Outcome: Organizing

Evaluate essay organizational techniques

Destination set, supplies gathered . . . now, how do we get to where we’re going?

Subway map showing very convoluted red, yellow, green, blue, and black lines with hundreds of stops marked.

The organizing stage of the writing process will help us determine this. Some students may have had bad experiences with writing outlines for assignments in the past, or failed to see the need to map out every detail ahead of time. However, the organizing stage encompasses much more than outlining, and is more flexible than it might have seemed while in high school.

The organizing stage is also very profitable in time management, as well. A bit of time invested in organizing, will have huge payoffs later during drafting. If you’re pressed for time you might feel tempted to skip this step, but please don’t! Skipping the organizing stage will mean you end up spending much more time during drafting and revising than you would have otherwise.

What You Will Learn To Do

  • Graphic titled Organize. Bullet list: Thesis, development, body, introduction, conclusion. All is in a green circle bordered by gray arrows.evaluate appropriate rhetorical pattern for the topic and the task
  • evaluate components of an effective thesis statement
  • evaluate components of an effective logical argument
  • evaluate components of an effective paragraph
  • evaluate components of an effective essay body
  • evaluate components of an effective introduction
  • evaluate components of an effective conclusion

The Learning Activities for This Outcome Include

  • Text: Moving Beyond the Five-Paragraph Theme
  • Text: Introduction to Argument
  • Text: The Three-Story Thesis
  • Text: Organically Structured Arguments
  • Video: Logic and Structure
  • Text: The Perfect Paragraph
  • Text: Introductions and Conclusions
  • Self Check: Organizing
  • Try It: Organizing