Strengthening Your Organization

If you created and followed an outline, your paper is probably already well organized. Sometimes, though, the structure you envision when you are writing your outline or first draft isn’t the best order for your paper.

Paragraph organization

Here are a few basic structures that you can follow to organize your paper:

• Order of importance—When you organize this way, you begin with your weakest evidence first and build toward your final paragraph, which should contain your strongest evidence.
• Chronological—If you are discussing events that have a specific order in time or a process of steps, you want to order your paragraphs chronologically. For example, if you are writing about the significance of the marches from Selma to Montgomery in the 1960s and their effects on the march on Washington, you would want to write about them in the order in which they happened, leading up to the Washington march.
• 

  Source: March at Selma Alabama, Charles White, Library of Congress

  Compare and contrast—Compare-and-contrast papers usually follow two patterns. In the first, you organize your paper point by point, and you compare and describe both elements in the same paragraph. In the second pattern, you alternate the elements and devote entire paragraphs to each element.

Method I

1. Introduction: Cats make better pets than dogs do.
2. Cats are better than dogs because they are not noisy, and dogs are.
3. Cats are better than dogs because they are clean, and dogs are not.
4. Cats are better than dogs because they are independent, and dogs are needy.
   

Continue in this way until you’ve explained all of your reasons.

Method II

1. Introduction: Dogs make better pets than cats do.
2. Dogs are friendly.
3. Cats are standoffish.
4. Dogs can learn tricks.
5. Cats can’t learn tricks.
6. Dogs are loyal.
7. Cats don’t care about anyone.
8. Conclusion: Dogs are better than cats.


• Cause and effect—With a cause-and-effect paper, you explain the issue, list all of your causes, and then explain the effects.

   

  1. Introduction: We can stop the spread of antibiotic resistance.
  2. Explanation of antibiotic resistance
  3. Caused because people demand antibiotics when they don’t need them
  4. Caused because doctors prescribe them when they don’t need to
  5. Caused because people are exposed to antibiotics in their food
  6. Caused because people are exposed to antibiotics in their water
  7. Effects of antibiotic resistance
  8. Conclusion

Strengthening organization with transitions

Transitions are signposts that tell your reader the logical direction your paper is headed. They tell the reader another example is coming up or that you are introducing an exception to your previous statement. Transitions help you achieve internal coherence within your paragraphs and external coherence among all of your paragraphs.

A transition can be a single word, a phrase, or an entire sentence. A transition summarizes the previous sentence or paragraph. It connects the sentence or paragraph directly to the one that precedes it.

Let’s look at a couple of sentences without transitions and then look at them with transitions.

Transitional words and phrases

The chart below from the University of North Carolina Writing Center gives a list of transitional words and phrases and the logical relationship that they express.

Logical relationship	Transitional word or phrase
Similarity	Also, in the same way, just as . . . so too, likewise, similarly
Exception/Contrast	But, however, in spite of, on the one hand . . . on the other hand, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, in contrast, on the contrary, still, yet
Sequence/Order	First, second, third, . . . next, then, finally
Time	After, afterward, at last, before, currently, during, earlier, immediately, later, meanwhile, now, recently, simultaneously, subsequently, then
Example	For example, for instance, namely, specifically, to illustrate
Emphasis	Even, indeed, in fact, of course, truly
Place/Position	Above, adjacent, below, beyond, here, in front, in back, nearby, there
Cause and effect	Accordingly, consequently, hence, so, therefore, thus
Additional support or evidence	Additionally, again, also, and, as well, besides, equally important, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, then
Conclusion/Summary	Finally, in a word, in brief, briefly, in conclusion, in the end, in the final analysis, on the whole, thus, to conclude, to summarize, in sum, to sum up, in summary

Now it’s your turn to revise sentences to add transitions and make them flow logically. Rewrite these sentence pairs by adding transitional words and phrases. Using your notes, write your responses. When you are finished, check your understanding below to see possible responses.

1. School uniforms are supposed to be better for students who don’t have enough money to buy expensive clothes. Sometimes uniforms cost twice what other, more casual clothes cost.
2. Suburban deer cause millions of dollars in property damage each year due to collisions with automobiles. Deer also cause property damage by eating expensive plants and shrubs.
3. When you begin a research project, you need to determine what your topic is. You also need to craft a research question.
4. The saying that “dogs are a man’s best friend” is definitely true. Dogs have been reported to cross thousands of miles to find their owners.
5. Excess carbon dioxide is changing the chemistry of the sea and making ocean water more acidic. The excess acid breaks down calcium carbonate, the mineral used to form shells and skeletons of shellfish and coral.

Check Your Understanding

Sample Responses:

1. School uniforms are supposed to be better for students who don’t have enough money to buy expensive clothes. However, instead of being cheaper, many students find that school uniforms sometimes cost twice what other, more casual clothes cost.
2. Suburban deer cause millions of dollars in property damage each year due to collisions with automobiles. In addition to damage caused by collisions with cars, deer cause property damage by eating expensive plants and shrubs.
3. When you begin a research project, you need to determine what your topic is. Then, once you have your topic, you need to craft a research question.
4. The saying that “dogs are a man’s best friend” is definitely true. In fact, dogs have been reported to cross thousands of miles to find their owners.
5. Excess carbon dioxide is changing the chemistry of the sea and making ocean water more acidic. The excess acid breaks down calcium carbonate, the mineral used to form shells and skeletons of shellfish and coral.

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