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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
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.
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.
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.
Planning your organization
Most writing uses one or a combination of the
following organizational patterns:
• Chronological order
• Spatial order
• Logical order
• Order of importance
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 Soak seeds in water
from birds and overnight; plant an
slugs inch deep
Dig trenches in full
Keep seeds damp
sun; fill with good
until they sprout
soil
Planning your organization
Chronological order
Another strategy for arranging ideas in chronological
order is to use a sequence chart or time line.
sequence chart
Dig trenches; Soak seeds in
Buy
fill with good water overnight
seeds
soil
Keep seeds Plant seeds an inch
Protect seedlings
damp until deep; cover with
from birds and
they sprout good soil
slugs; enjoy the
flowers!
Planning your organization
Chronological order
time line
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
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 Dermis: contains
• left to right, layer; new skin blood vessels and
cells formed here sweat glands
right to left
• inside to outside,
outside to inside Hypodermis: the
deepest layer;
helps insulate
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
Layers of epidermis outside
Skin dermis
hypodermis inside
inside to outside outside to inside
Planning your organization
Spatial order
web diagram
Top
suitcases
decorations
Left Right
tools garage mower
workbench pruner
Bottom
car
bikes
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
Skates have Form is
• dividing a topic important
into parts longer blades
Skates have
• comparing and Hockey stick, shorter blades
contrasting helmet, skates Speed is
important
No equipment
besides skates
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 Hockey
• defining
Skating
Skates have Form is
• dividing a topic important
into parts longer blades
Skates have Skates have
longer blades Skates have
shorter blades
• comparing and Hockey stick, shorter blades
contrasting helmet, skates
Form is Speed is
Speed is
important important
important
No equipment
besides skates
No equipment Hockey stick,
besides skates helmet, skates
Planning your organization
Logical order
Charts or Venn diagrams are also good ways to
organize ideas and details in logical order.
chart
Figure
Hockey
Skating
Skates longer blades shorter blades
hockey stick,
Equipment skates
helmet, skates
Form or
form speed
Speed?
Planning your organization
Logical order
Venn diagram
Figure Skating Hockey
• skates have • skates have
longer blades Skate in shorter blade
a rink or
• form is on a pond • speed is
important important
Wear
• no equipment skates • hockey stick,
besides skates helmet, skates
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
Arrive at the
Dress Turn off your cell
interview 10
appropriately 1 phone 3
minutes early 4
Before, think Be courteous to
Shake hands
about possible everyone you
firmly 6
questions 2 encounter 5
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
think about possible questions
important
turn off cell phone
arrive early
be courteous
firm handshake least important
Creating an outline
With some types of Thesis: Preparing for a job interview is
writing, such as not difficult when you follow a few
fact-based basic steps.
informative writing, I. Prepare for possible questions.
an outline can be A. Consider the kind of job you
helpful in organizing are interviewing for.
both broad ideas 1. research the company
2. think about why you want
and specific details. 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
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.
1. a description of your favorite outdoor place
2. the events of a typical summer day
3. what you would do with one million dollars
4. comparing and contrasting two favorite animals
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.
1. a description of your favorite outdoor place
2. the events of a typical summer day
3. what you would do with one million dollars
4. comparing and contrasting two favorite animals
The End
