course not the only standard for academic writing, and researchers around the globe will have different expectations for organization and structure. The OWL has some more resources about writing for American and international audiences here .

Whole-Essay Structure

While organization varies across and within disciplines, usually based on the genre, publication venue, and other rhetorical considerations of the writing, a great deal of academic writing can be described by the acronym IMRAD (or IMRaD): Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. This structure is common across most of the sciences and is often used in the humanities for empirical research. This structure doesn't serve every purpose (for instance, it may be difficult to follow IMRAD in a proposal for a future study or in more exploratory writing in the humanities), and it is often tweaked or changed to fit a particular situation. Still, its wide use as a base for a great deal of scholarly writing makes it worthwhile to break down here.

Introduction : What is the purpose of the study? What were the research questions? What necessary background information should the reader understand to help contextualize the study? (Some disciplines include their literature review section as part of the introduction; some give the literature review its own heading on the same level as the other sections, i.e., ILMRAD.) Some writers use the CARS model to help craft their introductions more effectively.
Methods: What methods did the researchers use? How was the study conducted? If the study included participants, who were they, and how were they selected?
Results : This section lists the data. What did the researchers find as a result of their experiments (or, if the research is not experimental, what did the researchers learn from the study)? How were the research questions answered?
Discussion : This section places the data within the larger conversation of the field. What might the results mean? Do these results agree or disagree with other literature cited? What should researchers do in the future?

Depending on your discipline, this may be exactly the structure you should use in your writing; or, it may be a base that you can see under the surface of published pieces in your field, which then diverge from the IMRAD structure to meet the expectations of other scholars in the field. However, you should always check to see what's expected of you in a given situation; this might mean talking to the professor for your class, looking at a journal's submission guidelines, reading your field's style manual, examining published examples, or asking a trusted mentor. Every field is a little different.

Outlining & Reverse Outlining

One of the most effective ways to get your ideas organized is to write an outline. A traditional outline comes as the pre-writing or drafting stage of the writing process. As you make your outline, think about all of the concepts, topics, and ideas you will need to include in order to accomplish your goal for the piece of writing. This may also include important citations and key terms. Write down each of these, and then consider what information readers will need to know in order for each point to make sense. Try to arrange your ideas in a way that logically progresses, building from one key idea or point to the next.

Questions for Writing Outlines

What are the main points I am trying to make in this piece of writing?
What background information will my readers need to understand each point? What will novice readers vs. experienced readers need to know?
In what order do I want to present my ideas? Most important to least important, or least important to most important? Chronologically? Most complex to least complex? According to categories? Another order?

Reverse outlining comes at the drafting or revision stage of the writing process. After you have a complete draft of your project (or a section of your project), work alone or with a partner to read your project with the goal of understanding the main points you have made and the relationship of these points to one another. The OWL has another resource about reverse outlining here.

Questions for Writing Reverse Outlines

What topics are covered in this piece of writing?
In what order are the ideas presented? Is this order logical for both novice and experienced readers?
Is adequate background information provided for each point, making it easy to understand how one idea leads to the next?
What other points might the author include to further develop the writing project?

Organizing at the sentence and paragraph level

Signposting.

Signposting is the practice of using language specifically designed to help orient readers of your text. We call it signposting because this practice is like leaving road signs for a driver — it tells your reader where to go and what to expect up ahead. Signposting includes the use of transitional words and phrasing, and they may be explicit or more subtle. For example, an explicit signpost might say:

This section will cover Topic A and Topic B.

A more subtle signpost might look like this:

It's important to consider the impact of Topic A and Topic B.

The style of signpost you use will depend on the genre of your paper, the discipline in which you are writing, and your or your readers’ personal preferences. Regardless of the style of signpost you select, it’s important to include signposts regularly. They occur most frequently at the beginnings and endings of sections of your paper. It is often helpful to include signposts at mid-points in your project in order to remind readers of where you are in your argument.

Questions for Identifying and Evaluating Signposts

How and where does the author include a phrase, sentence, or short group of sentences that explains the purpose and contents of the paper?
How does each section of the paper provide a brief summary of what was covered earlier in the paper?
How does each section of the paper explain what will be covered in that section?
How does the author use transitional words and phrases to guide readers through ideas (e.g. however, in addition, similarly, nevertheless, another, while, because, first, second, next, then etc.)?

WORKS CONSULTED

Clark, I. (2006). Writing the successful thesis and dissertation: Entering the conversation . Prentice Hall Press.

Davis, M., Davis, K. J., & Dunagan, M. (2012). Scientific papers and presentations . Academic press.

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The Importance of Organizational Design and Structure

Gill Corkindale

One of the wonderful things about being a coach is that I meet hundreds of executives who freely share their business and leadership challenges with me. As well as helping me understand how hard it is to run an organization, they show me how they are managing to adapt — or not — to changing […]

Gill Corkindale is an executive coach and writer based in London, focusing on global management and leadership. She was formerly management editor of the Financial Times.

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4.3 Organizing Your Writing

Learning objectives.

Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

Chronological order
Order of importance
Spatial order

Chronological Order

In Chapter 3: The Writing Process: Where Do I Begin? , you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

To explain the history of an event or a topic
To tell a story or relate an experience
To explain how to do or to make something
To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing , which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first , second , then , after that , later , and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until the present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first , then , next , and so on.

Connecting the Pieces: Writing at Work

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

Writing essays containing heavy research
Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use chronological keywords, such as first, second, then, and finally.

Order of Importance

Recall from Chapter 3: The Writing Process: Where Do I Begin? that order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

Persuading and convincing
Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly , almost as importantly , just as importantly , and finally .

Spatial Order

As stated in Chapter 3: The Writing Process: Where Do I Begin? , spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means explaining or describing objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example, in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your readers, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often, in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

Just to the left or just to the right
On the left or on the right
Across from
A little further down
To the south, to the east, and so on
A few yards away
Turning left or turning right

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Putting the Pieces Together Copyright © 2020 by Andrew M. Stracuzzi and André Cormier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Organizing an Essay

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Some basic guidelines

The best time to think about how to organize your paper is during the pre-writing stage, not the writing or revising stage. A well-thought-out plan can save you from having to do a lot of reorganizing when the first draft is completed. Moreover, it allows you to pay more attention to sentence-level issues when you sit down to write your paper.

When you begin planning, ask the following questions: What type of essay am I going to be writing? Does it belong to a specific genre? In university, you may be asked to write, say, a book review, a lab report, a document study, or a compare-and-contrast essay. Knowing the patterns of reasoning associated with a genre can help you to structure your essay.

For example, book reviews typically begin with a summary of the book you’re reviewing. They then often move on to a critical discussion of the book’s strengths and weaknesses. They may conclude with an overall assessment of the value of the book. These typical features of a book review lead you to consider dividing your outline into three parts: (1) summary; (2) discussion of strengths and weaknesses; (3) overall evaluation. The second and most substantial part will likely break down into two sub-parts. It is up to you to decide the order of the two subparts—whether to analyze strengths or weaknesses first. And of course it will be up to you to come up with actual strengths and weaknesses.

Be aware that genres are not fixed. Different professors will define the features of a genre differently. Read the assignment question carefully for guidance.

Understanding genre can take you only so far. Most university essays are argumentative, and there is no set pattern for the shape of an argumentative essay. The simple three-point essay taught in high school is far too restrictive for the complexities of most university assignments. You must be ready to come up with whatever essay structure helps you to convince your reader of the validity of your position. In other words, you must be flexible, and you must rely on your wits. Each essay presents a fresh problem.

Avoiding a common pitfall

Though there are no easy formulas for generating an outline, you can avoid one of the most common pitfalls in student papers by remembering this simple principle: the structure of an essay should not be determined by the structure of its source material. For example, an essay on an historical period should not necessarily follow the chronology of events from that period. Similarly, a well-constructed essay about a literary work does not usually progress in parallel with the plot. Your obligation is to advance your argument, not to reproduce the plot.

If your essay is not well structured, then its overall weaknesses will show through in the individual paragraphs. Consider the following two paragraphs from two different English essays, both arguing that despite Hamlet’s highly developed moral nature he becomes morally compromised in the course of the play:

(a) In Act 3, Scene 4, Polonius hides behind an arras in Gertrude’s chamber in order to spy on Hamlet at the bidding of the king. Detecting something stirring, Hamlet draws his sword and kills Polonius, thinking he has killed Claudius. Gertrude exclaims, “O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!” (28), and her words mark the turning point in Hamlet’s moral decline. Now Hamlet has blood on his hands, and the blood of the wrong person. But rather than engage in self-criticism, Hamlet immediately turns his mother’s words against her: “A bloody deed — almost as bad, good Mother, as kill a king, and marry with his brother” (29-30). One of Hamlet’s most serious shortcomings is his unfair treatment of women. He often accuses them of sins they could not have committed. It is doubtful that Gertrude even knows Claudius killed her previous husband. Hamlet goes on to ask Gertrude to compare the image of the two kings, old Hamlet and Claudius. In Hamlet’s words, old Hamlet has “Hyperion’s curls,” the front of Jove,” and “an eye like Mars” (57-58). Despite Hamlet’s unfair treatment of women, he is motivated by one of his better qualities: his idealism. (b) One of Hamlet’s most serious moral shortcomings is his unfair treatment of women. In Act 3, Scene 1, he denies to Ophelia ever having expressed his love for her, using his feigned madness as cover for his cruelty. Though his rantings may be an act, they cannot hide his obsessive anger at one particular woman: his mother. He counsels Ophelia to “marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them” (139-41), thus blaming her in advance for the sin of adultery. The logic is plain: if Hamlet’s mother made a cuckold out of Hamlet’s father, then all women are capable of doing the same and therefore share the blame. The fact that Gertrude’s hasty remarriage does not actually constitute adultery only underscores Hamlet’s tendency to find in women faults that do not exist. In Act 3, Scene 4, he goes as far as to suggest that Gertrude shared responsibility in the murder of Hamlet’s father (29-30). By condemning women for actions they did not commit, Hamlet is doing just what he accuses Guildenstern of doing to him: he is plucking out the “heart” of their “mystery” (3.2.372-74).

The second of these two paragraphs is much stronger, largely because it is not plot-driven. It makes a well-defined point about Hamlet’s moral nature and sticks to that point throughout the paragraph. Notice that the paragraph jumps from one scene to another as is necessary, but the logic of the argument moves along a steady path. At any given point in your essays, you will want to leave yourself free to go wherever you need to in your source material. Your only obligation is to further your argument. Paragraph (a) sticks closely to the narrative thread of Act 3, Scene 4, and as a result the paragraph makes several different points with no clear focus.

What does an essay outline look like?

Most essay outlines will never be handed in. They are meant to serve you and no one else. Occasionally, your professor will ask you to hand in an outline weeks prior to handing in your paper. Usually, the point is to ensure that you are on the right track. Nevertheless, when you produce your outline, you should follow certain basic principles. Here is an example of an outline for an essay on Hamlet :

thesis: Despite Hamlet’s highly developed moral nature, he becomes morally compromised while delaying his revenge.
I.	Introduction: Hamlet’s father asks Hamlet not only to seek vengeance but also to keep his mind untainted.
II.	Hamlet has a highly developed moral nature.
	A.	Hamlet is idealistic.
	B.	Hamlet is aware of his own faults, whereas others are self-satisfied.
	C.	Hamlet does not want to take revenge without grounds for acting.
III.	Hamlet becomes morally compromised while delaying.
	A.	The turning point in Hamlet’s moral decline is his killing of Polonius.
	B.	Hamlet’s moral decline continues when he sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their death.
	C.	Hamlet already began his moral decline before the turning point in the play, the killing of Polonius.
		1.	Hamlet treats women badly.
		2.	Hamlet criticizes others in the play for acting falsely to get ahead, but in adopting the disguise of madness he, too, is presenting a false face to the world.
IV.	Though Hamlet becomes more compromised the longer he delays, killing the king would have been a morally questionable act.
V.	Conclusion: The play questions the adequacy of a system of ethics based on honour and revenge.

This is an example of a sentence outline. Another kind of outline is the topic outline. It consists of fragments rather than full sentences. Topic outlines are more open-ended than sentence outlines: they leave much of the working out of the argument for the writing stage.

When should I begin putting together a plan?

The earlier you begin planning, the better. It is usually a mistake to do all of your research and note-taking before beginning to draw up an outline. Of course, you will have to do some reading and weighing of evidence before you start to plan. But as a potential argument begins to take shape in your mind, you may start to formalize your thoughts in the form of a tentative plan. You will be much more efficient in your reading and your research if you have some idea of where your argument is headed. You can then search for evidence for the points in your tentative plan while you are reading and researching. As you gather evidence, those points that still lack evidence should guide you in your research. Remember, though, that your plan may need to be modified as you critically evaluate your evidence.

How can I construct a usable plan?

Here are two methods for constructing a plan. The first works best on the computer. The second method works well for those who think visually. It is often the method of choice for those who prefer to do some of their thinking with pen and paper, though it can easily be transposed to a word processor or your graphic software of choice.

method 1: hierarchical outline

This method usually begins by taking notes. Start by collecting potential points, as well as useful quotations and paraphrases of quotations, consecutively. As you accumulate notes, identify key points and start to arrange those key points into an outline. To build your outline, take advantage of outline view in Word or numbered lists in Google Docs. Or consider one of the specialized apps designed to help organize ideas: Scrivener, Microsoft OneNote, Workflowy, among others. All these tools make it easy for you to arrange your points hierarchically and to move those points around as you refine your plan.You may, at least initially, keep your notes and your outline separate. But there is no reason for you not to integrate your notes into the plan. Your notes—minor points, quotations, and paraphrases—can all be interwoven into the plan, just below the main points they support. Some of your notes may not find a place in your outline. If so, either modify the plan or leave those points out.

method 2: the circle method

This method is designed to get your key ideas onto a single page, where you can see them all at once. When you have an idea, write it down, and draw a circle around it. When you have an idea that supports another idea, do the same, but connect the two circles with a line. Supporting source material can be represented concisely by a page reference inside a circle. The advantage of the circle method is that you can see at a glance how things tie together; the disadvantage is that there is a limit to how much material you can cram onto a page.

Here is part of a circle diagram

Once you are content with your diagram, you have the option of turning it into an essay outline.

What is a reverse outline?

When you have completed your first draft, and you think your paper can be better organized, consider using a reverse outline. Reverse outlines are simple to create. Just read through your essay, and every time you make a new point, summarize it in the margin. If the essay is reasonably well-organized, you should have one point in the margin for each paragraph, and your points read out in order should form a coherent argument. You might, however, discover that some of your points are repeated at various places in your essay. Other points may be out of place, and still other key points may not appear at all. Think of all these points as the ingredients of an improved outline which you now must create. Use this new outline to cut and paste the sentences into a revised version of your essay, consolidating points that appear in several parts of your essay while eliminating repetition and creating smooth transitions where necessary.

You can improve even the most carefully planned essay by creating a reverse outline after completing your first draft. The process of revision should be as much about organization as it is about style.

How much of my time should I put into planning?

It is self-evident that a well-planned paper is going to be better organized than a paper that was not planned out. Thinking carefully about how you are going to argue your paper and preparing an outline can only add to the quality of your final product. Nevertheless, some people find it more helpful than others to plan. Those who are good at coming up with ideas but find writing difficult often benefit from planning. By contrast, those who have trouble generating ideas but find writing easy may benefit from starting to write early. Putting pen to paper (or typing away at the keyboard) may be just what is needed to get the ideas to flow.

You have to find out for yourself what works best for you, though it is fair to say that at least some planning is always a good idea. Think about whether your current practices are serving you well. You know you’re planning too little if the first draft of your essays is always a disorganized mess, and you have to spend a disproportionate amount of time creating reverse outlines and cutting and pasting material. You know you’re planning too much if you always find yourself writing your paper a day before it’s due after spending weeks doing research and devising elaborate plans.

Be aware of the implications of planning too little or too much.

Planning provides the following advantages :

helps you to produce a logical and orderly argument that your readers can follow
helps you to produce an economical paper by allowing you to spot repetition
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Knowledge Base

Organizational tips for academic essays

Published on November 10, 2014 by Shane Bryson . Revised on August 9, 2024.

This article presents some tips to help you figure out how best to structure your essay .

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Four tips for organization, other interesting articles.

In general, the purpose of the essay should dictate the organization of the essay—ask yourself what claims you need to establish in order for your reader to believe that your main claim is right. The claims that help establish your main claim are called “supporting claims.”

In many cases, each supporting claim will get a paragraph. When you’re outlining, try to phrase these supporting claims as rough topic sentences . In some cases, these supporting claims will also require some argument in order for your reader to believe them. If this happens, consider adding an additional argument or two in separate paragraphs to help establish your supporting claim.

Once you get a sense of the supporting claims that will form the basis of your paragraphs , consider the following tips:

Arguments usually proceed from the simplest claim to the most complex

In other words, the body of a good argumentative essay often begins with the more simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves to the more complex and contentious ones. There are a couple of reasons for this:

Often, a reader must understand the more basic claims before she can understand the more complex claims.
If you begin with a point your readers agree on without much trouble, you can build on this agreement to convince them of something more contentious.

Give the background early

If you have so much background information that it cannot be given precisely enough in the introduction , this information will usually lead the body of the essay , or the section that it is relevant to.

Define terms as needed

Technical language should be defined as or before it’s used—never wait very long to define a term you’ve used:

If you can, define your terms as you use them.
If you have so much technical language that defining terms as you use them is too interruptive, take a paragraph or so to define the terms and show how they relate to each other.

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The Importance of Organizational Culture Essay

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What is organizational culture and why is it essential for a healthy and strong organization that works efficiently? The organizational culture essay below answers these questions. It focuses on the characteristics and benefits of the issue.

Introduction

Organizational culture is an important aspect of achieving organizational success. Every manager should strive to develop an organizational culture that will facilitate easy transformation of the organization through change embracement y employees. However, managers face challenges such as change resistance by employees.

Resistance to change is caused by fear of learning new skills, fear of new and additional responsibilities, fear of power shift, leadership, or management, and fear of stress that results from change (Hirschhorn ,2002). Organizational culture and change is most valuable to an aspiring manager because it they form the basis of organizational success.

They determine employees’ job satisfaction, motivation, and commitment towards achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Developing an appropriate organizational culture that guarantees success is difficult. However, aspiring managers should strive towards developing it because without it, organizational success remains a mirage.

Why Is Organizational Culture Important?

Managers should work towards introducing change in the organization to hasten achievement of organizational goals (Hirschhorn, 2002). Resistance to change by employees is the main challenge encountered by managers during the process of introducing change. However, with an appropriate strategy, managers can introduce change effectively and efficiently without causing chaos.

According to Hirschhorn (2002), change can be successfully introduced using three different campaign strategies. These include political, marketing, and military campaigns. The three campaigns combine different strategies to facilitate introduction of change in an organization.

Political campaign facilitates development of change initiatives through formation of a coalition that supports and guides change initiative (Hirschhorn, 2002).

A marketing campaign focuses on employee’s feelings and attitudes towards change by explicating potential benefits of embracing and executing change. On the other hand, a military campaign facilitates channeling of management’s attention and time to the change initiative (Hirschhorn, 2002).

Organizational culture determines level of employee job satisfaction, which is an ingredient of organizational success. Organizational culture affects employees’ attitudes, behaviors, and performance at the workplace. One of the characteristics of an efficient organizational culture is a satisfying workplace. A satisfying workplace is one of the strategies implemented by managers to improve job satisfaction.

To improve job satisfaction, management reform is necessary (Yang and Kasssekert, 2009). Examples of such reforms include Titl5 Exemption, contracting out, and managing for results. Under Title 5 exemption, managers should strive towards increasing managerial prudence in improving efficiency of human resource management (Yang and Kasssekert, 2009).

They should include performance rewards, introduction of simple hiring procedures, and workforce restructuring. On the other hand, contracting out is important because it reduces costs, improves quality of service delivery, increases efficiency, and increase job satisfaction (Yang and Kasssekert, 2009).

In addition, mangers should create an environment that encourages employees to trust in the leadership of the organization. Performance appraisal should strive towards improving employees’ performance and not victimizing them.

According to Kegan and Lahey (2001), it is important for managers to understand why employees resist change in order to introduce it without causing chaos. They argue that change to resistance is because of a phenomenon referred to as competing commitment. Effective management strives towards assisting employees subdue limitations that prevent them from embracing change.

This includes involving employees in diagnosing causes of immunity to change (Kegan and Lahey, 2001). Competing commitments are both a problem to employees and managers. Eradicating resistance to changes starts with uncovering employees’ competing commitments.

One aspect of competing commitments is assumptions. Employees need to realize that assumptions determine their reality and should strive to question them (Kegan and Lahey, 2001).

Employee empowerment is another factor that contributes to a strong organizational culture. However, without an effective work environment and good leadership, employee empowerment is impossible. Empowered employees are committed to achieving organizational goals by improving performance and embracing innovation (Fernandez and Moldogaziez, 2012).

Benefits of employee empowerment include quick retraction from errors, learning from mistakes, and development of innovative ways of service delivery (Fernandez and Moldogaziez, 2012). Empowered employees work harder and smarter thus improving performance. They thus exhibit flexibility in task execution.

Change is also important in enhancing employee performance because of the uncertainty of the modern business environment. Therefore, change is an important aspect of ensuing organizational adaptability to change. Employees must be able to adapt to change to enhance organizational survival and sustainability (Fernandez and Moldogaziez, 2012).

Change encourages innovation because it introduces new ways and procedures of doing things. It is imperative for managers to introduce change in the organization to encourage innovation and achievement of organizational goals.

Organizational culture and change are important aspects of achieving organizational success. They are valuable to aspiring managers in the public sector because of several reasons. They encourage innovation, improve employee performance, and enhance the efficiency of an organization. A strong organizational culture enhances job satisfaction among employees.

On the other hand, change encourages innovation, which helps an organization survive in the highly uncertain modern business environment. Employee empowerment and job satisfaction are core factors that determine level of organizational success. Any aspiring manager should focus managerial efforts towards creating a strong organizational culture and introducing change in the organization.

Fernandez, S., and Moldogaziev, T. (2012). Using Employee Empowerment to Encourage Innovative Behavior in the Public Sector. Journal of Public Administration and Theory , 13, 1-33.

Hirschhorn, L. (2001). Campaigning for Change. Harvard Business Review , 12(4), 98- 104.

Kegan, R., and Lahey, L. (2001). Real Reason People Won’t Change. Harvard Business Review , 4(3), 84-92.

Yang, K., and Kasssekert, A. (2009). Linking Management Reform with Employee Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Federal Agencies. Journal of Public Administration and Research Theory , 20, 413-436.

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Patterns of Organization and Methods of Development

Patterns of organization can help your readers follow the ideas within your essay and your paragraphs, but they can also work as methods of development to help you recognize and further develop ideas and relationships in your writing. Here are some strategies that can help you with both organization and development in your essays.

Major Patterns of Organization

Read the following sentences:

Now take the pie out of the oven and let it cool on the stovetop.
Mix the dry ingredients with the liquid ingredients.
Set the pie crust aside while you make the filling.

How did it feel to read the above list? A bit confusing, I would guess. That’s because the steps for making a pie were not well organized, and the steps don’t include enough detail for us to know exactly what we should do. (Like what are the dry and liquid ingredients?) We all know that starting instructions from the beginning and giving each detailed step in the order it should happen is vital to having a good outcome, in this case a yummy pie! But it’s not always so simple to know how to organize or develop ideas, and sometimes there’s more than one way, which complicates things even further.

First, let’s take a look at a couple of ways to think about organization.

General to Specific or Specific to General

It might be useful to think about organizing your topic like a triangle:

a diagram that shows a triangle with the point at the bottom to represent "general to specific" organization and a triangle with a point at the top to represent "specific to general" organization

The first triangle represents starting with the most general, big picture information first, moving then to more detailed and often more personal information later in the paper. The second triangle represents an organizational structure that starts with the specific, small scale information first and then moves to the more global, big picture stuff.

For example, if your topic is air pollution in Portland, Oregon, an essay that uses the general-to-specific organizational structure might begin this way:

Many people consider Portland, Oregon, to be an environmentally friendly, pollution-free place to live. They would be shocked to know how many pollutants are in the air causing a multitude of health problems in Portland’s citizens.

An essay that uses the specific-to-general structure might start like this:

When Nancy moved to Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids, she expected to find a clean, pollution-free city. She was shocked and angered when her daughter was diagnosed with asthma caused by air pollution.

What’s the difference between these two introductions? And how might they appeal to the intended audience for this essay (Portland voters) in different ways? The first introduction is looking at the big picture of the problem and mentions pollution’s impact on all citizens in Portland, while the second introduction focuses on one specific family. The first helps readers see how vast the problem really is, and the second helps connect readers to a real family, making an emotional appeal from the very beginning. Neither introduction is necessarily better. You’ll choose one over the other based on the kind of tone you’d like to create and how you’d like to affect your audience. It’s completely up to you to make this decision.

Does the Triangle Mean the Essay Keeps Getting More Specific or More Broad until the Very End?

The triangle is kind of a general guide, meaning you’re allowed to move around within it all you want. For example, it’s possible that each of your paragraphs will be its own triangle, starting with the general or specific and moving out or in. However, if you begin very broadly, it might be effective to end your essay in a more specific, personal way. And if you begin with a personal story, consider ending your essay by touching on the global impact and importance of your topic.

Are There Other Ways to Think about Organizing My Ideas?

Yes! Rather than thinking about which of your ideas are most specific or personal or which are more broad or universal, you might consider one of the following ways of organizing your ideas:

Most important information first (consider what you want readers to focus on first)
Chronological order (the order in time that events take place)
Compare and contrast (ideas are organized together because of their relationship to each other)

The section on Methods of Development, below, offers more detail about some of these organizational patterns, along with some others.

Choose one of the following topics, and practice writing a few opening sentences like we did above, once using the general-to-specific format and once using the specific-to-general. Which do you like better? What audience would be attracted to which one? Share with peers to see how others tackled this challenge. How would you rewrite their sentences? Why? Discuss your changes and listen to how your peers have revised your sentences. Taking in other people’s ideas will help you see new ways to approach your own writing and thinking.

Facing fears
Safety in sports
Community policing
Educating prisoners
Sex education
A book or movie that impacted you
One thing you would change about your community
Beauty standards
Toxic masculinity
How the media affects identity formation
Gender roles
Race in America
The value of art in society
Travel as part of a well-rounded education
Drugs and alcohol
Advice to new parents
Advice to teachers
The value of making mistakes
How you’d spend a million dollars
What a tough day at work taught you about yourself or others.

Methods of Development

The methods of development covered here are best used as ways to look at what’s already happening in your draft and to consider how you might emphasize or expand on any existing patterns. You might already be familiar with some of these patterns because teachers will sometimes assign them as the purpose for writing an essay. For example, you might have been asked to write a cause-and-effect essay or a comparison-and-contrast essay.

It’s important to emphasize here that patterns of organization or methods of developing content usually happen naturally as a consequence of the way the writer engages with and organizes information while writing. That is to say, most writers don’t sit down and say, “I think I’ll write a cause-and-effect essay today.” Instead, a writer might be more likely to be interested in a topic, say, the state of drinking water in the local community, and as the writer begins to explore the topic, certain cause-and-effect relationships between environmental pollutants and the community water supply may begin to emerge.

So if these patterns just occur naturally in writing, what’s the use in knowing about them? Well, sometimes you might be revising a draft and notice that some of your paragraphs are a bit underdeveloped. Maybe they lack a clear topic, or maybe they lack support. In either case, you can look to these common methods of development to find ways to sharpen those vague topics or to add support where needed. Do you have a clear cause statement somewhere but you haven’t explored the effects? Are you lacking detail somewhere where a narrative story or historical chronology can help build reader interest and add support? Are you struggling to define an idea that might benefit from some comparison or contrast? Read on to consider some of the ways that these strategies can help you in revision. And if you want to learn more, check out what the New York Times has to say in their learning blog article, “ Compare-Contrast, Cause-Effect, Problem Solution: Common ‘Text Types’ in The Times .”

Cause and Effect (or Effect and Cause)

Do you see a potential cause-and-effect relationship developing in your draft? The cause-and-effect pattern may be used to identify one or more causes followed by one or more effects or results. Or you may reverse this sequence and describe effects first and then the cause or causes. For example, the causes of water pollution might be followed by its effects on both humans and animals. You may use obvious transitions to clarify cause and effect, such as “What are the results? Here are some of them…” or you might simply use the words cause , effect , and result , to cue the reader about your about the relationships that you’re establishing.

Here’s an example article from the New York times, “ Rough Times Take Bloom Off a New Year’s Rite, the Rose Parade ,” that explores the cause and effect relationship (from 2011) between Pasadena’s budgetary challenges and the ability of their Rose Parade floats to deck themselves out in full bloom.

Problem-Solution

At some point does your essay explore a problem or suggest a solution? The problem-solution pattern is commonly used in identifying something that’s wrong and in contemplating what might be done to remedy the situation. There are probably more ways to organize a problem-solution approach, but but here are three possibilities:

Describe the problem, followed by the solution.
Propose the solution first and then describe the problems that motivated it.
Or a problem may be followed by several solutions, one of which is selected as the best.

When the solution is stated at the end of the paper, the pattern is sometimes called the delayed proposal. For a hostile audience, it may be effective to describe the problem, show why other solutions do not work, and finally suggest the favored solution. You can emphasize the words problem and solution to signal these sections of your paper for your reader.

Here’s an example article from the New York times, “ Monks Embrace Web to Reach Recruits ,” that highlights an unexpected approach by a group of Benedictine monks in Rhode Island; they’ve turned to social media to grow their dwindling membership. Monks on Facebook? Who knew?

Chronology or Narrative

Do you need to develop support for a topic where telling a story can illustrate some important concept for your readers? Material arranged chronologically is explained as it occurs in time. A chronological or narrative method of development might help you find a way to add both interest and content to your essay. Material arranged chronologically is explained as it occurs in time. This pattern may be used to establish what has happened. Chronology or narrative can be a great way to introduce your essay by providing a background or history behind your topic. Or you may want to tell a story to develop one or more points in the body of your essay. You can use transitional words like then , next , and finally to make the parts of the chronology clear.

Here’s an example article from the Center for Media Literacy (originally published in the journal Media & Values ): “ From Savers to Spenders: How Children Became a Consumer Market .” To encourage his readers to think about why and how children are being marketed to by advertisers, the author uses a historical chronology of how the spending habits of children changed over a number of decades.

Comparison and Contrast

Are you trying to define something? Do you need your readers to understand what something is and what it is not? The comparison-and-contrast method of development is particularly useful in extending a definition, or anywhere you need to show how a subject is like or unlike another subject. For example, the statement is often made that drug abuse is a medical problem instead of a criminal justice issue. An author might attempt to prove this point by comparing drug addiction to AIDS, cancer, or heart disease to redefine the term “addiction” as a medical problem. A statement in opposition to this idea could just as easily establish contrast by explaining all the ways that addiction is different from what we traditionally understand as an illness. In seeking to establish comparison or contrast in your writing, some words or terms that might be useful are by contrast , in comparison , while , some , and others .

Here’s an example article from the New York times: “ Who Wants to Shop in a Big Box Store, Anyway? ” The author explores some interesting differences between the average American and average Indian consumer to contemplate the potential success of big box stores in India and also to contemplate why these giant big box corporations, like Walmart or Target, might have to rethink their business model.

These four methods of development—cause and effect, problem-solution, chronology or narrative, and comparison and contrast—are just a few ways to organize and develop ideas and content in your essays. It’s important to note that they should not be a starting point for writers who want to write something authentic—something that they care deeply about. Instead, they can be a great way to help you look for what’s already happening with your topic or in a draft, to help you to write more, or to help you reorganize some parts of an essay that seem to lack connection or feel disjointed. Look for organizational patterns when you’re reading work by professional writers. Notice where they combine strategies (e.g a problem-solution pattern that uses cause-and-effect organization, or a comparison-contrast pattern that uses narrative or chronology to develop similarities or differences). Pay attention to how different writers emphasize and develop their main ideas, and use what you find to inspire you in your own writing. Better yet, work on developing completely new patterns of your own.

The Word on College Reading and Writing Copyright © by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Importance of Leadership

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Published: Mar 19, 2024

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Leadership as a set of skills and qualities, the ability to create a vision and set goals, empowering and developing others, driving innovation and change, leadership in everyday life, in conclusion.

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Organizational Leadership: What It Is & Why It's Important

An organizational leader shaking hands with an employee while seated at a table

24 Jan 2023

Leadership is essential to organizations’ success, but many struggle to implement the right training. According to job search site Zippia , 83 percent of businesses believe it’s important to develop leaders at every level, but only five percent successfully do.

If you want to become an effective leader, here's an overview of what organizational leadership is, why it’s important, and how you can make an impact on your company.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Organizational Leadership?

Leadership is the ability to implement change by creating and communicating a vision to others. Organizational leadership is the qualities and skills required to run a company or one of its divisions. It’s greater in scale and scope than many other forms of leadership.

“Scale refers to the sheer size and magnitude of what you’re leading,” says Harvard Business School Professor Anthony Mayo in the online course Organizational Leadership , “how many people; how large a budget; and how many teams, locations, and operations you oversee. Scope refers to the range and diversity of what you’re responsible for—the range and diversity of the people, teams, business lines, locations, operations, and facilities you’re leading.”

Although leadership doesn't inherently require business acumen, it’s helpful for organizational leaders to have, so they can guide their organizations, drive innovation, and manage organizational change .

Organizational leaders must consider what’s happening outside and inside their businesses. They often don’t directly interact with everyone they lead—engaging in what’s known as capital “L” leadership.

The Capital "L" in Leadership

Many senior-level leaders hold capital "L" leadership roles. According to Organizational Leadership , those leaders no longer have direct contact with everyone in their organizations and must:

Inspire and motivate their employees
Lead their organizations into the future
Anticipate and respond to internal and external threats
Pursue opportunities that range from money makers to risky bets
Handle crises quickly and assuredly

As your duties increase as a leader—overseeing or guiding those you don’t directly supervise—it's essential to learn how to communicate effectively and execute tasks. This is particularly important when considering the differences between organizational leadership and traditional management.

Organizational Leadership vs. Traditional Management

Leadership and management differ in several ways. At an organizational level, the two are highly intertwined but have three primary differences.

Proximity to the team: Managers work closely with the individuals they oversee, whereas organizational leaders don't always have direct contact with those they lead.
Scale: Like leadership, management is a broad term that can be big or small in scale, whereas organizational leadership involves managing larger populations.
Role: Managers are hired for specific roles; organizational leaders oversee managers and ensure their companies’ visions are reflected in how they guide and align teams.

Organizational Leadership | Take your organization to the next level | Learn More

What Makes Organizational Leaders Effective?

Organizational leaders bring unique qualities, competencies, and practices to their roles. In Organizational Leadership , this is called a leadership constellation .

A leadership constellation includes:

Qualities: The aspects of who you are as a person. They contribute to how others perceive you.
Competencies: The skills and knowledge you've developed over time that enable you to fulfill responsibilities—either by yourself or by leading others.
Practices: The routine actions you engage in to complete tasks, guide your team and organization, and enhance your and others’ skills.

According to Organizational Leadership , you can leverage these attributes in three ways:

Leader as beacon: Creating and communicating a vision to your organization and embodying it in your conduct (i.e., leading by example)
Leader as architect: Ensuring your organization can follow the direction you set, and creating value using the tools and resources at your disposal
Leader as catalyst of change: Leading organizational change by encouraging and enabling it

To be an effective leader , strive to be proficient in each.

Why Is Effective Organizational Leadership Important?

Leadership is vital in business. Organizational leaders assume an additional role because they often set the tone for the directions their companies—and sometimes even their industries—will take.

Here are four reasons why effective organizational leadership is important.

1. Motivates Team Members

Leaders play a critical role in employee engagement. According to Zippia , 69 percent of employees say they would work harder if their efforts were better recognized. This is an important statistic to consider if you struggle to retain talent or want to boost team performance .

Motivated, engaged employees can lead to higher productivity. A Gallup analysis of employee engagement data shows that highly engaged employees resulted in a 14 percent increase in productivity compared to those who were less engaged.

Leaders focus on improving team morale and their companies. Those at higher levels face the challenge of improving employees’ motivation without direct lines of contact.

According to Organizational Leadership , you can improve employee morale by:

Hiring for leadership: If you’re involved in the recruiting process, ensure you hire effective leaders for management positions.
Creating a positive company culture: If your company’s culture is positive and encouraging, your employees will likely be more motivated.
Structuring effectively: For your organization to deliver value, its structures, systems, and processes must align with its people and culture.
Openness to feedback: Even if you're not directly responsible for leading every employee, making yourself available to them can go a long way toward ensuring they feel valued.

Related: 6 Strategies for Engaging Your Employees

2. Promotes Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

Leadership requires a large degree of adaptability. Many problems require creative solutions , especially when their causes are hard to identify. As a leader, you’re responsible for helping others navigate difficult situations and making decisions that benefit your organization.

Even if you don't encounter most of your company’s daily high-level problems, you can be a role model for other employees and establish a structured approach to becoming a creative problem-solver .

3. Fosters Open Communication

Communication skills are essential for leaders. Poor communication in the workplace can lead to a host of problems , such as stress, project delays, and decreased morale.

Organizational Leadership offers four ways to foster open communication in your company, including:

Providing information about what's going on in a way that encourages and enables employees to act
Explaining your organization's direction in a logical manner that appeals to employees’ emotions
Ensuring employees know how their everyday tasks connect to your organization's overarching mission
Accomplishing tasks with individual employees and groups, virtually and in-person

Neglecting these actions can hinder your company’s success.

4. Allows Leaders to be Goal-Oriented

Organizational leaders typically set the direction for their company and enable others to follow it. According to Organizational Leadership , a good direction must be:

Clear: An unclear direction can prevent others from supporting it. Ensure you convey your expectations so they can be met.
Compelling: Make sure it's a direction people are willing and eager to follow.
Concise: If others in your organization can't understand the direction, they won't follow it.

Once the path forward is clear, exciting, and accessible, it becomes much easier to set and achieve organizational goals.

How to Become a More Effective Leader | Access Your Free E-Book | Download Now

Taking the First Step to Becoming an Organizational Leader

To be a successful leader, it's crucial to continuously develop your skills. Identify which leadership style resonates with you and seek opportunities to grow and adapt.

Whether you're already an organizational leader or hoping to become one, you can benefit from pursuing educational opportunities that enhance your leadership knowledge and abilities.

Ready to take the next step in your career? Consider enrolling in Organizational Leadership —one of our online leadership and management courses—to discover how to lead at scale. To learn more about what it takes to be an effective leader, download our free leadership e-book .

About the Author

Module 6: The Writing Process

Essay organization, learning objectives.

Examine the basic organization of traditional essays

What are some ways that you can organize your essays in college. One standard structure for expository essays is to offer the main idea or assertion early in the essay, and then offer categories of support.

One way to think about this standard structure is to compare it to a courtroom argument in a television drama. The lawyer asserts, “My client is not guilty.” Then the lawyer provides different reasons for lack of guilt: no physical evidence placing the client at the crime scene, client had no motive for the crime, and more.

In writing terms, the assertion is the thesis sentence , and the different reasons are the topic sentences . Consider this following example:

Topic Sentence (reason) #1: Workers need to learn how to deal with change.
Topic Sentence (reason) #2: Because of dealing with such a rapidly changing work environment, 21st-century workers need to learn how to learn.
Topic Sentence (reason) #3: Most of all, in order to negotiate rapid change and learning, workers in the 21st century need good communication skills.

As you can see, the supporting ideas in an essay develop out of the main assertion or argument in the thesis sentence.

The structural organization of an essay will vary, depending on the type of writing task you’ve been assigned, but they generally follow this basic structure: The thesis and the topic sentences are all concerned with workers and what they need for the workforce.

Introduction

The introduction provides the reader with context about your topic. You may be familiar with the cliché about how first impressions are important. This is true in writing as well, and you can think of your introduction as that first impression. The goal is to engage the readers, so they want to read on. Sometimes this involves giving an example, telling a story or narrative, asking a question, or building up the situation. The introduction should almost always include the thesis statement.

Body Paragraphs

The body of the essay is separated into paragraphs. Each paragraph usually covers a single claim or argues a single point, expanding on what was introduced in the thesis statement. For example, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, the two main causes of schizophrenia are genetic and environmental. Thus, if you were writing about the causes of schizophrenia, then you would have a body paragraph on genetic causes of schizophrenia and a body paragraph on the environmental causes.

A body paragraph usually includes the following:

Topic sentence that identifies the topic for the paragraph
Several sentences that describe and support the topic sentence

Figure 1 . College instructors require more than just “the end” at the close of a paper. Take the time to revisit your thesis statement, bringing all of your claims and evidences together in your conclusion.

Remember that information from outside sources should be placed in the middle of the paragraph and not at the beginning or the end of the paragraph so that you have time to introduce and explain the outside content
Quotation marks placed around any information taken verbatim (word for word) from the source
Summary sentence(s) that draws conclusions from the evidence
Transitions or bridge sentences between paragraphs.

If you began with a story, draw final conclusions from that story in your conclusion. If you began with a question, refer back to the question and be sure to provide the answer.

A concluding paragraph:

summarizes final conclusions from the key points
provides a brief comment on the evidence provided in the paper
ties in the introduction
Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Writing an Essay. Provided by : QUT Cite Write. Located at : http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/essay.jsp . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Image of Choosing Paragraph Patterns. Authored by : GrinnPidgeon. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/a9oiLS . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
Essay Structure. Authored by : Marianne Botos, Lynn McClelland, Stephanie Polliard, Pamela Osback . Located at : https://pvccenglish.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/eng-101-inside-pages-proof2-no-pro.pdf . Project : Horse of a Different Color: English Composition and Rhetoric . License : CC BY: Attribution
Traditional Structure. Provided by : Excelsior OWL. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/writing-process/essay-writing/essay-writing-traditional-structure-activity/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
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Paper organization

When writing an essay, it’s important to think about which aspects you would like to include in your paper. For example, are there definitions or background information that you’d like to explain first before getting into the bulk of your paper?

Here’s a basic outline of the information that can be included in an essay.

Introduction : background information, context, definitions, relevancy, thesis
Main body paragraph 1 : first subclaim of the thesis, evidence, analysis, concluding sentence
Main body paragraph 2 : second subclaim of the thesis, evidence, analysis, concluding sentence
Main body paragraph 3 : third subclaim of the thesis, evidence, analysis, concluding sentence
Main body paragraph 4 etc. : fourth, fifth, etc. subclaim of the thesis, evidence, analysis, concluding sentence
Conclusion : summary of paper, reiteration of thesis, significance of topic or findings, suggestions for future implications, “so what” factor

When to start new paragraphs

When revising the organization of a paper, each paragraph should serve as a building block to support the thesis of the paper.

Reasons to start a new paragraph include

Remember there should be only one idea or purpose per paragraph
Separating the introduction from the main body paragraphs
Separating the conclusion from the main body paragraphs
When the paragraph is too long—this can give your reader a mini break since new paragraphs act as a “pause”

Order of ideas

The order of paragraphs is up to the writer, but try to order paragraphs in a logical way.

The paragraphs or ideas can be ordered

Most general to most specific (vice versa)
Chronologically
Cause and effect
Most important to least important (vice versa)
Spatially or geographically
Compare and contrast
Problem and solution

Choosing a method

Some options are stronger or better suited for certain papers or topics.

Example : Ordering concepts chronologically is better suited for essays about the development or history of something.
Example : Ordering concepts by the compare and contrast method is usually a good option for comparative essays.
Example : Many informative essays work well with the compare and contrast or problem solution methods.

Should you choose to switch between methods in different paragraphs, be very intentional with how you do this.

Each method influences the cohesiveness of the paper and how the reader understands the ideas.
Switching up organization methods within a paper in a way that isn’t intentional or logical can confuse the reader or disrupt the flow of the paper.
Example : The methods section of a scientific paper may be best organized chronologically, while the discussion section may be best organized by importance or by problem and solution.

Reverse outlines for overall organization

To get a better understanding of how your paper is currently organized, a reverse outline could be used.

A reverse outline is a simple outline

Shows the main idea of each paragraph
Looks at each point discussed in the paper
Identifies how relevant points are to the purpose
Shows whether the ideas in the paper are ordered in the best way possible

Reverse outlines can be utilized at various stages of the writing process but are most beneficial during revision.

Creating a reverse outline

Read through the first paragraph of your paper and write down what the main idea seems to be. This can be a short phrase or a complete sentence, just as long as the text accurately summarizes the main idea of that paragraph.
Repeat this for the next paragraph.
After writing down the main idea for every paragraph in your paper, look at all the main ideas you have written down.
Do the main ideas reflect what you wanted them to, or did you go off topic for some paragraphs? Do multiple paragraphs repeat the same main idea?
Are there some paragraphs that could use stronger or more relevant content to make the main idea more obvious?
When looking at the order of ideas listed in the paper is the order logical and consistent?
Make note of your answers to these questions; then, go back and think about what information to add in, take out, or move around so that your ideas are expressed more effectively.

Organization of individual paragraphs

The MEAL plan strategy, developed by Duke University, is an acronym and helps determine the organization within a paragraph.

Main idea: A paragraph should include a topic sentence so the reader understands what the main idea of the paragraph is. Topic sentences navigate and control the paragraph, serving as subclaims, which further support the essay’s thesis statement.
Evidence: Following the main idea is evidence. This is a good spot for integrating sources that support your main idea and summarizing what those sources say. This section answers the what.
Analysis: After the evidence, analyze it. This section answers the why ” Why did you include the evidence, and what makes it so significant? Explain how or why the evidence that you included helps with the understanding of the main idea. This is the spot to dig deeper into the facts and evidence that are provided.
Lead out: Finally, lead out with a concluding sentence. Try to link this last sentence of the paragraph to the idea that’s expressed in the next paragraph. What is the relationship between the paragraphs? Can you generalize the idea that is expressed in this paragraph in a way that guides the reader logically to the main idea in the following paragraph? The concluding sentence helps the paragraph transition smoothly into the ideas that will be brought up in the next paragraphs.

If you find that your writing doesn’t follow the MEAL plan, which aspect is missing?

Note : The MEAL plan strategy is merely a strategy and isn’t the only way to organize a paragraph. Deviate from the plan as needed.
Note : Keep in mind that analysis is arguably the most important part of many papers, so emphasize that section (A) as opposed to only having evidence (E). A common breakdown of a paragraph is 1 sentence for the Main idea, 1-2 sentences for Evidence, 2-4 sentences for Analysis, and 1 sentence for the conclusion (Lead out).

Transitions

To further help with the flow and organization within or between paragraphs, transition words and phrases might be useful.

Transition words and phrases help to better distinguish the relationship between ideas in a paragraph. They can also help to establish the connection that’s made between paragraphs.

To emphasize: In fact, indeed, naturally, without a doubt, it should be noted, in particular
To summarize/conclude: In summary, to conclude, in conclusion, hence, therefore, as a result, thus, as I have shown, consequently
To give an example: For instance, for example, to demonstrate, in this case, to illustrate, in this situation, such as
To show time: Finally, afterwards, then, next, previously, immediately, soon, later, formerly, following
To prove: Furthermore, because, since, evidently, moreover, indeed, in fact, that is
To contrast: But, on the other hand, yet, instead, nevertheless, however, on the contrary, although, unlike, differing from, whereas, alternatively
To add: Additionally, also, furthermore, and, to continue, besides, nor, in addition, not only…but also, along with

Duke University. (2006). Paragraphing: The MEAL plan. https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/meal-plan-2-1.original.pdf

Harvard College Writing Center. (2020). Topic Sentences and Signposting. https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/topic-sentences-and-signposting

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2020). On Paragraphs. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/paragraphs_and_paragraphing/index.html

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2020). Order of Ideas. https://owl.purdue.edu/engagement/ged_preparation/part_1_lessons_1_4/order_of_ideas.html

University Writing and Speaking Center. (n.d). Crafting a Thesis Statement. https://www.unr.edu/writing-speaking-center/student-resources/writing-speaking-resources/crafting-a-thesis-statement.

University Writing and Speaking Center. (n.d). Paragraph Structure. https://www.unr.edu/writing-speaking-center/student-resources/writing-speaking-resources/paragraph-structure

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9.3 Organizing Your Writing

Chronological Order

Writing at Work

Order of Importance

Spatial Order

Key Takeaways

Organization and Structure

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

Whole-Essay Structure

Outlining & Reverse Outlining

Questions for Writing Outlines

Questions for Writing Reverse Outlines

Organizing at the sentence and paragraph level

Questions for Identifying and Evaluating Signposts

The Importance of Organizational Design and Structure

Partner Center

4.3 Organizing Your Writing

Chronological Order

Connecting the Pieces: Writing at Work

Order of Importance

Spatial Order

Collaboration

Key Takeaways

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Organizing an Essay

Some basic guidelines

Avoiding a common pitfall

What does an essay outline look like?

When should I begin putting together a plan?

How can I construct a usable plan?

method 1: hierarchical outline

method 2: the circle method

What is a reverse outline?

How much of my time should I put into planning?

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Organizational tips for academic essays

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Table of contents

Arguments usually proceed from the simplest claim to the most complex

Give the background early

Define terms as needed

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The Importance of Organizational Culture Essay

Introduction

Why Is Organizational Culture Important?

Patterns of Organization and Methods of Development

Major Patterns of Organization

General to Specific or Specific to General

Does the Triangle Mean the Essay Keeps Getting More Specific or More Broad until the Very End?

Are There Other Ways to Think about Organizing My Ideas?

Methods of Development

Cause and Effect (or Effect and Cause)

Problem-Solution

Chronology or Narrative

Comparison and Contrast

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The Importance of Leadership

Table of contents

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