1. Prewriting: Organizing Ideas
Introduction
Planning your organization
Chronological order
Spatial order
Logical order
Order of importance
Creating an outline
Your Turn 1: Choose an order
Your Turn 2: Arrange ideas

2. Have you ever baked a cake?
Introduction
Have you ever baked a cake?
It’s not hard, but for the best results it helps if you plan ahead.
The same holds true for writing.

3. Introduction
You may wonder how you can turn the ideas and information you’ve collected for your topic from a disorganized mess into a coherent composition.
Organizing your ideas makes order out of chaos.

4. Planning your organization
Writing the first draft of your paper will be much easier if you first plan the organization your work will follow.
Here is one way to plan your organization: Copy the ideas and information you’ve gathered onto note cards. Then, move the cards around, placing them in different positions, until you find an organization that works.

5. Planning your organization
Most writing uses one or a combination of the following organizational patterns:
Chronological order
Spatial order
Logical order
Order of importance

6. Planning your organization Chronological order
Use chronological order to tell a story or explain a process. Present actions and events in the order in which they take place—first to last, earliest to latest, and so on.
Growing Sweet Peas
Protect seedlings from birds and slugs
Soak seeds in water overnight; plant an inch deep
Keep seeds damp until they sprout
Dig trenches in full sun; fill with good soil

7. Planning your organization Chronological order
Another strategy for arranging ideas in chronological order is to use a sequence chart or time line.
sequence chart
Soak seeds in water overnight
Buy seeds
Dig trenches; fill with good soil
Keep seeds damp until they sprout
Protect seedlings from birds and slugs; enjoy the flowers!
Plant seeds an inch deep; cover with good soil

8. Planning your organization Chronological order
time line
Soak seeds in water overnight; plant an inch deep
Dig trenches in full sun; fill with good soil
Protect seedlings from birds and slugs
Keep seeds damp until they sprout
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4

9. Planning your organization Spatial order
Use spatial order to describe a place, a person, or an object. Arrange your details or ideas according to their location in space:
Layers of Skin
top to bottom, bottom to top
outside to inside
near to far, far to near
Epidermis: outer layer; new skin cells formed here
Dermis: contains blood vessels and sweat glands
left to right, right to left
inside to outside, outside to inside
Hypodermis: the deepest layer; helps insulate

10. Planning your organization Spatial order
In addition to using note cards, you can use a circle diagram or web diagram to show ideas in spatial order.
circle diagram
outside
Layers of Skin
epidermis
dermis
hypodermis
inside
inside to outside
outside to inside

11. Planning your organization Spatial order
web diagram
Top suitcases decorations
Left tools workbench
Right mower pruner
garage
Bottom car bikes

12. Planning your organization Logical order
You’ll use logical order when you want to explain or classify. Group related details or ideas together to show their relationship.
defining
Form is important
Skates have longer blades
dividing a topic into parts
Skates have shorter blades
comparing and contrasting
Hockey stick, helmet, skates
Speed is important
No equipment besides skates

13. Planning your organization Logical order
You’ll use logical order when you want to explain or classify. Group related details or ideas together to show their relationship.
Figure Skating
Hockey
defining
Form is important
Skates have longer blades
dividing a topic into parts
Skates have longer blades
Skates have shorter blades
Skates have shorter blades
comparing and contrasting
Hockey stick, helmet, skates
Form is important
Speed is important
Speed is important
No equipment besides skates
No equipment besides skates
Hockey stick, helmet, skates

14. Planning your organization Logical order
Charts or Venn diagrams are also good ways to organize ideas and details in logical order.
chart
Hockey
Figure Skating
shorter blades
longer blades
Skates
hockey stick, helmet, skates
skates
Equipment
speed
form
Form or Speed?

15. Planning your organization Logical order
Venn diagram
Figure Skating
Hockey
skates have longer blades
form is important
no equipment besides skates
skates have shorter blade
speed is important
hockey stick, helmet, skates
Skate in a rink or on a pond
Wear skates

16. Planning your organization Order of importance
Use order of importance when you want to inform or persuade readers. Arrange your ideas from least to most important or least to most powerful (or vice versa).
most important
least important
Dress appropriately 1
Turn off your cell phone 3
Arrive at the interview 10 minutes early 4
Before, think about possible questions 2
Be courteous to everyone you encounter 5
Shake hands firmly 6

17. Planning your organization Order of importance
Another way to arrange your ideas in order of importance is to use a pyramid diagram.
dress appropriately
most important
think about possible questions
turn off cell phone
arrive early
be courteous
firm handshake
least important

18. Creating an outline
With some types of writing, such as fact-based informative writing, an outline can be helpful in organizing both broad ideas and specific details.
Thesis: Preparing for a job interview is not difficult when you follow a few basic steps.
I. Prepare for possible questions.
A. Consider the kind of job you are interviewing for.
1. research the company
2. think about why you want to work there
3. how are you a good fit?
B. Don’t memorize your answers.
1. know your main points
2. be ready to explain your answers

19. Your Turn 1: Choose an order
What kind of organization—spatial, logical, chronological, order of importance—would you use in writing about each of the topics below? Be prepared to discuss your answers.
a description of your favorite outdoor place
the events of a typical summer day
what you would do with one million dollars
comparing and contrasting two favorite animals

20. Your Turn 2: Arrange ideas
Choose one of the topics below and brainstorm some ideas for writing about that topic. Come up with 10–12 ideas. Then, use one of the graphic organizers presented in this lesson to arrange your ideas.
a description of your favorite outdoor place
the events of a typical summer day
what you would do with one million dollars
comparing and contrasting two favorite animals

21. The End