Various Ways To Organize Information For A Paper Or Presentation

When planning how to write your paper, you must organize your information. You must choose what information you want to include and how you want that information formatted so that it can be presented in the most effective way. Using organization methods can help make these determinations. There are several "organization" methods to choose from. The key is to find one that fits the purpose of your research paper, essay, dramatic piece, or composition.

Chronological order tells events in first, next, and last order. This order is good when writing instructions or directions. You can section information by beginning, middle, and end. This method of organization is also used when writing narratives, biographies, and news articles, for example. Organizing information in chronological order ensures every piece of information you want in your story is accounted for, because it can be easily detected if details are missing.

You can group information by comparison and contrast. This involves grouping information that allows you to detail the similarities and differences, or you can determine how the subjects are alike and different by characteristics. This method of organization is effective when composing an argumentative paper, a persuasive speech, or when writing expository papers.

Order of importance refers to grouping the most important reason first and the least important reason last. Also, the information can be organized the other way around by listing the least important information first and building up to the most important information. Using order of importance helps with weeding out unimportant information so that you can delete details that are not important to your topic.

Question-and-answer is a good information organization method when describing and explaining scientific information. This method requires you to write a question and use your collected information to provide an answer. Then, ask another question and answer that until you have asked and answered every question, which provides you with all the information you need to write your paper. Organizing information using the question-and-answer model is very useful when sifting through complex information that requires astute comprehension skills.

When organizing a description by logical order, you group related details and present the groups in an order that makes sense, such as listing a reason and then following it up with supporting details. Logical order is a good way to organize information related to writing technical reports, scientific papers, speeches, and oral presentations. By using this organizing method, the writer can ensure information can be easily followed when being read.

Organizing information can be an effective part of the pre-writing process because it allows the writer to present the information and details of a topic in a format that best suits the subject matter. Organizing information also aids in filtering through loads of information so that only the important details are used to create a well-defined presentation or paper. In English Composition 101, students can expect to learn the different ways in which to organize information. If one becomes a proficient writer and would like to study English, he or she should consider doing so by earning an online college degree.