What is Organization?
Key Outcomes
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to
- Explain conventional approaches to order and organize writing.
- Identify features of ordered writing.
- Identify strategies for organizing writing.
- Understand the process of writing as a means for developing an organization.
Getting Started with Organization
Deciding how to organize a piece of writing is a bit like trying to answer the question of “What came first: the chicken or the egg?” Within the context of writing, you might be asking yourself what should come first: writing with a planned organization in mind? Or do you organize as you go?
These questions can’t be answered in definitive, universal terms because the answers inevitably vary based on the process of the writer, the assignment, and the context within which the writer is writing. Some writers will outline and plan extensively before ever composing a single sentence while others will wait until they have a full draft before they rearrange paragraphs. And then, there are plenty of writers who will both plan before writing and change their organizational plans while writing. In essence, there isn’t a right or a wrong way to organize a written composition so long as you keep in mind that the relationships among ideas in your essay may evolve and need to be redeveloped later. To that end, the purpose of this chapter is to pull back the curtain on organizational approaches and conventions used to structure a piece of writing while also acknowledging that certain genres of writing are associated with particular conventions that may shape the overall organization of the piece.
