organization strategies for essays

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9.3 Organizing Your Writing

Learning objectives.

• Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
• Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
• Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
• Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

• Chronological order
• Order of importance
• Spatial order

When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research.

Chronological Order

In Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or relate an experience
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing , which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first , second , then , after that , later , and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first , then , next , and so on.

Writing at Work

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first , second , then , and finally .

Order of Importance

Recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” that order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly , almost as importantly , just as importantly , and finally .

During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

Spatial Order

As stated in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up most of the wall, which is the color of lavender.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• On the left or on the right
• Across from
• A little further down
• To the south, to the east, and so on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning right

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

• The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
• A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
• Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Many types of writing follow some version of the basic shape described above. This shape is most obvious in the form of the traditional five-paragraph essay: a model for college writing in which the writer argues his or her viewpoint (thesis) on a topic and uses three reasons or subtopics to support that position. In the five-paragraph model, as illustrated below, the introductory paragraph mentions the three main points or subtopics, and each body paragraph begins with a topic sentence dealing with one of those main points.

SAMPLE ESSAY USING THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH MODEL

Remember, this is a very simplistic model. It presents a basic idea of essay organization and may certainly be helpful in learning to structure an argument, but it should not be followed religiously as an ideal form.

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Writing a Paper: Revising for Effective Organization

Revising for effective organization, whole-essay organization:.

These strategies will help you identify paragraphs with information or ideas that need to be rearranged or adjusted.

• Read each paragraph. On note paper, write the central idea for each paragraph, forming an outline of your paper.
• Does each central idea help you support the thesis of your paper? If not, then you have gone off-topic. Identify which paragraph does not relate to your assignment, and revise it.
• Do your ideas progress logically? If not, then you have presented them out of order. Identify which paragraphs to present earlier or later in your paper, and rearrange them.

Individual-Paragraph Organization:

These strategies will help you identify sentences that need to be added to your paragraphs. Additionally, click this link for more details about organization on the Writing Center website.

• Main point: The first sentence of each paragraph should present its main idea.
• Evidence: The next line should support for your topic with cited sources.
• Analysis: The next lines should explain the evidence and connect it to your topic.
• Lead out: The last line of each paragraph should help readers shift smoothly to the new idea in the next paragraph.
• If you find any paragraphs that do not follow the MEAL plan, identify which element is missing (main point, evidence, analysis, or lead out) and revise your paragraph to include this material.

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• Previous Page: Revising for Stronger Evidence
• Next Page: Revising for Scholarly Voice
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Organizational tips for academic essays

Published on November 10, 2014 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 23, 2023.

This article presents some tips to help you figure out how best to structure your essay .

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Table of contents

Four tips for organization, other interesting articles.

In general, the purpose of the essay should dictate the organization of the essay—ask yourself what claims you need to establish in order for your reader to believe that your main claim is right. The claims that help establish your main claim are called “supporting claims.”

In many cases, each supporting claim will get a paragraph. When you’re outlining, try to phrase these supporting claims as rough topic sentences . In some cases, these supporting claims will also require some argument in order for your reader to believe them. If this happens, consider adding an additional argument or two in separate paragraphs to help establish your supporting claim.

Once you get a sense of the supporting claims that will form the basis of your paragraphs , consider the following tips:

Arguments usually proceed from the simplest claim to the most complex

In other words, the body of a good argumentative essay often begins with the more simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves to the more complex and contentious ones. There are a couple of reasons for this:

• Often, a reader must understand the more basic claims before she can understand the more complex claims.
• If you begin with a point your readers agree on without much trouble, you can build on this agreement to convince them of something more contentious.

Give the background early

If you have so much background information that it cannot be given precisely enough in the introduction , this information will usually lead the body of the essay , or the section that it is relevant to.

Define terms as needed

Technical language should be defined as or before it’s used—never wait very long to define a term you’ve used:

• If you can, define your terms as you use them.
• If you have so much technical language that defining terms as you use them is too interruptive, take a paragraph or so to define the terms and show how they relate to each other.

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If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

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Organizing Your Writing

Writing for Success

Learning Objectives

• Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
• Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
• Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
• Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

• Chronological order
• Order of importance
• Spatial order

When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research.

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Chronological arrangement (also called “time order,”) has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or relate an experience
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing, which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first, second, then, after that, later, and finally. These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first, then, next, and so on.

WRITING AT WORK

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first, second, then, and finally.

ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

Order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly, almost as importantly, just as importantly, and finally.

During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

SPATIAL ORDER

Spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• On the left or on the right
• Across from
• A little further down
• To the south, to the east, and so on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning right

Key Takeaways

• The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
• A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
• Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Organizing Your Writing Copyright © 2016 by Writing for Success is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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1.5: Methods of Organizing Your Writing

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• Page ID 6708

• Kathryn Crowther et al.
• Georgia Perimeter College via GALILEO Open Learning Materials

The method of organization for essays and paragraphs is just as important as content. When you begin to draft an essay or paragraph, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner; however, your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas to help them draw connections between the body and the thesis. A solid organizational pattern not only helps readers to process and accept your ideas, but also gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your essay (or paragraph). Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. In addition, planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research. This section covers three ways to organize both essays and paragraphs: chronological order, order of importance, and spatial order.

Chronological Order

Chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or relate an experience
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing, which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first, second, then, after that, later, and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis. For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first, then, next, and so on. Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

Exercise 12

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Exercise 13

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first, second, then, and finally.

Order of Importance

Order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with the most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case. During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

Exercise 14

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

Spatial Order

Spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your readers, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you. The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point. Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my back bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as I enter. Just to the right of the rack, billowy white curtains frame a large window with a sill that ends just six inches from the floor. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, sitting to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a three-dimensional painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up much of the lavender wall.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives covered in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two objectives work together. The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• On the left or on the right
• Across from
• A little further down
• To the south, to the east, and so on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning right

Exercise 15

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration : Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

key takeaways

• The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to your thesis statement.
• A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
• Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Module 1: An Overview of the Writing Process

Organizing an essay.

There are many elements that must come together to create a good essay. The topic should be clear and interesting. The author’s voice should come through, but not be a distraction. There should be no errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or capitalization. Organization is one of the most important elements of an essay that is often overlooked. An organized essay is clear, focused, logical and effective.

Organization makes it easier to understand the thesis. To illustrate, imagine putting together a bike. Having all of the necessary tools, parts, and directions will make the job easier to complete than if the parts are spread across the room and the tools are located all over the house. The same logic applies to writing an essay. When all the parts of an essay are in some sort of order, it is both easier for the writer to put the essay together and for the reader to understand the main ideas presented in the essay.

Strategy 1. Reverse Outlining

If your paper is about Huckleberry Finn, a working thesis might be: “In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.” However, you might feel uncertain if your paper really follows through on the thesis as promised.

This paper may benefit from reverse outlining. Your aim is to create an outline of what you’ve already written, as opposed to the kind of outline that you make before you begin to write. The reverse outline will help you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both your organization and your argument.

Read the draft and take notes Read your draft over, and as you do so, make very brief notes in the margin about what each paragraph is trying to accomplish.

Outline the Draft After you’ve read through the entire draft, transfer the brief notes to a fresh sheet of paper, listing them in the order in which they appear. The outline might look like this:

• Paragraph 1: Intro
• Paragraph 2: Background on Huck Finn
• Paragraph 3: River for Huck and Jim
• Paragraph 4: Shore and laws for Huck and Jim
• Paragraph 5: Shore and family, school
• Paragraph 6: River and freedom, democracy
• Paragraph 7: River and shore similarities
• Paragraph 8: Conclusion

Examine the Outline Look for repetition and other organizational problems. In the reverse outline above, there’s a problem somewhere in Paragraphs 3-7, where the potential for repetition is high because you keep moving back and forth between river and shore.

Re-examine the Thesis, the Outline, and the Draft Together Look closely at the outline and see how well it supports the argument in your thesis statement. You should be able to see which paragraphs need rewriting, reordering or rejecting. You may find some paragraphs are tangential or irrelevant or that some paragraphs have more than one idea and need to be separated.

Strategy 2. Talk It Out

Find a Friend, your T.A., your Professor, a relative, a Writing Center tutor, or any sympathetic and intelligent listener. People are more accustomed to talking than writing, so it might be beneficial to explain your thinking out loud to someone before organizing the essay. Talking to someone about your ideas may also relieve pressure and anxiety about your topic.

Explain What Your Paper Is About Pay attention to how you explain your argument verbally. It is likely that the order in which you present your ideas and evidence to your listener is a logical way to arrange them in your paper. Let’s say that you begin (as you did above) with the working thesis. As you continue to explain, you realize that even though your draft doesn’t mention “private enterprise” until the last two paragraphs, you begin to talk about it right away. This fact should tell you that you probably need to discuss private enterprise near the beginning.

Take Notes You and your listener should keep track of the way you explain your paper. If you don’t, you probably won’t remember what you’ve talked about. Compare the structure of the argument in the notes to the structure of the draft you’ve written.

Get Your Listener to Ask Questions As the writer, it is in your interest to receive constructive criticism so that your draft will become stronger. You want your listener to say things like, “Would you mind explaining that point about being both conservative and liberal again? I wasn’t sure I followed” or “What kind of economic principle is government relief? Do you consider it a good or bad thing?” Questions you can’t answer may signal an unnecessary tangent or an area needing further development in the draft. Questions you need to think about will probably make you realize that you need to explain more your paper. In short, you want to know if your listener fully understands you; if not, chances are your readers won’t, either. [2]

Strategy 3. Paragraphs

Readers need paragraph breaks in order to organize their reading. Writers need paragraph breaks to organize their writing. A paragraph break indicates a change in focus, topic, specificity, point of view, or rhetorical strategy. The paragraph should have one main idea; the topic sentence expresses this idea. The paragraph should be organized either spatially, chronologically, or logically. The movement may be from general to specific, specific to general, or general to specific to general. All paragraphs must contain developed ideas: comparisons, examples, explanations, definitions, causes, effects, processes, or descriptions. There are several concluding strategies which may be combined or used singly, depending on the assignment’s length and purpose:

• a summary of the main points
• a hook and return to the introductory “attention-getter” to frame the essay
• a web conclusion which relates the topic to a larger context of a greater significance
• a proposal calling for action or further examination of the topic
• a question which provokes the reader
• a vivid image or compelling narrative [3]

Put Paragraphs into Sections You should be able to group your paragraphs so that they make a particular point or argument that supports your thesis.  If any paragraph, besides the introduction or conclusion, cannot fit into any section, you may have to ask yourself whether it belongs in the essay.

Re-examine each Section Assuming you have more than one paragraph under each section, try to distinguish between them. Perhaps you have two arguments in favor of that can be distinguished from each other by author, logic, ethical principles invoked, etc. Write down the distinctions — they will help you formulate clear topic sentences.

Re-examine the Entire Argument Which section do you want to appear first? Why? Which Second? Why? In what order should the paragraphs appear in each section? Look for an order that makes the strongest possible argument. [4]

• Organizing an Essay ↵
• Reorganizing Your Draft ↵
• Parts of an Essay ↵
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One important aspect that is often overlooked in the writing process is the structure and order that ideas will appear in the paper. Depending on what you will be writing, there are different organizational structures that may strengthen or weaken your writing based on which you select. This handout is designed to give more information on  hierarchical organization patterns , but you can find more information about other organization patterns from our  General Organizational Strategies Guide , which will direct you to other handouts that will address other categories of organization patterns.

Some topics don’t have a linear, logical, Point A to Point B organization at hand to use for your paper. In those cases, you can organize your body paragraphs according to value. You can follow this organization style in two ways: low to high or high to low. The “low to high” order is the most often commonly used order in academic contexts, especially in the humanities, as analysis and synthesis are key forms of writing strong arguments.

Low to High

In this structure, body paragraph topics are ranked from lowest priority/value to highest priority/value. This option is often preferred because you can then build your points on each other, and end on a high note with impact, to more thoroughly convince your reader of your argument. Examples would include writing about criteria through which you are evaluating something (review of a movie or restaurant, analysis of a scene from a movie or play, argument on topics from a book, etc.). Below is an example from a personal teaching statement.

When I first discovered my passion for teaching, I was in Ethiopia sitting on dry grass, using clip boards as desks and donated pencils to write. The kids were of all different ages, coming voluntarily to learn English twice a day, five times a week. Our team divided the kids into small groups to better address students’ learning levels. Each student had something special to bring, whether it was a positive attitude, a curious hunger for more words, or someone who was brave enough to voice the questions everyone else was wondering, but was too shy to ask.

My first experience showed me that a classroom should function similarly to a community. While the teacher is there to provide instruction and direction, every student can help create a better learning environment for everyone. Even students who may act out or misbehave have something positive to contribute, and a teacher’s job is to lead students to a better understanding of themselves and a new subject.

To help expose students to a new experience and to new ideas, I believe having an open classroom where students and instructors can learn from each other is one of the best ways to promote learning in a classroom. As teachers, we should be a role model for our students; if the teacher is not willing to learn from her students, then the students will not be as willing to learn.

Notice the first paragraph opens with a scene. Although it is descriptive, in comparison to the other paragraphs, it is not as important since it does not explain the purpose. The second paragraph starts to connect the description to the author’s views on teaching and what they got from the described experience. It is more valuable since it serves as a connection between the first and last paragraphs. The final paragraph describes the heart of the author’s purpose and philosophy. It is easier to understand the author’s perspective because of the buildup from the previous paragraphs.

High to Low

Rank your body paragraph topics from highest priority/value to lowest priority/value. This option is useful in some ways, but often can make your writing weaker, because you start with your strongest/most important point and then your points become less impactful or less important as your paper progresses. Examples would include websites that rank items from highest to lowest (pet adoption sites, for example, often list the most appealing features of a pet first).

Out of our newest pups available for adoption, Jack is one of our favorites! Jack is a beautiful 3-year- old lab-beagle mix who came to us after his owner passed away. He loves playing fetch with tennis balls and snuggling next to you on the couch. At the end of the day, he is a gentle love bug who will wiggle into your heart.

His gentle nature makes him a great match in a house with children and other dogs, but he tends to chase other cats. Jack is house broken, walks pleasantly on a leash, and will even run beside you if you are riding a bike! He is still working on “stay” but knows how to sit and lay down. Jack is eager to learn new tricks and would do well with a family who is interested in training him.

Jack is already neutered, updated on his shots, and microchipped. To meet this adorable pup, visit us at the Hub Rescue Organization between 12-4 PM Monday-Friday!

Notice that the first, and most important, paragraph describes the very best features of the dog to make him more marketable to prospective families. The second paragraph describes features that may not be as important and reveals some potential flaws. The first paragraph needs to come first to set a more positive tone to this ad. The final paragraph doesn’t describe Jack in very good detail and presents very dry facts about Jack’s health and adoption hours.

Most Common Book or Essay Organization Patterns

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To improve your ability to understand a difficult book or passage, you might start by finding the organization pattern. This may sound more difficult than it is. There are a few ways that writers can choose to organize their work , and the organization depends very much on the topic.

If you were writing a description of your bedroom, for example, you would most likely use a spatial organization pattern. In other words, you would most likely start by describing one "space" and move on to another space, and keep going until you've covered the entire room.

Spatial organization would be a suitable type of pattern for real estate professionals to use when describing a property. 

Then again, if you were required to describe the events that led up to a certain event in history, your most likely organization pattern would be chronological . Chronological refers to the order that things happen in time. You might describe the legislation that set the stage for a particular event, followed by the public response to that legislation, and followed again by social conditions that changed because of the previous events.

So, one of the first things you should do when trying to understand a difficult text is to figure out the particular organization pattern. This helps you frame the entire work in your brain or on paper, as when you're writing an outline.

Chronological Organization

A chronological organization is used by writers when they want to describe what happened or happens in a particular order. Your entire history book is most likely written in a chronological patter. Some of the types of work that might follow this patter include the following. You can see that this type of organization is best when describing things that happen over time.

• History chapters
• Biographies
• Summer vacation essays
• Legal case studies

Logical Organization

A logical organization might be used in many ways. Logical organization refers to works that express a point or position using evidence.

• Argument essays
• Comparison essays

Functional Organization

A functional organization system is used to explain how or why things work. The following types of writing might use this organization pattern most effectively.

• How-to essays
• Step-by-step essays
• Instruction manuals 

Spatial Organization

Spatial organization is used in essays that describe or give direction concerning a physical location.

• Descriptions
• Anatomy essay
• Descriptions in fiction

The purpose of developing and understanding organization patters is to help our brains set the stage and know what to expect. These patterns help us to build a framework in our minds and place information in the correct "places" on that framework. Once you determine the overall organization of any text, you'll be better equipped to process information as you read.

When writing your essays and chapters, you should keep your intended organizational pattern in mind as you work, to provide your readers with a clear message that is easily processed.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Organizing Your Argument

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This page summarizes three historical methods for argumentation, providing structural templates for each.

How can I effectively present my argument?

In order for your argument to be persuasive, it must use an organizational structure that the audience perceives as both logical and easy to parse. Three argumentative methods —the  Toulmin Method , Classical Method , and Rogerian Method — give guidance for how to organize the points in an argument.

Note that these are only three of the most popular models for organizing an argument. Alternatives exist. Be sure to consult your instructor and/or defer to your assignment’s directions if you’re unsure which to use (if any).

Toulmin Method

The  Toulmin Method  is a formula that allows writers to build a sturdy logical foundation for their arguments. First proposed by author Stephen Toulmin in  The Uses of Argument (1958), the Toulmin Method emphasizes building a thorough support structure for each of an argument's key claims.

The basic format for the Toulmin Method  is as follows:

Claim:  In this section, you explain your overall thesis on the subject. In other words, you make your main argument.

Data (Grounds):  You should use evidence to support the claim. In other words, provide the reader with facts that prove your argument is strong.

Warrant (Bridge):  In this section, you explain why or how your data supports the claim. As a result, the underlying assumption that you build your argument on is grounded in reason.

Backing (Foundation):  Here, you provide any additional logic or reasoning that may be necessary to support the warrant.

Counterclaim:  You should anticipate a counterclaim that negates the main points in your argument. Don't avoid arguments that oppose your own. Instead, become familiar with the opposing perspective.   If you respond to counterclaims, you appear unbiased (and, therefore, you earn the respect of your readers). You may even want to include several counterclaims to show that you have thoroughly researched the topic.

Rebuttal:  In this section, you incorporate your own evidence that disagrees with the counterclaim. It is essential to include a thorough warrant or bridge to strengthen your essay’s argument. If you present data to your audience without explaining how it supports your thesis, your readers may not make a connection between the two, or they may draw different conclusions.

Example of the Toulmin Method:

Claim:  Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution.

Data1:  Driving a private car is a typical citizen's most air-polluting activity.

Warrant 1:  Due to the fact that cars are the largest source of private (as opposed to industrial) air pollution, switching to hybrid cars should have an impact on fighting pollution.

Data 2:  Each vehicle produced is going to stay on the road for roughly 12 to 15 years.

Warrant 2:  Cars generally have a long lifespan, meaning that the decision to switch to a hybrid car will make a long-term impact on pollution levels.

Data 3:  Hybrid cars combine a gasoline engine with a battery-powered electric motor.

Warrant 3:  The combination of these technologies produces less pollution.

Counterclaim:  Instead of focusing on cars, which still encourages an inefficient culture of driving even as it cuts down on pollution, the nation should focus on building and encouraging the use of mass transit systems.

Rebuttal:  While mass transit is an idea that should be encouraged, it is not feasible in many rural and suburban areas, or for people who must commute to work. Thus, hybrid cars are a better solution for much of the nation's population.

Rogerian Method

The Rogerian Method  (named for, but not developed by, influential American psychotherapist Carl R. Rogers) is a popular method for controversial issues. This strategy seeks to find a common ground between parties by making the audience understand perspectives that stretch beyond (or even run counter to) the writer’s position. Moreso than other methods, it places an emphasis on reiterating an opponent's argument to his or her satisfaction. The persuasive power of the Rogerian Method lies in its ability to define the terms of the argument in such a way that:

• your position seems like a reasonable compromise.
• you seem compassionate and empathetic.

The basic format of the Rogerian Method  is as follows:

Introduction:  Introduce the issue to the audience, striving to remain as objective as possible.

Opposing View : Explain the other side’s position in an unbiased way. When you discuss the counterargument without judgement, the opposing side can see how you do not directly dismiss perspectives which conflict with your stance.

Statement of Validity (Understanding):  This section discusses how you acknowledge how the other side’s points can be valid under certain circumstances. You identify how and why their perspective makes sense in a specific context, but still present your own argument.

Statement of Your Position:  By this point, you have demonstrated that you understand the other side’s viewpoint. In this section, you explain your own stance.

Statement of Contexts : Explore scenarios in which your position has merit. When you explain how your argument is most appropriate for certain contexts, the reader can recognize that you acknowledge the multiple ways to view the complex issue.

Statement of Benefits:  You should conclude by explaining to the opposing side why they would benefit from accepting your position. By explaining the advantages of your argument, you close on a positive note without completely dismissing the other side’s perspective.

Example of the Rogerian Method:

Introduction:  The issue of whether children should wear school uniforms is subject to some debate.

Opposing View:  Some parents think that requiring children to wear uniforms is best.

Statement of Validity (Understanding):  Those parents who support uniforms argue that, when all students wear the same uniform, the students can develop a unified sense of school pride and inclusiveness.

Statement of Your Position : Students should not be required to wear school uniforms. Mandatory uniforms would forbid choices that allow students to be creative and express themselves through clothing.

Statement of Contexts:  However, even if uniforms might hypothetically promote inclusivity, in most real-life contexts, administrators can use uniform policies to enforce conformity. Students should have the option to explore their identity through clothing without the fear of being ostracized.

Statement of Benefits:  Though both sides seek to promote students' best interests, students should not be required to wear school uniforms. By giving students freedom over their choice, students can explore their self-identity by choosing how to present themselves to their peers.

Classical Method

The Classical Method of structuring an argument is another common way to organize your points. Originally devised by the Greek philosopher Aristotle (and then later developed by Roman thinkers like Cicero and Quintilian), classical arguments tend to focus on issues of definition and the careful application of evidence. Thus, the underlying assumption of classical argumentation is that, when all parties understand the issue perfectly, the correct course of action will be clear.

The basic format of the Classical Method  is as follows:

Introduction (Exordium): Introduce the issue and explain its significance. You should also establish your credibility and the topic’s legitimacy.

Statement of Background (Narratio): Present vital contextual or historical information to the audience to further their understanding of the issue. By doing so, you provide the reader with a working knowledge about the topic independent of your own stance.

Proposition (Propositio): After you provide the reader with contextual knowledge, you are ready to state your claims which relate to the information you have provided previously. This section outlines your major points for the reader.

Proof (Confirmatio): You should explain your reasons and evidence to the reader. Be sure to thoroughly justify your reasons. In this section, if necessary, you can provide supplementary evidence and subpoints.

Refutation (Refuatio): In this section, you address anticipated counterarguments that disagree with your thesis. Though you acknowledge the other side’s perspective, it is important to prove why your stance is more logical.  

Conclusion (Peroratio): You should summarize your main points. The conclusion also caters to the reader’s emotions and values. The use of pathos here makes the reader more inclined to consider your argument.  

Example of the Classical Method:  

Introduction (Exordium): Millions of workers are paid a set hourly wage nationwide. The federal minimum wage is standardized to protect workers from being paid too little. Research points to many viewpoints on how much to pay these workers. Some families cannot afford to support their households on the current wages provided for performing a minimum wage job .

Statement of Background (Narratio): Currently, millions of American workers struggle to make ends meet on a minimum wage. This puts a strain on workers’ personal and professional lives. Some work multiple jobs to provide for their families.

Proposition (Propositio): The current federal minimum wage should be increased to better accommodate millions of overworked Americans. By raising the minimum wage, workers can spend more time cultivating their livelihoods.

Proof (Confirmatio): According to the United States Department of Labor, 80.4 million Americans work for an hourly wage, but nearly 1.3 million receive wages less than the federal minimum. The pay raise will alleviate the stress of these workers. Their lives would benefit from this raise because it affects multiple areas of their lives.

Refutation (Refuatio): There is some evidence that raising the federal wage might increase the cost of living. However, other evidence contradicts this or suggests that the increase would not be great. Additionally,   worries about a cost of living increase must be balanced with the benefits of providing necessary funds to millions of hardworking Americans.

Conclusion (Peroratio): If the federal minimum wage was raised, many workers could alleviate some of their financial burdens. As a result, their emotional wellbeing would improve overall. Though some argue that the cost of living could increase, the benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks.

Organization Strategies in EFL Expository Essays in a Content-Based Language Learning Course

• Regular Article
• Published: 27 June 2019
• Volume 29 , pages 183–197, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

• Peichin Chang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3035-606X 1 ,
• Chin-Chung Tsai 2 &
• Pin-ju Chen 3  

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Attaining coherence in writing remains a huge challenge for English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This study investigated how EFL college students structured their expository essays and attained coherence in a content-based language learning course by comparing the effects of the cognitive and linguistic approaches. Three classes participated, each of which was introduced to a scaffold: linguistic Theme–Rheme (TR), an approach to examine text structure, cognitive concept mapping (CM), tools to structure content knowledge, and a traditional approach for the control group. Pre- and post-knowledge tests and post-intervention essays were collected. The results showed that prior knowledge and different organization strategies played different roles in predicting overall writing scores and, specifically, the organization scores. Generally, a wider range of organization features predicted CM group’s essays. Among the organization features, linear thematic progression, often contributing to effective flow, consistently predicted both overall writing and organization scores in the combined samples, and had the strongest predictive power in the TR group. By contrast, none of the organization features was found to significantly predict the control group’s writing performance. The results suggest that the two experimental approaches have different potentials in developing different organization strategies in attaining coherence in writing.

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A clause in every language exhibits three metafunctions: interpersonal, textual, and ideational (Halliday and Kirkwood 1993 ). Interpersonal meanings deal with attitude and author–reader engagement; textual meanings concern how a text is organized; and ideational meanings involve the substance or content of the text.

While it is possible that different essay topics may suggest different levels of difficulty, we have very carefully written the essay topics to make sure they are broad in a way that students in either group can equally develop their ideas to their fullest. These topics actually converge in numerous messages sent in all the 6 talks.

While producing a summary map might suggest possible recency effect in learning, the summary done in the CM group is not a critical aspect evaluated. Instead, it was the extent to which the students organized and transformed what they have learned that was evaluated in the CBLL-informed class. Given this, summary, mostly related to repeating facts or ideas, was far from sufficient based on our evaluation rubrics. Instead, the ability to interpret, generalize, and infer from what is learned is valued more to be convincing and show depth of understanding , as depicted in the evaluation rubrics.

The second rater is a secondary school English teacher and was the first author’s research assistant, who was very familiar with theories and research related to academic writing.

First, the students generally lacked the knowledge to write a formal expository essay to be compared to a post-test essay. Expository essay is not a genre commonly tested in the entrance exams, which therefore may be too demanding for the students. Second, given that writing has been a daunting task to these students, obliging them to write in the beginning of the course may very likely have negative affective impact which causes them to drop the course.

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Acknowledgements

This research work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan [Grant No. MOST 104–2410-H-003–057] and the “Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences” of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.

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Peichin Chang

Program of Learning Sciences & Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Heping East Road Section 1, Taipei, 10610, Taiwan

Chin-Chung Tsai

Teacher Education Center, Ming Chuan University, No. 5, Deming Rd., Guishan Dist., Taoyuan, 333, Taiwan

Pin-ju Chen

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Appendix A: Examples of Students’ Theme–Rheme Analysis and Concept Map Drawing

Student a: ted talk – psychedelic science.

Identifying MT (operationalized as Bigger Wave in class) and HT (operationalized as Medium Waves).

Student A: TED Talk – Taking Imagination Seriously

Identifying TP (operationalized as Small Waves in class).

Student B: TED Talk – Summary Map

Appendix B: Knowledge Pre-test

Quiz: Your initial understanding about art

Modern art is generally characterized by which of the following feature?

What may be considered an innovation in artistic creation?

A sculpture which can move with wind.

A wall projected with multi-colored lights.

A door which opens automatically whenever people approach.

In creating an art work, which of the following may be LESS likely a challenge for artists?

Searching for innovative materials.

Collaborating with people from different fields.

Negotiating with potential buyers.

Which of the following topics can be a potential topic for artistic creation?

Sound wave.

All of the above.

Which of the following statement may better characterize art?

Life imitates art.

Art refreshes people.

Running business is art.

Why is imagination so important in artistic creation?

Imagination often pushes the limit of artistic creation.

Imagination can accommodate an artist’s weak skill.

Imagination can help artists to escape from real life.

Which of the following statement is true?

Art is something that ordinary people cannot do.

Art is an irrational approach to its surroundings.

Science and art have been a good match in artistic creation.

Which of the following materials can be used to create art?

wine bottles

all of the above

What may art do?

To remind people of noticing the beauty in the world.

To innovate life and make it more convenient.

To convince people art is easy to define.

How may an artist become socially responsible?

in helping a sick child feel happy again.

in making the 911 disaster funny so people will remember it.

in revealing the darkest soul of the artist.

Why do people suffer from gallery fatigue?

They have little experience going to the museum.

They could not find people to explain the paintings to them.

They do not feel connected to every painting on the wall.

What is special in Johannes Vermeer's “Girl with a Pearl Earring” ?

The plain clothes.

The bright colors.

The special material used.

What does it mean that beauty is in the “culturally conditioned” eye of the beholder?

Everyone has his or her own criteria about what is beautiful

Beauty is closely related to personal tastes

People from the same culture share common views about beauty

Why is beauty sometimes universal?

Appreciating beautiful things requires much knowledge

Appreciating beautiful things takes much experience in touring around the world

Appreciating beautiful things may be deep in our genes

Arts and crafts are usually not two separate terms in most cultures. What aspect of arts can be derived from this view?

practicality

originality

Essay Scoring Rubrics

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About this article

Chang, P., Tsai, CC. & Chen, Pj. Organization Strategies in EFL Expository Essays in a Content-Based Language Learning Course. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 29 , 183–197 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-019-00464-2

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Received : 18 July 2018

Revised : 03 June 2019

Accepted : 14 June 2019

Published : 27 June 2019

Issue Date : April 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-019-00464-2

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Organizational strategies: Explained with types or examples

Organizational strategies are long-term plans to achieve an organization’s goals and objectives. 

Organizational strategies outline how an organization intends to allocate resources, develop capabilities, and pursue its goals. They help an organization prioritize its activities and focus on those most critical to achieving its objectives.

Some common elements of organizational strategies include defining the organization’s mission and vision, establishing measurable goals and objectives, identifying the target audience and markets, creating a plan for resource allocation, outlining key performance indicators, and setting timelines for implementation and evaluation.

An organizational strategy provides a roadmap for an organization’s success by aligning its resources, capabilities, and activities with its mission and vision.

How to make an organizational strategy

Developing an organizational strategy is a complex process that requires careful consideration of various factors, such as the organization’s mission, vision, values, goals, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Here are some steps to guide you in making an organizational strategy:

• Define your organization’s mission, vision, and values: A mission statement explains the purpose and reason for the organization’s existence. A vision statement outlines the desired future state of the organization. Values articulate the principles and beliefs that guide the organization’s actions and decisions.
• Conduct a SWOT analysis: SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analysis will help you to identify the internal and external factors that can impact your organization’s performance.
• Set goals and objectives: Based on the SWOT analysis, set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals and objectives that align with the organization’s mission and vision.
• Develop strategies: Develop strategies that will enable the organization to achieve its goals and objectives. These strategies should consider the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Create an action plan: Create an action plan outlining the specific steps the organization needs to take to implement the strategies. This plan should include timelines, budgets, and responsibilities.
• Monitor and evaluate: Regularly monitor and evaluate the organization’s progress against its goals and objectives. This will help to identify areas that require improvement and make necessary adjustments to the organizational strategy.
• Communicate and engage: Communicate the organizational strategy to all stakeholders and engage them in the process. This will help ensure everyone understands their role in achieving the organization’s goals and objectives.

Overall, making an organizational strategy is an iterative process that requires continuous monitoring and evaluation to remain relevant and effective.

Types or Examples of organizational strateg ies

Companies can use several types of organizational strategies to achieve their goals and objectives. Here are some of the most common types:

• Cost Leadership Strategy: This strategy focuses on becoming the lowest-cost producer in an industry or market, which allows the company to offer products or services at a lower price than competitors.
• Differentiation Strategy: This strategy focuses on creating a unique product or service that sets a company apart. This can be achieved through product design, quality, customer service, branding, or other factors.
• Focus Strategy: This strategy focuses on serving a specific market segment or niche with specialized products or services. By focusing on a narrow target market, a company can better understand the needs and preferences of its customers and tailor its offerings accordingly.
• Growth Strategy: This strategy focuses on expanding the company’s operations by increasing market share in existing markets or entering new markets.
• Diversification Strategy involves expanding the company’s product or service offerings into new markets or industries. This can be achieved through mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, or internal development.
• Innovation Strategy: This strategy focuses on developing new products or services, improving existing products or services, or finding new ways to deliver value to customers. This can involve research and development, partnerships with other companies, or other approaches.
• Alliance Strategy involves forming partnerships or alliances with other companies to achieve shared goals or objectives. This can include joint ventures, strategic partnerships, or other forms of collaboration.
• Mergers and Acquisitions Strategy involves acquiring or merging with other companies to expand capabilities, reach new markets, or gain a competitive advantage. Mergers and acquisitions can help companies achieve economies of scale, reduce competition, or access new technologies or products.

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CPS Online Library Research Guide (UNH Manchester Library): Create a Literature Review

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What is a literature review?

A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period.

A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.

But how is a literature review different from an academic research paper?

The main focus of an academic research paper is to develop a new argument, and a research paper is likely to contain a literature review as one of its parts. In a research paper, you use the literature as a foundation and as support for a new insight that you contribute. The focus of a literature review, however, is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.

Why do we write literature reviews?

Literature reviews provide you with a handy guide to a particular topic. If you have limited time to conduct research, literature reviews can give you an overview or act as a stepping stone. For professionals, they are useful reports that keep them up to date with what is current in the field. For scholars, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the credibility of the writer in his or her field. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research paper’s investigation. Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to most research papers.

Strategies for writing the literature review

Find a focus.

A literature review, like a term paper, is usually organized around ideas, not the sources themselves as an annotated bibliography would be organized. This means that you will not just simply list your sources and go into detail about each one of them, one at a time. No. As you read widely but selectively in your topic area, consider instead what themes or issues connect your sources together. Do they present one or different solutions? Is there an aspect of the field that is missing? How well do they present the material and do they portray it according to an appropriate theory? Do they reveal a trend in the field? A raging debate? Pick one of these themes to focus the organization of your review.

Convey it to your reader

A literature review may not have a traditional thesis statement (one that makes an argument), but you do need to tell readers what to expect. Try writing a simple statement that lets the reader know what is your main organizing principle. Here are a couple of examples:

The current trend in treatment for congestive heart failure combines surgery and medicine.

More and more cultural studies scholars are accepting popular media as a subject worthy of academic consideration.

Consider organization

You’ve got a focus, and you’ve stated it clearly and directly. Now what is the most effective way of presenting the information? What are the most important topics, subtopics, etc ., that your review needs to include? And in what order should you present them? Develop an organization for your review at both a global and local level:

First, cover the basic categories

Just like most academic papers, literature reviews are likely to contain at least three basic elements: an introduction or background information section; the body of the review containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or recommendations section to end the paper. The following provides a brief description of the content of each:

• Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the literature review, such as the central theme or organizational pattern.
• Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized either chronologically, thematically, or methodologically (see below for more information on each).
• Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what you have drawn from reviewing literature so far. Where might the discussion proceed?

Organizing the body

Once you have the basic categories in place, then you must consider how you will present the sources themselves within the body of your paper. Create an organizational method to focus this section even further.

To help you come up with an overall organizational framework for your review, consider the following scenario:

You’ve decided to focus your literature review on materials dealing with sperm whales. This is because you’ve just finished reading Moby Dick, and you wonder if that whale’s portrayal is really real. You start with some articles about the physiology of sperm whales in biology journals written in the 1980’s. But these articles refer to some British biological studies performed on whales in the early 18th century. So you check those out. Then you look up a book written in 1968 with information on how sperm whales have been portrayed in other forms of art, such as in Alaskan poetry, in French painting, or on whale bone, as the whale hunters in the late 19th century used to do. This makes you wonder about American whaling methods during the time portrayed in Moby Dick, so you find some academic articles published in the last five years on how accurately Herman Melville portrayed the whaling scene in his novel.

Now consider some typical ways of organizing the sources into a review:

• Chronological: If your review follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials above according to when they were published. For instance, first you would talk about the British biological studies of the 18th century, then about Moby Dick, published in 1851, then the book on sperm whales in other art (1968), and finally the biology articles (1980s) and the recent articles on American whaling of the 19th century. But there is relatively no continuity among subjects here. And notice that even though the sources on sperm whales in other art and on American whaling are written recently, they are about other subjects/objects that were created much earlier. Thus, the review loses its chronological focus.
• By publication: Order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates a more important trend. For instance, you could order a review of literature on biological studies of sperm whales if the progression revealed a change in dissection practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies.
• By trend: A better way to organize the above sources chronologically is to examine the sources under another trend, such as the history of whaling. Then your review would have subsections according to eras within this period. For instance, the review might examine whaling from pre-1600-1699, 1700-1799, and 1800-1899. Under this method, you would combine the recent studies on American whaling in the 19th century with Moby Dick itself in the 1800-1899 category, even though the authors wrote a century apart.
• Thematic: Thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time. However, progression of time may still be an important factor in a thematic review. For instance, the sperm whale review could focus on the development of the harpoon for whale hunting. While the study focuses on one topic, harpoon technology, it will still be organized chronologically. The only difference here between a “chronological” and a “thematic” approach is what is emphasized the most: the development of the harpoon or the harpoon technology.But more authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological order. For instance, a thematic review of material on sperm whales might examine how they are portrayed as “evil” in cultural documents. The subsections might include how they are personified, how their proportions are exaggerated, and their behaviors misunderstood. A review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each section according to the point made.
• Methodological: A methodological approach differs from the two above in that the focusing factor usually does not have to do with the content of the material. Instead, it focuses on the “methods” of the researcher or writer. For the sperm whale project, one methodological approach would be to look at cultural differences between the portrayal of whales in American, British, and French art work. Or the review might focus on the economic impact of whaling on a community. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed. Once you’ve decided on the organizational method for the body of the review, the sections you need to include in the paper should be easy to figure out. They should arise out of your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would have subsections for each vital time period. A thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue.

Sometimes, though, you might need to add additional sections that are necessary for your study, but do not fit in the organizational strategy of the body. What other sections you include in the body is up to you. Put in only what is necessary. Here are a few other sections you might want to consider:

• Current Situation: Information necessary to understand the topic or focus of the literature review.
• History: The chronological progression of the field, the literature, or an idea that is necessary to understand the literature review, if the body of the literature review is not already a chronology.
• Methods and/or Standards: The criteria you used to select the sources in your literature review or the way in which you present your information. For instance, you might explain that your review includes only peer-reviewed articles and journals.

Questions for Further Research: What questions about the field has the review sparked? How will you further your research as a result of the review?

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3 Career-Building Strategies for an Increasingly Complex World of Work

• John Winsor

How to leverage platforms, open talent, and AI.

Most workers used to have fixed roles within a hierarchical organization, but today the nature of work today is becoming fluid and dynamic. Project-based work and freelancing are increasingly common, and many roles are now defined by outcomes rather than hours spent at a desk. Success in this new work environment requires not only recognizing that this shift has taken place but also actively strategizing to leverage it to your advantage. It’s crucial, in particular, the authors argue, to adopt three key strategies: leveraging digital platforms and networks, utilizing open talent and freelancers as a secret weapon, and harnessing the power of AI to augment your capabilities.

In today’s dynamic work landscape, driven by rapid technological advancements and a global shift towards more fluid and flexible work arrangements, the importance of cultivating a learning mindset, building a diverse skill set, adopting a flexible work ethic, and prioritizing work-life harmony has never been more pronounced. These elements are foundational, the very minimum required to navigate the complexities of modern work. However, simply possessing these qualities is no longer sufficient to ensure success. The nature of work has evolved, and so too have the strategies we must employ to thrive in this new era. The emergence of the new world of work that includes project-based freelance work, remote work, digital-collaboration platforms, and AI, or what we call the open-talent economy, has fundamentally altered how work is performed, valued, and conceptualized.

• John Winsor is the co-author of Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges . He is also the founder and chairman of Open Assembly and an executive-in-residence at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH),

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Organizing Documents

In our conversations with others, we present our ideas in a logical order. This way, we make sense to our listeners. Typically, we relate events in the order they occurred, so our listeners don't become confused as they follow our ideas. In writing, the pattern we present our ideas in is called organization. Writers need to know about organizational patterns because readers expect what they read to make sense logically. Choosing an organizational pattern for your writing means knowing what patterns are acceptable for your topic and within your discipline. Some types of organization work better than others, depending on the information you need to convey.

Definition of Organization

Steve Reid, English Department To me, organization is the arrangement of the larger units of meaning in a paper. That's one of the things that's going to be very different from one course to the next. What are the expected patterns of organization? A lab report is very different from a scientific report, is very different from a poem, is very different from a report in the newspaper. All of these have their own patterns of organization, all of which are acceptable in specific disciplines.

Kate Kiefer, English Department Organization typically refers to the large elements of text structure. Sometimes these elements are formalized in practice, as in the typical lab report, through consistent use of headings. Sometimes elements of organization are only informally acknowledged -like the thesis of an academic paper. Most writers across the university would agree, however, that organization refers to the ordering of ideas.

Organization in writing is how ideas are presented. Typically, organization refers to the larger parts of a piece of writing, although it also refers to how paragraphs and sentences are written. The flow of a piece of writing affects how readers interpret ideas. If the organization does not provide readers with the information they are looking for in an orderly manner, they will quickly lose interest. Unorganized writing makes readers search for the information they need.

Types of Organization

Michel Muraski, Journalism and Technical Communication Department Identifying different organizational patterns is important. For example, if I'm going to do an imperial research report, based on my original research, I would organize the paper based on inductive information where I take a specific observation and end up with a generalization about it. If I'm going to be comparing a choice among options, then I might want to organize my paper by way of comparing and contrasting. Organizational patterns depend on what information needs to be conveyed.

In writing, ideas are conveyed through various methods. Sometimes we discuss the causes of something without ever mentioning its effects. Other times, we present a general idea about a topic before we ever get to the specifics. And still other times, we relate details according to their importance.

Every time you sit down to write, you should rethink what type of organization you'll use. To choose a pattern, consider why you are writing and who will read your writing.What is the most effective way to present this information? The list below represents some common organizational patterns, although many more patterns exist. You should use only one pattern for the overall structure of your writing.

General Organization Patterns

Don Zimmerman, Journalism and Technical Communication Department Each class in school or company you work for will have certain ways of organizing information. The trick is figuring out what are the accepted ways of organizing. These general patterns depend on what kind of report you're writing, a lab report, a progress report, a memo. Students often have trouble seeing the general pattern. A good way to figure out what the general patterns are is to back up and take a look at trade magazines, and other publications in the field you're writing for. Typically, in much writing, a problem is set up and a couple of examples are provided. Once you've figured out the general pattern, take a look at your content, think about your audience and pull it all together. Merely filling in the blanks on an outline won't give you a good idea of an organizational pattern.

Cause/Effect

Cause and effect are two different concepts. Using one or the other depends on what part of a situation you want to stress. Stating the causes and/or effects of a topic is helpful in persuading readers to make a decision about a topic.

Causes tell readers why something happened. For example, numerous stolen bikes on campus cause students to register their bikes. Smoking causes lung cancer. Typing for many hours causes carpal tunnel.

Effects are the results of something. For example, fifty new bike racks were put on campus with funding from registered bikes. Twelve hundred smokers die every year from lung cancer. Carpal tunnel is now discussed in many employee training programs.

Chronological Order

Chronological order presents ideas according to the time in which they occurred. This type of organization is especially effective if you are describing a process, relaying a series of actions, or telling a story. For instance, to convey the plot of a novel or the procedures of an experiment, you would tell readers what happened first, second, etc.

Steve Reid, English Department The strategies we use for writing have common organizational patterns. If I'm going to define something, what I do is I take a specific case, and I look at the class of objects or things to which it belongs, and then I say, "Here's how it belongs to this class, but here's how it differs from something else." For example, a computer is a writing instrument, so how is it different from a pencil, which is also a writing instrument? Then, within the act of definition, there are organizational patterns.

Comparisons allow you to analyze and evaluate two or more concepts. You can compare two concepts by showing either the differences or the similarities between them. This type of organization is especially effective in showing how one concept is better than another. This way, you can persuade readers to choose one over another. For example, car commercials constantly use comparisons to show us how a specific car gets more mileage than other cars.

When you use comparisons between two or more objects, be sure to compare them on the SAME issues. For instance, to show the differences between a Ford Escort, a GEO Prism, and a Honda Civic, you might examine only passenger space, engine size, and trunk size, depending on what issues will interest your readers the most.

Alternating Organization

An alternating organization stresses the points you wish to make about the concepts you are comparing. An outline of an alternating organization looks like this:

I. Passenger Size    a. Ford Escort    b. GEO Prism    c. Honda Civic II. Engine Size    a. Ford Escort    b. GEO Prism    c. Honda Civic III. Trunk Size    a. Ford Escort    b. GEO Prism    c. Honda Civic

Divided Organization

A divided organization stresses the actual concepts you are comparing. An outline of divided organization looks like this:

I. Ford Escort    a. Passenger Size    b. Engine Size    c. Trunk Size II. GEO Prism    a. Passenger Size    b. Engine Size    c. Trunk Size III. Honda Civic    a. Passenger Size    b. Engine Size    c. Trunk Size

Emphatic Order

Emphatic order requires you to arrange your ideas according to their importance. Do you want your strongest, most important point to hit the reader immediately or do you want these points to appear near the end? Depending on your topic and your purpose, you should consider what effect these points may have upon your readers. For instance, you might save the strongest point until last, so you can build all your arguments and leave readers with a lasting impression.

General to Specific Order

Kate Kiefer, English Department Composition folks talk about organization as typical patterns of presenting ideas: general to specific, specific to general, spatial, hierarchical (most to least important) and so on. Obviously, these patterns can apply both to paragraphs and to larger units of discourse, including several paragraphs in a chunk, a labeled section of a text, or the text as a whole.

With this type of organization, you can either: 1. make a general statement and support that statement with specific examples or 2. provide the reader with specific information and then make a general conclusion. Deciding on which of these two to use depends on why you are writing and what information your audience requires.

How to Organize Your Writing

While the overall organization of your writing helps readers follow your ideas, you should also use organizational strategies. Just as street signs provide directions when you're driving, organizational strategies guide readers through your writing. Writing strategies prepare readers for the organization of your writing. These strategies include using visual clues to guide readers, as well as transitional markers from paragraph to paragraph.

Building Reader Expectations

Building reader expectations helps your readers anticipate the content of your writing. This way, readers are not caught off guard by upcoming details. You can build your readers' expectations by:

• Informing readers of what you are writing about within the first two paragraphs. A specific problem statement or thesis prepares readers for what will follow.
• Telling readers the order in which you will discuss your topic. For example, "In this proposal, I first provide a literature review, followed by my original research."
• Stating three ideas when you say three ideas exist. For example, "Faculty members voiced three opposing arguments."
• Providing a table of contents for longer reports.

Headings and Subheadings

Headings and subheadings visually show readers how your ideas are organized within your text. Each heading should accurately tell readers what each section covers. In addition, bolding and using different font sizes help readers locate the information they need. For some writing, especially scientific reports, it's helpful to number your sections.

Effective Transitions

Transitions alert readers of changes within your writing. By using transitions, your readers are prepared for the flow of your ideas. Effective transitions logically connect paragraphs with one another.

Transitions are used to:

• Introduce an idea: First , readers will know this is the first idea.
• Introduce examples: For example , this is a transition.
• Indicate a contrast: However , be sure your transitions accurately show how ideas relate to one another.
• Prepare readers for more information about the same idea: In addition , transitions connect sentences to one another. Words such as "and," "or," "nor," "but," "so," "for," "yet" link sentences together.
• Indicate a conclusion: Finally , readers will know this is the last idea.

Citation Information

Stephen Reid and Dawn Kowalski. (1994-2024). Organizing Documents. The WAC Clearinghouse. Colorado State University. Available at https://wac.colostate.edu/repository/writing/guides/.

Copyright Information

Copyright © 1994-2024 Colorado State University and/or this site's authors, developers, and contributors . Some material displayed on this site is used with permission.

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Poor Nations Are Writing a New Handbook for Getting Rich

Economies focused on exports have lifted millions out of poverty, but epochal changes in trade, supply chains and technology are making it a lot harder.

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By Patricia Cohen

Reporting from London

For more than half a century, the handbook for how developing countries can grow rich hasn’t changed much: Move subsistence farmers into manufacturing jobs, and then sell what they produce to the rest of the world.

The recipe — customized in varying ways by Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and China — has produced the most potent engine the world has ever known for generating economic growth. It has helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, create jobs and raise standards of living.

The Asian Tigers and China succeeded by combining vast pools of cheap labor with access to international know-how and financing, and buyers that reached from Kalamazoo to Kuala Lumpur. Governments provided the scaffolding: They built up roads and schools, offered business-friendly rules and incentives, developed capable administrative institutions and nurtured incipient industries.

But technology is advancing, supply chains are shifting, and political tensions are reshaping trade patterns. And with that, doubts are growing about whether industrialization can still deliver the miracle growth it once did. For developing countries, which contain 85 percent of the globe’s population — 6.8 billion people — the implications are profound.

Today, manufacturing accounts for a smaller share of the world’s output, and China already does more than a third of it . At the same time, more emerging countries are selling inexpensive goods abroad, increasing competition. There are not as many gains to be squeezed out: Not everyone can be a net exporter or offer the world’s lowest wages and overhead.

There are doubts that industrialization can create the game-changing benefits it did in the past. Factories today tend to rely more on automated technology and less on cheapworkers who have little training.

“You cannot generate enough jobs for the vast majority of workers who are not very educated,” said Dani Rodrik, a leading development economist at Harvard.

The process can be seen in Bangladesh, which the World Bank’s managing director called “one of the world’s greatest development stories” last year. The country built its success on turning farmers into textile workers.

Last year, though, Rubana Huq, chair of Mohammadi Group, a family-owned conglomerate, replaced 3,000 employees with automated jacquard machines to do complex weaving patterns.

The women found similar jobs elsewhere in the company. “But what follows when this happens on a large scale?” asked Ms. Huq, who is also president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

These workers don’t have training, she said. “They’re not going to turn into coders overnight.”

Recent global developments have accelerated the transition.

Supply chain meltdowns related to the Covid-19 pandemic and to sanctions prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up the price of essentials like food and fuel, biting into incomes. High interest rates, imposed by central banks to quell inflation, set off another series of crises: Developing nations’ debts ballooned , and investment capital dried up.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund warned of the noxious combination of lower growth and higher debt.

The supercharged globalization that had encouraged companies to buy and sell in every spot around the planet has also been shifting. Rising political tensions, especially between China and the United States, are affecting where businesses and governments invest and trade.

Companies want supply chains to be secure as well as cheap, and they are looking at neighbors or political allies to provide them.

In this new era, Mr. Rodrik said, “the industrialization model — which practically every country that has become rich has relied on — is no longer capable of generating rapid and sustained economic growth.”

Nor is it clear what might replace it.

There’s a future in service jobs.

One alternative might be found in Bengaluru, a high-tech center in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Multinationals like Goldman Sachs, Victoria’s Secret and the Economist magazine have flocked to the city and set up hundreds of operational hubs — known as global capability centers — to handle accounting, design products, develop cybersecurity systems and artificial intelligence, and more.

Such centers are expected to generate 500,000 jobs nationwide in the next two to three years, according to the consulting firm Deloitte .

They are joining hundreds of biotech, engineering and information technology companies including homegrown giants like Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys Limited. Four months ago, the American chip company AMD unveiled its largest global design center there.

“We have to move away from the idea of classic development stages, that you go from the farm to the factory and then from the factory to offices,” said Richard Baldwin , an economist at the IMD in Lausanne. “That whole development model is wrong.”

Two-thirds of the world’s output now comes from the service sector — a mishmash that includes dog walkers, manicurists, food preparers, cleaners and drivers, as well as highly trained chip designers, graphic artists, nurses, engineers and accountants.

It is possible to leapfrog to the service sector and grow by selling to businesses around the world, Mr. Baldwin argued. That is what helped India become the world’s fifth-largest economy .

In Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore, a general rise in middle-class living attracted more people and more businesses that, in turn, attracted more people and businesses, continuing the cycle, Mr. Baldwin explained.

Covid sped this transition, by forcing people to work remotely — from a different part of town, a different city or a different country.

In the new model, countries can focus growth around cities rather than a particular industry. “That creates economic activities which are fairly diverse,” Mr. Baldwin said.

“Think Bangalore, not South China,” he said.

Free markets are not enough.

Many developing nations remain focused on building export-oriented industries as the path to prosperity. And that’s how it should be, said Justin Yifu Lin , dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University.

Pessimism about the classic development formula, he said, has been fueled by a misguided belief that the growth process was automatic: Just clear the way for the free market and the rest will take care of itself.

Countries were often pressured by the United States and the international institutions to embrace open markets and hands-off governance.

Export-led growth in Africa and Latin America stumbled because governments failed to protect and subsidize infant industries, said Mr. Lin, a former chief economist at the World Bank.

“Industrial policy was taboo for a long time,” he said, and many of those who tried failed. But there were also success stories like China and South Korea.

“You need the state to help the private sector overcome market failures,” he said. “You cannot do it without industrial policy.”

It won’t work without education.

The overriding question is whether anything — services or manufacturing — can generate the type of growth that is desperately needed: broad based, large scale and sustainable.

Service jobs for businesses are multiplying, but many offering middle and high incomes are in areas like finance and tech, which tend to require advanced skills and education levels far above what most people in developing nations have.

In India, nearly half of college graduates don’t have the skills they need for these jobs, according to Wheebox , an educational testing service.

The mismatch is everywhere. The Future of Jobs report , published last year by the World Economic Forum, found that six in 10 workers will need retraining in the next three years, but the overwhelming majority won’t have access to it.

Other kinds of service jobs are proliferating, too, but many are neither well paid nor exportable. A barber in Bengaluru can’t cut your hair if you’re in Brooklyn.

That could mean smaller — and more uneven — growth.

Researchers at Yale University found that in India and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural workers jumped into consumer service jobs and raised their productivity and incomes.

But there was a catch: The gains were “strikingly unequal” and disproportionately benefited the rich .

With a weakening global economy , developing countries will need to wring every bit of growth they can from every corner of their economies. Industrial policy is essential, Mr. Rodrik of Harvard said, but it should focus on smaller service firms and households because that is going to be the source of most future growth.

He and others caution that even so, gains are likely to be modest and hard won.

“The envelope has shrunk,” he said. “How much growth we can get is definitely less than in the past.”

An earlier version of this article misidentified the location of IMD. It is in Lausanne, not Geneva.

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Patricia Cohen writes about global economics and is based in London. More about Patricia Cohen

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How ai is revolutionizing digital advertising in 2024.

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CEO and Founder of Zebra Advertisement .

In 2024, artificial intelligence stands as the bedrock of innovation in digital advertising, reshaping strategies and redefining success metrics. With an astonishing pace of growth, AI continues to revolutionize the way brands engage with consumers, predict trends and optimize campaigns.

Let's dive deeper into the profound impact that AI is having on digital advertising.

The Current Landscape Of AI In Digital Advertising

AI has already made significant inroads into digital advertising, powering various applications such as targeted advertising, dynamic pricing and content optimization. As a result, we have witnessed remarkable achievements in campaign efficiency and audience targeting.

To give you an example, when I manage complex accounts, I often find myself working on multiple campaigns across multiple platforms, investing a lot of time checking each ad set and ad group for underperforming ads. With AI, I was able to build a reporting tool that knows when an ad has collected enough data for me to review and then suggests to me when to pause an ad because of performance issues. This alone saves me hours of work each week.

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Here are some other ways that AI is shaping the current digital advertising landscape:

Predictive Analytics

AI's prowess in predictive analytics continues to be a game-changer for advertisers. By analyzing vast datasets and identifying patterns in consumer behavior, AI algorithms can accurately forecast future trends and preferences. This enables you to craft highly targeted campaigns that resonate with our audience's interests, maximizing engagement and conversion rates.

Using historical data to create a predictive analytics model has been a big help to me personally. I am now able to predict, in a matter of minutes, the lifetime value of each consumer for each campaign for my clients. This means that I can seamlessly customize the bids to maximize performance over time rather than in the short term.

Personalization At Scale

With AI-driven personalization, you can deliver content tailored to individual users' preferences and interests in real time, across multiple touchpoints. This not only enhances the user experience but also fosters brand loyalty and drives repeat business.

AI And Programmatic Advertising

Automation facilitated by AI has revolutionized the ad buying process, making it more efficient and cost-effective. AI-powered programmatic advertising platforms enable you to automate the buying, placement and optimization of ads in real time, based on factors such as audience demographics, behavior and context. This enables you to serve your ads to the right people, at the right time, as efficiently as possible.

Voice And Visual Search

Voice search and visual search present new opportunities to engage with consumers in a more natural and intuitive way. By optimizing your content and advertising campaigns for voice and visual search, you can ensure that your brand remains visible and relevant in an increasingly competitive landscape.

By leveraging natural language processing and machine learning, chatbots can communicate with users in real time, providing them with personalized recommendations, answering their questions and guiding them through the purchase journey. This not only enhances the customer experience but also drives conversions and increases sales.

The Limitations And Challenges Of AI

Integrating AI into your advertising workflows can significantly improve metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates and overall return on investment. By analyzing vast amounts of data in real time, AI algorithms can help you optimize ad spends, ensuring maximum ROI.

However, limitations persist, including ethical and data privacy concerns and the need for more sophisticated algorithms to handle complex consumer behaviors.

Ethical Considerations And Privacy

As AI becomes more prevalent in digital advertising, concerns about consumer privacy and data protection are escalating . You must navigate through regulatory frameworks and ethical considerations to ensure transparency and trust among consumers.

When it comes to privacy and AI, my best advice is to always consult with a legal professional. Over the past few years, privacy laws have changed substantially, and you need to make sure you always comply with them to avoid expensive mistakes for your firm. Additionally, make sure to continuously educate your team on AI and data privacy, extensively use opt-ins and opt-outs on your website, and enforce transparent data usage policies in your firm.

Preparing For Future Innovations

There will no doubt be further advancements in AI technologies, including natural language processing and sentiment analysis, which will drive more sophisticated advertising strategies beyond 2024. These innovations could further revolutionize consumer-brand interactions and redefine advertising standards.

You can prepare for such innovations by embracing current AI-driven methodologies and continuously learning and adapting to the evolving landscape of digital advertising. Make sure you stay informed about emerging technologies and evolving ethical practices. Embracing these advancements is imperative for those who want to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape.

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