Last fall I taught a couple of English classes at a local college. At the end of the semester, one of my students brought me her business proposal assignment from her business class, and asked me for advice on how to improve the paper. Her business idea was brilliant and comprehensive. She had covered everything from business location to office layout and interior design, from human resources to social responsibility, from marketing to accounting practices. Unfortunately, the proposal was confusing and difficult to follow. It read as if she drank a few cups of coffee, turned on her laptop, and just wrote whatever came to mind. Most paragraphs contained elements from each of her subtopics in an undefined pattern. And then the paper abruptly ended.

By the time I saw the paper, the student had just a few hours left to edit her proposal and turn it back in to her business professor. The first time she turned it in a few days earlier, her professor returned it to her ungraded. He told her that her proposal did not meet the formatting requirement. It was an academic way of saying her proposal was incomprehensible and lacked a clear organizational pattern. She admitted to me that she wrote stream-of-consciousness style without any thought to organizational pattern. And she wasn’t the only one from that class. In fact, half of the students from that class had their proposals returned for the same reason, and several of those students brought their papers to me for advice.

Unfortunately, this situation is not unique to just a few students.

Aside from grammar, the most common writing challenge for most people is organizational structure, or the way text is organized into paragraphs and sections. The goal of any document—everything from emails to proposals to reports—is to effectively communicate your message and to make it easy for your readers to understand that message. The way you structure your writing helps your readers make connections between the thesis—the reason your are writing the document—and the body of your text. If your readers are confused or need to hunt around for your thesis and main points, then your emails and proposals will have less impact.

How to Begin

When you begin to draft your document, your ideas may seem to flow in a seemingly random pattern, not unlike a brainstorming session where ideas are thrown about and quantity is valued over quality. This is a great place to start. If the ideas are forming, just write. Get the ideas onto paper (or typed into a digital format).

Pro tip:
write your ideas in a list format or in sentences but leave space in between your ideas. Make the each idea or list point stand-alone. You can go back and add to the idea as you write.

The next step is to give your ideas a solid organizational pattern, a path to follow as you continue writing your draft. There are several different organizational patterns you can use, and the pattern you chose may depend upon the topic and objective of your document. There are no specific rules to follow in choosing a pattern. You should consider, however, which pattern makes the most sense in helping your readers understand and remember the information.

Below are a few of the most commonly used patterns of organization.

Topical Pattern

This is the most commonly used organizational pattern. Information is arranged according to sub-topics under the thesis or main point. For example, if you were to write an article about your business product line—let’s say, chocolate—you could divide the information by the types of chocolate you sell.

Types of Chocolate

I. Chocolate
A. Dark Chocolate
1. Semi sweet
2. Bittersweet
3. Dark Sweet

B. Milk Chocolate
1. Pure Milk Chocolate
2. Dark Milk Chocolate

C. White Chocolate
1. Yellow
2. White

Order of Importance

You can also use the Topical Pattern to list ideas by order of importance, benefit, or significance. This technique uses an inverted pyramid, listing the most important elements of your report first. While most reports begin with the least important information and build to the most important, it is sometimes necessary to use an inverted pyramid and begin with your most critical point to captivate your audience. You would then conclude with the least important information.

For example, you might be asked to write a report on why your company should use ethically sourced cocoa beans. When drafting your report, put the most significant reason at the top and work your way to the least important information. This organizational pattern helps to strengthen any document centered on supporting arguments.

You may use transition words such as importantly, significantly, and finally.

Chronological Order or Temporal Order

Chronological Order or Temporal Order can be used:

To explain the historical account an event or organization or of historical nature
To tell a story or relate an experience

A Chronological or Temporal Pattern works well when a topic is best understood in a segment of time. This pattern of organization arranges information in the order an event actually happened or in a progression of time, either forward or backward. You may use transitions words such as first, second, next, after that, then, later, and lastly as guides to follow the chain of events.

For example, let’s say you need to write a blog for your company’s website about the history of chocolate. Chronological organization would be useful in describing the how chocolate became what it is today.

History of Chocolate

I. 1500 B.C. - 1500 B.C.: Olmecs, Mayans, and Aztecs
Noteworthy Event 1
Noteworthy Event 2

II. 1500s A.D.: Spain and Jamaica
Noteworthy Event 1
Noteworthy Event 2

III. 1600 - 1850 A.D.: Europe, North America, and Africa
Noteworthy Event 1
Noteworthy Event 2

IV. 1850 A.D. – Present: Modern Chocolatiers
Noteworthy Event 1
Noteworthy Event 2

Sequential Order

Sequential Order can be used:

To explain how to do or to make something
To explain the steps in a process

This pattern is a lot like the Chronological Pattern in that is uses a progression of time order. The difference is the Sequential Order Pattern is used to describe a step-by-step process or how to do something, such as how to make chocolate.

How to Make Chocolate

I. Step One: Harvest and Fermentation of the Cacao Pods

Harvesting and Fermentation procedure number one
Harvesting and Fermentation procedure number two

II. Step Two: Drying and Storage

Drying procedure number one
Drying procedure number two

III. Step Three: Roasting the Cacao Beans

Roasting procedure number one
Roasting procedure number two

IV. Step Four: Fanning, Grinding and Refining Cacao Nibs

Procedure number one
Procedure number two
Procedure number three

V. Step Five: Conching

Conching procedure number one
Conching procedure number two

VI. Step Six: Tempering and Forming Chocolate

Procedure number one
Procedure number two

Cause-Effect Patterns

When you use this pattern, you divide your information into two sections, causes and effects. This pattern is used when writing a persuasive argument in which you explain a situation or an event and the resulting outcome. Think of this pattern in terms of a conditional If-Then statement: If I wear a winter coat in the summertime, I will be hot.

As another example, you are writing a blog on the benefits of eating dark chocolate. Start with your thesis: Eating dark chocolate provides a natural remedy for common health concerns and risk factors. Look at it this way, If you eat dark chocolate, then you will be healthier. Your could organize your information in the following way:

I. Cause: Dark Chocolate Is a Delectable Super-food

Rich in Nutrients
High in Antioxidants

II. Effect: Health Benefits of Eating Dark Chocolate

Lowers Blood Sugar Levels
Reduces the Risk of Cancer
Helps Prevent Heart Disease and Reduces Blood Pressure
Improves Blood Flow
Reduces Inflammation
Improves Brain Function

Compare-Contrast Patterns

This pattern is best used when writing about topics that are similar or different or both, and your readers can better understand when one idea is described in relation to another idea.

For example, you and a friend want to meet for dinner and dessert. You write an email to compare and contrast two restaurants. One way to compare and contrast the restaurants is by the most decadent chocolate pastries the restaurants serve along with several other important aspects such as cost, distance to restaurant, time you are meeting, and parking. Another way to arrange the information would be to categorize the information in two sections: similarities and differences. Each format can be equally effective.

Where to Meet for Dinner Example 1

I. Restaurant 1
Most Decadent Chocolate Dessert
Cost
Time you are meeting
Distance to Restaurant
Parking

II. Restaurant 2
Most Decadent Chocolate Dessert
Cost
Time you are meeting
Distance to Restaurant
Parking

Where to Meet for Dinner, Example 2

I. Similarities between Restaurants 1 and 2
Time you are meeting
Distance to Restaurants
Parking

II. Differences between Restaurants 1 and 2
Most Decadent Chocolate Dessert
Cost
Restaurant Seating and Ambience

You will most likely use transitions words such as, like, unlike, both, neither, similar, and different.

advantages and disadvantages, pros and cons

You can also use this Compare and Contrast pattern when dividing topics by advantages and disadvantages, or pros and cons, when you need to discuss both sides of an argument.

I. Advantages of Restaurant 1
1. Quality of chocolate and taste
2. Cost

II. Disadvantages of Restaurant 1
1. Distance to restaurant
2. Parking
3. Wait time to seating

Spatial Patterns

This pattern organizes information based the physical or directional relationship of objects or places, like items in a room or cities in a state. This pattern makes it easy for writers to create visual images of an area and to provide directions to follow from item to item or place to place.

For example, suppose you want to describe where to find the best chocolatiers within 15 minutes of Downtown Seattle. You could arrange the information geographically according to neighborhood or city. This pattern of organization helps readers who may or may not be familiar with the area.

best chocolatiers with 15 minutes of downtown seattle

I. Downtown Seattle

Pike Place Market
Waterfront
First Avenue

II. North Seattle

Freemont
Ballard
University District

III. South Seattle

Tukwila
Burien

IV. Eastside

Bellevue
Redmond

Key terms or transition phrase may include: next to, behind, across from, below that, above that, to the right of and north, south, east and west.

Wrapping It Up

How well does a well-chosen organizational pattern work? Remember the student I mentioned at the beginning? She and I got to work. We determined the best pattern for her proposal was Topical. The first thing we did was go through each paragraph and regroup sentences according to topics and subtopics. The rest was simple editing. In the end, she earned an A on her project and ultimately an A in her business class and in mine.

Kat Groshong is an award-winning writer and award-winning graphic designer and the author of Everyday Ordinary: (Mostly) True Confessions of Marriage, Shoe Shopping and How I keep Losing the Mother of the Year Award. She has worked in publishing, communications, and advertising, and in addition to helping other authors publish their manuscripts, she is currently an adjunct instructor at Jackson College in Jackson, Michigan. If you ask Kat, she would tell you her passion is helping people tell their ordinary and extraordinary stories.

ORGANIZING YOUR WRITING