Organization and Reasoning Patterns

This is Unit Fifteen of College Composition. Unit Fourteen built single paragraphs around one point. This unit arranges those paragraphs into a whole, using the patterns of reasoning writers rely on. Carry one idea through this lecture. A draft in the order the writer thought of things is rarely in the order a reader needs them, so organization turns the writer's order of discovery into the reader's order of understanding. A worked example near the end reorders a proposal that put its solution before its problem. By the end you will be able to order ideas by time, importance or example. To use the main reasoning patterns. To choose a pattern for a purpose and mark it with signal words. And to outline, move paragraphs and reorder a draft.

Five entries on the basic orders: time, examples, importance, and where the thesis goes.

Organizing for the reader.

CMP 0351 Organizing for a Reader

Organization is the order in which a writer presents ideas, chosen so readers can follow the reasoning. Writers choose among widely used reasoning strategies, patterns for thinking and writing, to find the most logical way to make their points. A draft in the order the writer thought of things is rarely in the order a reader needs them.

Order in time.

CMP 0352 Chronological Order

Chronological order presents events in the sequence in which they happened. Narratives and accounts of causes often follow time order; a story can also begin in the middle of the action and explain earlier events later. Events that come one after another are not necessarily cause and effect; order in time is not proof of causation.

Ordering examples.

CMP 0353 Illustration: Organizing Examples

Illustration makes a point through examples, and the examples need an order of their own. Examples can be arranged chronologically or by order of importance; each must be strong, relevant and plainly tied to the point. A list of examples without explanation leaves readers to work out why each one matters.

Least to most.

CMP 0354 Order of Importance

Ordering by importance arranges points from least to most important, or the reverse, depending on the effect wanted. Ending with the strongest point leaves it freshest in the reader's mind, the same principle as ending a sentence with its key idea. Burying the strongest evidence in the middle wastes it.

Thesis first, or later.

CMP 0355 Thesis-First and Delayed-Thesis Organization

An argument can state its thesis first and then support it, or present evidence first and reach the thesis later. Thesis-first suits readers who are open to the claim; delayed-thesis can lead skeptical readers step by step toward a position they might otherwise reject. Whichever order a writer chooses, the claims and evidence must support that structure throughout.

Eight entries on the patterns of reasoning: analogy, cause and effect, classification and division, comparison and its two arrangements, problem and solution, definition, and narration and description.

Familiar and unfamiliar.

CMP 0356 Analogy

Analogy compares two unlike subjects, one familiar and one not, to explain the unfamiliar one. The writer stresses the ways the two are similar even though they differ in every other way, as when a pandemic investigation is compared to a robbery investigation. An analogy explains; it does not prove. The two subjects can differ in exactly the way that matters.

Reasons and consequences.

CMP 0357 Cause and Effect

Cause-and-effect writing examines the reasons for and consequences of an event, and often answers why. Decide whether the paper focuses on causes, effects or a chain. Make sure each link is real, not only an earlier event, and present causes in sequence with evidence for each. Use signal words such as because, as a result and consequently. The anchor's model traces how several local stores closed after a superstore opened. Confusing sequence with causation is the commonest error: claims of cause need evidence of connection, not only of timing.

Breaking apart and grouping.

CMP 0358 Classification and Division

Division breaks one subject into parts; classification groups many items into categories by shared traits. Decide which you are doing, choose one basis for sorting, make the categories distinct, and explain each with examples. In the anchor's models, a textbook's extra material is divided into photographs, quotations and tables, and trained young dogs are classified as ready for homes, repeating the course, or advancing. Switching the basis partway through, sorting dogs first by readiness and then by color, produces overlapping categories that confuse readers.

Similarities and differences.

CMP 0359 Comparison and Contrast

Comparison and contrast examines similarities and differences. Choose subjects with a meaningful common thread, find the basis of comparison, and decide whether the point is similarity, difference or both. Choose an arrangement, and mark each move with words such as similarly or in contrast. The anchor's model compares Romantic-period poetry and rap music through their shared aim of a new approach to their art. The strategy works best when the similarities or differences are not obvious; a comparison that tells readers what they already know wastes the pattern.

Two arrangements.

CMP 0360 Block and Point-by-Point

A comparison can be arranged by subject, the block method, or by feature, the point-by-point or alternating method. The block method covers all of one subject, then the next; the alternating method moves feature by feature, covering both each time. The block method can lose the comparison in a long paper; the alternating method keeps it in front of readers.

A predicament and a remedy.

CMP 0361 Problem and Solution

Problem-and-solution writing introduces a predicament and what should be done about it. Define the problem precisely: who is affected, how and how seriously. Show its causes or complexity. Present the solution and how it works, with evidence it would succeed, and answer costs or objections. The anchor's model argues that social media platforms could slow misinformation by adding human monitors to their algorithms, conceding the added burden. A proposal that skips the problem assumes readers already agree; for a skeptical audience, proving the problem is half the argument.

Elaborating a term.

CMP 0362 Definition

Definition writing elaborates on the meaning of an idea or term, usually one that is controversial or can be understood in several ways. A definition paragraph often starts from the dictionary meaning, the denotation, and then develops the term's extended meaning with examples. A dictionary definition alone is not definition writing; the point is what the term means in this context.

Telling and showing.

CMP 0363 Narration and Description

Narration tells what happened, usually in time order; description shows what something is like through concrete detail. In academic writing, both usually serve another purpose, such as a short narrative that introduces an argument or a description that sets up an analysis. Narration and description can crowd out the point; keep them in proportion to what they support.

Two entries on the words that signal each pattern and on matching the pattern to the purpose.

Words that signal each pattern.

CMP 0364 Signal Words for Each Pattern

Signal words tell readers which pattern is at work. Cause: because, since, leads to. Effect: as a result, consequently, therefore. Classification: types, kinds, categories. Comparison: similarly, likewise. Contrast: however, although, in contrast. Analogy and example: for example, in the same way. Problem and solution: the problem, a solution, should. Reading for these words shows a passage's pattern; choosing among them shows readers yours. A signal word makes a claim, so therefore where no cause is shown, or however where nothing contrasts, misleads readers.

Pattern follows purpose.

CMP 0365 Matching Pattern to Purpose

The right reasoning strategy follows from the writer's purpose and audience. To explain why something happened, use cause and effect; to recommend action, problem and solution; to clarify a disputed term, definition; to weigh options, comparison. A writer's views, culture and purpose all shape which strategy fits; there is rarely only one possible choice.

Five entries on outlining, moving a paragraph, reordering a draft, mixing patterns, and organizing to the thesis. The opening idea is paid off at the worked example.

Mapping the order.

CMP 0366 Outlining

An outline maps the paper's order before or after drafting, listing the thesis and each supporting point. Drafting topic sentences into an outline shows how every body paragraph will start and whether each supports the thesis. An outline is a working plan; revise it when the draft discovers a better order.

Placing a paragraph.

CMP 0367 Moving a Paragraph

Moving a paragraph means placing it where it builds on what readers know and prepares what comes next. List each paragraph's point and what it depends on: background, a defined term or an earlier point. Check that nothing comes before what it depends on, and check the overall pattern: time, importance, or the steps of a cause-and-effect or problem-and-solution argument. Move what sits out of order, then rewrite the transitions around its old and new positions. Moving a paragraph without revising transitions leaves sentences referring to material no longer before them.

Problem before solution.

CMP 0368 Reordering a Draft

A worked example, constructed for this course, pays off the opening idea. A proposal for a bus route to an industrial park describes the route second, before the reader learns why it is needed. The problem, workers without direct buses and their long trips, appears only in the third and fifth paragraphs. Reordered as problem and solution, the draft moves from how many workers are affected, to how badly, to the route, to its cost. The route paragraph then needs a new opening that refers back to the long trips. The writer drafted the solution first because it was what they cared about; readers need the problem first.

Several patterns in one paper.

CMP 0369 Mixing Patterns

Longer papers often combine reasoning strategies, using one as the overall frame and others within paragraphs. A problem-and-solution paper might define a term in one paragraph, compare two solutions in another, and trace causes in a third. Mixing works when one pattern governs the whole; otherwise the paper reads as a series of unrelated exercises.

Order delivers the claim.

CMP 0370 Organization and the Thesis

A good organization follows from the thesis: the claim tells readers what to expect, and the order delivers it. A thesis naming three reasons sets up three paragraphs in that order; a thesis proposing a solution sets up problem, then solution. When the order of the body contradicts the order the thesis implies, revise one to match the other.

Look at what you can now do. You can order ideas by time, by example and by importance, and place the thesis first or late for a reason. You can use the patterns of reasoning: analogy, cause and effect, classification and division, comparison by block or point by point, problem and solution, definition, and narration and description. You can mark each pattern with signal words, knowing each signal makes a claim, and choose the pattern your purpose calls for. And you can outline, move a paragraph and repair its seams, and reorder a draft into the reader's order. Unit Sixteen turns to the connections that make that order visible: coherence and transitions.