8.2 Outlining
Methods of Organizing Writing
The three common methods of organizing writing are chronological order, spatial order, and order of importance. You need to keep these methods of organization in mind as you plan how to arrange the information you have gathered in an outline. An outline is a written plan that serves as a skeleton for your paragraphs. Later, when you draft paragraphs in the next stage of the writing process, you will add support to create “flesh” and “muscle” for your assignment.
When you write, your goal is not only to complete an assignment but also to write for a specific purpose—perhaps to inform, explain, persuade, or combine these purposes. Your purpose for writing should always be in the back of your mind because it will help you decide which pieces of information belong together and how you will order them. In other words, choose the order that will most effectively fit your purpose and support your main point. Table 8.1, “Order versus Purpose,” shows the connection between order and purpose.
Table 8.1 Order versus Purpose
| Order | Purpose |
| Chronological Order | To explain the history of an event or a topic |
| To tell a story or relate an experience | |
| To explain how to do or make something | |
| To explain the steps in a process | |
| Spatial Order | To help readers visualize something as you want them to see it |
| To create a main impression using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound) | |
| Order of Importance | To persuade or convince |
| To rank items by their importance, benefit, or significance |
If you, a student, are writing a paper about how busy you are in a typical week, then you might just write the paper about your days, Monday to Sunday or Sunday to Saturday. This is a chronological order choice.
For a paper about your week, other organizational choices might be:
- Monday/Wednesday, Tuesday/Thursday, Weekends
- Days, Nights, Weekends
- Mornings, Afternoons, Evenings
- School, Work, Family or Play
Your brain will choose a good way to organize any paper if you let it.
