ORDERS OF DEVELOPMENT Knowing when to change paragraphs and how to keep them unified is one thing, organizing the material in them for the most effective presentation is another. There are eight orders of development that are useful not only to organize paragraphs, but also in organizing an entire piece of writing. General to Specific                   Comparison and Contrast Specific to General                   Causes and Effects  Time Order                                 Definition  Space Order                         Climax GENERAL TO SPECIFIC Many paragraphs begin with a topic sentence that makes a general statement, followed by sentences supporting the general statement with details, examples, and evidence. In the following paragraph the author begins with a general statement-that readers generally get lost through a writer's carelessness, which can take "any number of forms." The five successive sentences beginning with "perhaps" list five different forms that carelessness can take. If a reader is lost, it is generally because the writer has not been careful enough to keep him on the path. This carelessness can take any number of forms. Perhaps a sentence is so excessively cluttered that the reader, hacking his way through the verbiage, simply doesn't know what it means. Perhaps a sentence has been so shoddily constructed that the reader could read it in any of several ways. Perhaps the writer has switched pronouns in mid-sentence, or has switched tenses, so the reader loses track of who is talking or when the action took place. Perhaps sentence B is not a logical sequel to sentence A-the writer, in whose head the connection is clear, has not bothered to provide the missing link. Perhaps the writer has used an important word incorrectly by not taking the trouble to look it up. He may think that "sanguine" and "sanguinary" mean the same thing, but the difference is a bloody big one. The reader can only infer (speaking of big differences) what the writer is trying to imply. WILLIAM ZINSSER, On Writing Well In the following paragraph, the author begins by asserting that disasters may not be as widespread as records indicate. To support this statement, she contrasts the range of events reported in the news with the relative normalcy of most people's typical day. She then states the "law" she has formulated on the basis of her perception of the true situation. The paragraph thus moves from general to specific back to general. Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts. The fact of being on the record makes it appear continuous and ubiquitous whereas it is more likely to have been sporadic both in time and place. Besides, persistence of the normal is usually greater than the effect of disturbance, as we know from our own times. After absorbing the news of today, one expects to face a world consisting entirely of strikes, crimes, power failures, broken water mains, stalled trains, school shutdowns, muggers, drug addicts, neo-Nazis, and rapists. The fact is that one can come home in the evening-on a lucky day-without having encountered more than one or two of these phenomena. This has led me to formulate Tuchman's Law, as follows: "The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development by five- to tenfold" (or any figure the reader would care to supply). BARBARA TUCHMAN, A Distant Mirror SPECIFIC TO GENERAL Some paragraphs move from a specific point to a general statement, presenting a series of details or reasons first and concluding with a general statement that summarizes. In contrast to the two preceding paragraphs, the following paragraph moves from particular to general. The writer describes first her former cat, then her present cat, before her final general statement about the obvious difference between the two. I don't understand why people confuse my Siamese cat, Prissy, with the one I had several years ago, Henry. The two cats are only alike in breed. Prissy, a quiet, feminine feline, loves me dearly but not possessively. She likes to keep her distance from people, exert her independence, and uphold the cat's right to be finicky. She observes decorum and is never so rude as to beg, lick, or sniff unceremoniously. Her usual posture is sitting upright, eyes closed, perfectly still. Prissy is a very proper cat. Henry, on the other hand, was a disturbingly vocal tom cat who, before he died, loved me dearly but possessively. He was my shadow from morning until night. He expected me to constantly entertain him, and he was a crude, voracious eater. Henry never cared who saw him do anything, whether it was decorous or not, and he usually offended my friends in some way. The cat made himself quite comfortable, be it on top of the television, across strangers' feet or laps, in beds, drawers, sacks, closets, or nooks. The difference between Prissy and Henry is exactly the difference between Barbara Walters and Archie Bunker, and it would certainly take an imperceptive human to mistake those two. ANONYMOUS TIME ORDER Narrative paragraphs naturally arrange themselves in the order in which the events occur, as in this paragraph recounting the death of an eagle. On her own, one of the female's bold hunting trips was to prove fatal. The male saw from high above that she was making an attack on a ground squirrel in a dry arroyo. Her path would take her over an embankment at low altitude. Hidden from her view were two hunters walking close to the bluff. The male tensed as he saw his mate approach the men. As her black form swept over the hunters, they whirled and raised their guns. The female saw, but too late. As she banked sharply, two shots sang out and one slug tore through her body, sending her crashing in a crumpled mass. Helpless and distraught, the male watched from above as the hunters stretched out the wings of his mate and examined their prize. With the fear of man reinforced in his mind, he turned away and mounted up to return to the safety of the back country. --KENT DURDEN, Flight to Freedom Specific directions and explanations of processes also arrange themselves naturally in time order. The following directions for mixing powdered clay proceed step by step through the process. Clay purchased in powder form is mixed with water to make it a plastic mass. To mix, fill a large dishpan or small tub about onethird full of water, sift clay over [the] water, one handful at a time, until [the] clay settles on top of the water to make a coating about 1 inch thick. Cover [the] pan with paper or cloth and let the unstirred mixture set overnight. On the following day mix and stir it thoroughly. If [the] mass is too thick to knead, add more water. If too thin, add dry clay. Clay is in a state to store when it is soft and pliable but does not stick to the hands. Since clay improves with aging in a damp condition, mix as far ahead of time of use as you can. Wrap [the] clay in damp cloth and store in a covered crock for at least one week before using. HERBERT H. SANDERS, "How to Make Pottery and Ceramic Sculpture" SPACE ORDER Many descriptive paragraphs arrange themselves easily according to some spatial order, from east to west, from bottom to top, from near to far, from the center outward, and the like. In the following paragraph, the author is standing at a high point overlooking a valley. The description moves first to the right, then to the left, then straight ahead (before me), and then farther and farther into the distance ahead (beyond the creek and beyond that). On my right a woods thickly overgrown with creeper descended the hill's slope to Tinker Creek. On my left was a planting of large shade trees on the ridge of the hill. Before me the grassy hill pitched abruptly and gave way to a large, level field fringed in trees where it bordered the creek. Beyond the creek I could see with effort the vertical sliced rock where men had long ago quarried the mountain under the forest. Beyond that I saw Hollins Pond and all its woods and pastures; then I saw in a blue haze all the world poured flat and pale between the mountains. ANNIE DILLARD, "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" In the following paragraph, the writer is describing the interior of a church's sanctuary. She carefully orders the details, always keeping the relative position of parts clear with such directional words and phrases as over, above, on each side, and with such descriptive verbs as line, hang, guard, flank, and arching. The sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church is a study in nineteenth century architecture. The sections of contoured, crescent shaped oak pews separated by two main aisles line the wedge-shaped main floor. Over the main floor in the rear hangs a balcony supported by two Greek columns whose decorative gilt tops complement similar ornamentation at the front upper corners of the auditorium. Brass rails guard the balcony seats and separate the raised podium from the choir loft behind it. Above and on each side of the podium are opera-box windows of beveled glass and brass. Three stained-glass windows flank each side of the sanctuary and, gleaming in the sunlight, depict such simple religious subjects as lilies, the cross, and Christ in his roles of Shepherd and Comforter. The most distinctive feature, however, is the huge fifteen foot rotunda opening up the center of the ceiling and arching its way to heaven. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST Some controlling ideas naturally suggest organization by comparison and contrast. Consider these topic sentences: My brother is a natural student; I am a natural nonstudent. Women have a long way to go before they have genuinely equal opportunity and recognition, but they have gone some of the distance since my mother finished high school. Foreign small cars may have virtues, but if we compare them carefully to their American counterparts, we'll choose the American. Such sentences either directly assert or imply a contrast and almost require the writer to fill out the details of that contrast.In the following paragraph, the writer compares modern astronauts and the ocean voyagers of centuries ago. Our modern astronauts are much like the ocean voyagers who sailed the seas five hundred years ago. Like the ocean voyagers, today's astronauts are adventurous men who want to experience the thrill of exploring unconquered areas. After blast-off, the astronauts sail into an unexplored sea of space to find new information about other planets and to contribute to man's understanding of space and of distant planets. Similarly, the ocean voyagers contributed to man's understanding of this planet. They chartered the oceans of the world, discovered its continents, and brought back to the Europeans new knowledge of the world and of other cultures. It takes the same kind of adventurous spirit to explore the unknown seas of outer space that it took to explore the unknown seas of this world. CAUSES AND EFFECTS Some kinds of central ideas invite organization by an examination of causes or effects. Pollution and poverty exist. What causes them? What are their effects? What are the effects of television? Of the widespread use of computers? What are the causes behind the movements for equality of women, the popularity of football, the high rate of unemployment? In the paragraph that follows, the writer discusses the causes of a problem faced by his father, a high-school teacher, and other teachers. Note how many examples the writer gives of the causes of the "shell shock" that teachers experience every day. The writer makes good use of parallel grammatical structure to reinforce the impact of the examples on the reader. My father is a public high-school teacher. He and the other teachers face a growing number of problems that seem to have no solutions. Having observed my father's behavior for several years, I have concluded that high-school teachers are suffering from a disorder formerly associated with war veterans-shell shock. Besides teaching five or six classes a day, teachers are also expected to sponsor clubs, coach athletic teams, raise money, head committees, chaperone dances, arrange parades, light bonfires, publish newspapers, and sell pictures. In my father's work, paper work means more thanjust grading papers. It also means filling out a never-ending stream of forms that insure racial equality in the classroom, that provide free lunches to the needy, that reassure administrators that everything is in its place, and that even request more forms to be filled out. Discipline has also taken on a new meaning in public schools. Today, discipline means searching for drugs, putting out fires, disarming students, and breaking up gang fights. Faced with these daily problems and demands, it is no wonder that teachers like my father are becoming less like educators and more like soldiers suffering from combat fatigue. ANONYMOUS DEFINITION The logic of a paragraph sometimes requires that key objects or terms be defined. Definition is necessary to set the limits within which a topic or a term is used, especially in dealing with abstract matters. Full and exact paragraphs of definition are frequently important parts of papers, essays, and articles. Note that paragraphs of definition many times make use of details and examples, of comparison and contrast, and of restatement, in order to insure clarity. The following definition first states the two basic elements of the fairy story-"a human hero and a happy ending." The author develops the paragraph by describing the kind of hero and the kind of story pattern that are the special marks of the fairy tale. Italics show the movement of the paragraph, a movement basically controlled by the progress of the hero from beginning to end of the tale. A fairy story, as distinct from a merry tale, or an animal story, is a serious tale with a human hero and a happy ending. The progression of its hero is the reverse of the tragic hero's: at the beginning he is either socially obscure or despised as being stupid or untalented, lacking in the heroic virtues, but at the end, he has surprised everyone by demonstrating his heroism and winning fame, riches, and love. Though ultimately he succeeds, he does not do so without a struggle in which his success is in doubt, for opposed to him are not only natural difficulties like glass mountains, or barriers of flame, but also hostile wicked powers, stepmothers, jealous brothers, and witches. In many cases in deed, he would fail were he not assisted by friendly powers who give him instructions or perform tasks for him which he cannot do himself; that is, in addition to his own powers, he needs luck, but this luck is not fortuitous but dependent upon his character and his actions. The tale ends with the establishment of justice; not only are the good rewarded but also the evil are punished. W. H. AUDEN, Introduction to Tales of Grimm and Andersen CLIMAX Many paragraphs can be made coherent as well as more effective by arranging details or examples in order of increasing importance. The writer of the following paragraph arranged its examples-kinds of jobs-in order of climax. Drucker's evidence moves from those jobs in which skill at expressing oneself (the paragraph's subject) is least important to those in which it is most important. If you work as a soda jerker you will, of course, not need much skill in expressing yourself to be effective. If you work on a machine, your ability to express yourself will be of little importance. But as soon as you move one step up from the bottom, your effectiveness depends on your ability to reach others through the spoken or the written word. And the further away your job is from manual work, the larger the organization of which you are an employee, the more important it will be that you know how to convey your thoughts in writing or speaking. In the very large business organization, whether it is the government, the large corporation, or the Army, this ability to express oneself is perhaps the most important of all the skills a man can possess. PETER F. DRUCKER, "How to Be an Employee" WRITING TIPS | GRAMMAR | MARKETING | TRAVEL WRITING | COPYRIGHTS | FREELANCE TIPS   The contents of this site © 2001-2004 Bob Brooke Communications Go back to Writing at Its Best Site design and development by BBC Web Services.