Printed Page 149-165

Understanding Conventional Organizational Patterns

Every argument calls for its own organizational pattern. Table 7.1 explains the relationship between organizational patterns and the kinds of information you want to present.

Long, complex arguments often require several organizational patterns. For instance, one part of a document might be a causal analysis of the problem you are writing about, and another might be a comparison and contrast of two options for solving that problem. Figure 7.1, an excerpt from a user’s manual, shows how different patterns might be used in a single document.

Different sections of this manual use different organizational patterns.

Chapter 1 is organized chronologically: you take the product out of the box before you set it up and run it and before you shut it down.

In Chapter 1, the section called “Opening the Box” uses partition by showing and naming the various items that are included in the package.

Chapter 2 is organized from general to specific: you want to understand the basic features of the product before you study the more specialized features.

Chapter 3 is organized according to the problem-methods-solution pattern. The reader tries to solve the problem by reading the troubleshooting tips, locating other resources, and contacting the manufacturer.

The chronological—or timeline—pattern is commonly used to describe events. In an accident report, you describe the events in the order in which they occurred. In the background section of a report, you describe the events that led to the present situation. In a set of slides for an oral presentation, you explain the role of social media in U.S. presidential elections by discussing each of the presidential elections, in order, since 2000.

The university wishes to organize its academic initiative chronologically: in terms of academic-year periods. Therefore, it makes sense to use a timeline with a list of the activities that will occur in each period. The different color for each period further emphasizes the role of chronology.

The spatial pattern is commonly used to describe objects and physical sites. In an accident report, you describe the physical scene of the accident. In a feasibility study about building a facility, you describe the property on which it would be built. In a proposal to design a new microchip, you describe the layout of the new chip.

Figure 7.3 shows the use of spatial organization.

This information is addressed to homeowners who want to add insulation to their attics or floors. To help readers understand how much insulation they need based on their climate, the writers could have used an alphabetical list of cities or states or zip codes. Instead, the writers chose a map because it enables readers to quickly and easily “see” the climate in their region.

The general-to-specific pattern is useful when your readers need a general understanding of a subject to help them understand and remember the details. For example, in a report, you include an executive summary—an overview for managers—before the body of the report. In a set of instructions, you provide general information about the necessary tools and materials and about safety measures before presenting the step-by-step instructions. In a blog, you describe the topic of the blog before presenting the individual blog posts.

The first paragraph is an advance organizer: a general summary of the topics that will be addressed in more detail.

The three topics are announced in the italicized phrases.

These phrases are used at the start of the three sections.

The more-important-to-less-important organizational pattern recognizes that readers often want the bottom line—the most-important information—first. For example, in an accident report, you describe the three most important factors that led to the accident before describing the less-important factors. In a feasibility study about building a facility, you present the major reasons that the proposed site is appropriate, then the minor reasons. In a proposal to design a new microchip, you describe the major applications for the new chip, then the minor applications.

For most documents, this pattern works well because readers want to get to the bottom line as soon as possible. For some documents, however, other patterns work better. People who write for readers outside their own company often reverse the more-important-to-less-important pattern because they want to make sure their audience reads the whole discussion. This reversed pattern is also popular with writers who are delivering bad news. For instance, if you want to justify recommending that your organization not go ahead with a popular plan, the reverse sequence lets you explain the problems with the popular plan before you present the plan you recommend. Otherwise, readers might start to formulate objections before you have had a chance to explain your position.

Here the writer uses the words “first” and “second” to signal priority. Safety is the most important issue; reforestation is less important, as suggested by the phrase “After the priority of safety.” Thinning the forests is a lower priority, as suggested by the word “also” in the phrase “Forests will also be thinned.”

Typically, the comparison-and-contrast pattern is used to describe and evaluate two or more items or options. For example, in a memo, you compare and contrast the credentials of three finalists for a job. In a proposal to design a new microchip, you compare and contrast two different strategies for designing the chip. In a video explaining different types of low-emissions vehicles, you compare and contrast electric cars and hybrids.

The first step in comparing and contrasting two or more items is to determine the criteria: the standards or needs you will use in studying the items. For example, if a professional musician who plays the piano in restaurants was looking to buy a new portable keyboard, she might compare and contrast available instruments using the number of keys as one criterion. For this person, 88 keys would be better than 64. Another criterion might be weight: lighter is better than heavier.

Almost always, you will need to consider several or even many criteria. Start by deciding whether each criterion represents a necessary quality or merely a desirable one. In studying keyboards, for instance, the number of keys might be a necessary quality. If you need an 88-key instrument to play your music, you won’t consider any instruments without 88 keys. The same thing might be true of touch-sensitive keys. But a MIDI interface might be less important, a merely desirable quality; you would like MIDI capability, but you would not eliminate an instrument from consideration just because it doesn’t have MIDI.

Two typical patterns for organizing a comparison-and-contrast discussion are whole-by-whole and part-by-part. The following example illustrates the difference between them. The example shows how two printers—Model 5L and Model 6L—might be compared and contrasted according to three criteria: price, resolution, and print speed.

The whole-by-whole pattern provides a coherent picture of each option: Model 5L and Model 6L. This pattern works best if your readers need an overall assessment of each option or if each option is roughly equivalent according to the criteria.

The part-by-part pattern lets you focus your attention on the criteria. If, for instance, Model 5L produces much better resolution than Model 6L, the part-by-part pattern reveals this difference more effectively than the whole-by-whole pattern does. The part-by-part pattern is best for detailed comparisons and contrasts.

You can have it both ways. You can begin with a general description of the various items and then use a part-by-part pattern to emphasize particular aspects.

Once you have chosen the overall pattern—whole-by-whole or part-by-part—you decide how to order the second-level items. That is, in a whole-by-whole passage, you have to sequence the aspects of the items or options being compared; in a part-by-part passage, you have to sequence the items or options themselves.

Classification is the process of assigning items to categories. For instance, all the students at a university could be classified by sex, age, major, and many other characteristics. You can also create subcategories within categories, such as males and females majoring in business.

Read more about feasibility reports in Ch. 18.

Classification is common in technical communication. In a feasibility study about building a facility, you classify sites into two categories: domestic or foreign. In a journal article about ways to treat a medical condition, you classify the treatments as surgical or nonsurgical. In a description of a major in a college catalog, you classify courses as required or elective.

Partition is the process of breaking a unit into its components. For example, a home-theater system could be partitioned into the following components: TV, amplifier, peripheral devices such as DVD players, and speakers. Each component is separate, but together they form a whole system. Each component can, of course, be partitioned further.

Partition is used in descriptions of objects, mechanisms, and processes. In an equipment catalog, you use partition to describe the major components of one of your products. In a proposal, you use partition to present a detailed description of an instrument you propose to develop. In a brochure, you explain how to operate a product by describing each of its features.

In Figure 7.7, the writer uses classification effectively in introducing categories of tornados to a general audience.

This example of partition begins with a textual overview of the topic.

This interactive graphic enables the reader to see the components of the wind turbine in operation as the equipment generates electricity.

Following this graphic is a description of each of the components shown in the graphic.

The problem-methods-solution pattern reflects the logic used in carrying out a project. The three components of this pattern are simple to identify:

The problem-methods-solution pattern is common in technical communication. In a proposal, you describe a problem in your business, how you plan to carry out your research, and how your deliverable (an item or a report) can help solve the problem. In a completion report about a project to improve a manufacturing process, you describe the problem that motivated the project, the methods you used to carry out the project, and the findings: the results, conclusions, and recommendations.

“Challenge” presents the problem at the Rialto, California, police department.

“Solution” begins with a discussion of the methods the police department took to solve the two problems.

Note that writers do not necessarily use the words problem, methods, and solution in this method of organization. Don’t worry about the terminology; the important point is to recognize that this organizational pattern is based on identifying a problem, doing something to respond to it, and thereby reducing or solving it.

Technical communication often involves cause-and-effect discussions. Sometimes you will reason forward, from cause to effect: if we raise the price of a particular product we manufacture (cause), what will happen to our sales (effect)? Sometimes you will reason backward, from effect to cause: productivity went down by 6 percent in the last quarter (effect); what factors led to this decrease (causes)? Cause-and-effect reasoning, therefore, provides a way to answer the following two questions:

Arguments organized by cause and effect appear in various types of technical communication. In an environmental impact statement, you argue that a proposed construction project would have three important effects on the ecosystem. In the recommendation section of a report, you argue that a recommended solution would improve operations in two major ways. In a memo, you describe a new policy and then explain the effects you anticipate the policy will have.

Cause-and-effect relationships are difficult to describe because there is no scientific way to determine causes or effects. You draw on your common sense and your knowledge of your subject. When you try to determine, for example, why the product your company introduced last year sold poorly, you start with the obvious possibilities: the market was saturated, the product was of low quality, the product was poorly marketed, and so forth. The more you know about your subject, the more precise and insightful your analysis will be.

But a causal discussion can never be certain. You cannot prove why a product failed in the marketplace; you can only explain why the factors you are identifying are the most plausible causes or effects. For instance, to make a plausible case that the main reason for the product’s weak performance is that it was poorly marketed, you can show that, in the past, your company’s other unsuccessful products were marketed in similar ways and your company’s successful products were marketed in other ways.

Figure 7.10 illustrates an effective cause-and-effect argument. The writer is explaining why electric vehicles have not sold well in the United States.

The first paragraph presents the effect in this cause-effect argument: electric cars are not popular in the United States.

The bullet list presents four causes.