Writing with Style Writing and Style Manual Poway Unified School District

Writing with Style Writing and Style Manual
Poway Unified School District

Organizing your Writing

Your subject, purpose, and audience should determine the way you

organize your ideas. If you are narrating a story, for example, you will want to put the details in chronological order. If you are describing an object or a person, you will probably use a spatial pattern.

The main patterns of organizing information are

Chronological (by time)
Spatial description (by location)
Classification (by category)
Illustration (by example)
Argumentation (assertion and support)
Cause/Effect
Problem/Solution
Comparison/Contrast (whole vs. whole or point by point)

You can use these patterns of organization to organize your whole essay, particular paragraphs, or details within a paragraph.