Organizing Information

Chronological

• Often used to describe events in the order in which they occurred
• Ex: use of social media in US presidential elections

Spatial

• Commonly used to describe objects and physical sites

General to Specific

• Used when readers need a general understanding of a subject to help them understand and remember details
• Ex: executive summary before the body of a report

More Important to Less Important

• Recognizes that readers often want the bottom line
• Major factors to minor factors

Comparison and Contrast

• Used to describe and evaluate two or more items/options

Classification or Partition

• Classification is the process of assigning items to categories
• Ex: all university students can be classified by major
• Partition is the process of breaking a unit into its components
• Ex: computer can be broken up into monitor, keyboard, hard drive, mouse, etc.

Problem-Methods-Solution

• Reflects the logic used in carrying out a project
• Problem: description of what was not working
• Methods: procedures performed to confirm the analysis of the problem
• Solutions: proposed way of solving the problem

Cause and Effect

• Provides a way to answer the questions: What will be the effects of X? What causes X?
• Ex: environmental impact