Steps in Thinking about Organizationl Generate contentGather all your content and planning notes2 Select contentEvaluate all the material, eliminate what's extraneous, and add anything missing, based on your rhetorical goals; your thesis, focus, or issue (your angle on the subject); and on your detailed analysis of purpose and audience (your task analysis)3 Arrange ideas verticallyOrganize the ideas in relation to each other, hierarchically: Differentiate mainand minor ideas; recognize related ideas; group minor ideas, supporting evidence, and data under main ideas. Add (compose main ideas for minor ideas that lack overall interpretation or find support f or main ideas that have insufficient support) or omit material that doesn’t fit in the hierarchy.4 Sequence ideas horizontallySelect organizational schemes that order the main ideas and the supporting ideas under each main idea. Consider schemes based on criteria such as these: what will be clearest to readers, going from simplest to most complex,going from best known to least known, from accepted to controversial, going from minor to major, or vice versa.5 Express the connectionsArticulate your organizational scheme so your reader can see it and stay oriented: use forecasting statements, emphasis strategies (e.g., headers, lists, visual aids, topic sentences), transitions, and
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