Prewriting: Organizing Ideas

Introduction

Planning your organization

Chronological order

Spatial order

Logical order

Order of importance

Your Turn 1: Choose an order

Your Turn 2: Arrange ideas

Creating an outline

Introduction

Usually, you can find more than one way from point A to point B.One route may be better because it’s the shortest.Another may be better because there are places you need to stop along the way.The route you choose depends on your needs.

In all cases, though, it’s a good idea to plan out your route in advance.The same holds true for writing.

Point A

Point B

Introduction

You may wonder how you’ll 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.

Here’s one way to plan your organization: Copy the ideas and information you’ve gathered onto note cards. Then, move the cards around until you find an organization that works.

Planning your organization

Drafting your paper will be much easier if you first plan the organization your work will follow.

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 organizationChronological 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.

light sleep; muscle activity slows

Stages of sleep

body temperature drops; breathing & heart rate slow

deep sleep; tissue growth & repair; slow breathing

REM (rapid eye movement); some muscles paralyzed

Planning your organizationChronological order

Another strategy for arranging ideas in chronological order is to use a sequence chart or time line.

REM (rapid eye

movement)

deep sleep; tissue growth and repair; slow breathing

cycle repeats itself 5 more times

(starting with light sleep)

body temperature drops; breathing and heart rate

slow

awakelight sleep;

muscle activity slows

sequence chart

Planning your organizationChronological order

light

sleep

; mus

cle

act

ivity

slows

body

tem

pera

ture

drop

s; b

reat

hing

and

hear

t rat

e slo

w

deep

sleep

; tiss

ue

grow

th a

nd re

pair;

slow b

reat

hing

REM (r

apid

eye

mov

emen

t)

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

time line

Planning your organizationSpatial order

Use spatial order to describe a place, a person, or an object. Arrange your details or ideas according to their location in space:

• left to right, right to left

• inside to outside, outside to inside

• top to bottom, bottom to top

• near to far, far to near

crust: outer layer; thinnest layer

Description of Layers of the Earth

mantle: consistency of asphalt

outer core: nickel and iron in liquid state

core: heavy metals (nickel and iron) in solid state

outside to inside

Planning your organizationSpatial order

In addition to using note cards, you can use a circle diagram or web diagram to show ideas in spatial order.

Layers ofthe Earth

innercore

outer core

mantle

crust outside

inside

outside to insideinside to outside

circle diagram

Planning your organizationSpatial order

pantry

Top cereal

crackersoatmeal

Bottomsandwich bags

lunch boxes

Leftcanned vegetables

soup

Rightpastarice

web diagram

Planning your organizationLogical order

You’ll use logical order when you want to explain or classify. Group related details or ideas together to show their relationship.

• comparing and contrasting

• defining• dividing a topic

into partshave a beak

no beakcurved dorsal

fin

triangular dorsal fin

spade-shaped teeth

cone-shaped teeth

Planning your organizationLogical order

You’ll use logical order when you want to explain or classify. Group related details or ideas together to show their relationship.

• comparing and contrasting

• defining• dividing a topic

into parts

have a beak no beak

curved dorsal fin

triangular dorsal fin

spade-shaped teeth

cone-shaped teeth

Dolphins Porpoises

Planning your organizationLogical order

Charts or Venn diagrams are also good ways to organize ideas and details in logical order.

NoneLongBeak

TriangularCurvedDorsal fin

Spade-shapedCone-shapedTeeth

PorpoisesDolphins

chart

Planning your organizationLogical order

Dolphins Porpoises

• have a curved dorsal fin

• have a beak

• have cone-shaped teeth

• have a triangular dorsal fin

• have no beak

• have spade-shaped teeth

marine mammals

Venn diagram

avoid the sun, especially at midday 1

Planning your organizationOrder 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).

wear sunscreen year round 2

wear protective clothing 3

avoid tanning beds/booths 4

check your skin regularly 5

have regular skin exams at your doctor 6

most important least important

Planning your organizationOrder of importance

Another way to arrange your ideas in order of importance is to use a pyramid diagram.

most important

least important

avoid the sun at midday

wear sunscreen year round

wear protective clothing

check your skin

visit doctor

avoid tanning beds

With some types of writing, such as fact-based informative writing, an outline can be helpful in organizing both broad ideas and specific details.

Creating an outline

Thesis: Skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in America, can be prevented simply by protecting skin from the sun.

I. Wear sunscreen year round.A. Choose a sunscreen with broad-

spectrum protection.1. UVB protection2. UVA-shorter wavelengths3. UVA-remaining wavelengths

B. Sunscreen needs to be reapplied every two hours.1. after sweating2. after swimming3. after drying off

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.

Your Turn 1: Choose an order

1. a description of your room

2. the events of your day, so far

3. places you would like to visit

4. a comparison and contrast of your two favorite foods

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.

Your Turn 2: Arrange ideas

1. a description of your room

2. the events of your day, so far

3. places you would like to visit

4. a comparison and contrast of your two favorite foods

The End