Comparison/Contrast Using comparison/contrast as an organizational pat- tern enables you to focus on the similarities and dif- ferences between two or more topics. For example, you might want to compare and contrast living in a large city with living in a small town. You could first list the comparisons, such as both places have streets, com- mercial businesses, and residential homes. But you would probably spend more time developing the con- trasts between these two subjects, such as level of crime, job opportunities, and population. You can use a point-by-point method, in which you give examples of a similarity between each topic and then a difference between each topic. Or, you can list all the similarities between the two topics first, and then list all the differences. Chronological A chronological organizational pattern presents ideas or events in a linear time frame, that is, their order of occurrence. It is often used to explain a process or to tell a story. You might want to use chronological organi- zation to describe how to bake cookies: “First you pre- heat the oven, then you gather the ingredients, then you mix the ingredients and put them in the pan, and finally, you bake the cookies in the oven.” This shows a progression of chronological events. You can also use a chronological pattern to narrate a story, such as “This morning I woke up and rushed off to the library. After studying for several hours, I went to the dining hall to eat lunch. The afternoon was spent in classes and labs. Then, for dinner I met two friends, and we talked until nightfall.” Readers can see the progression of events throughout the day, chronologically. Classification An essay that uses classification as an organizational pattern will likely contain items, topics, or ideas that are divided into parts or separate categories. If you choose to use classification as a method of organization, be sure that your categories are logical and that they don’t overlap. For example, if you divide books into the categories of fiction, non-fiction, and romance novels, you are creating a faulty classification system because two items in the system overlap—romance novels are fiction. Each category in a classification system needs to be logical and complete. To identify a classification method of organization, look for one general category that is broken down and divided into separate cate- gories. For instance, the topic of non-fiction books at a book sale could be broken down to the separate cat- egories of memoir, biography, and how-to. Cause and Effect Cause and effect is a logical organizational pattern that explains how one thing or idea results in another thing or idea. If you use this pattern in your writing, be care- ful not to make leaps in your reasoning. Each step of the cause needs to be clearly explained and shown how it created the effects you describe. You don’t want to leave out any steps in this process, or you may leave your readers hanging. Also, include both immediate causes or effects and long-term causes and effects. Order of Importance Ideas listed in their order of importance, either least important to most important or most important to least important, create an organizational pattern. The most effective use of this pattern is to list ideas from least important to most important because the idea that is stated last has the most impact on the reader. To use this pattern of organization, you need to spend time thinking about the importance of your ideas before you can determine which idea should be placed in front of the other. Save the strongest assertion for last. General to Specific The general to specific organizational pattern uses deductive reasoning. Writers who use this pattern move from a general statement to specific examples or ideas that support that general statement. For example, you might write that Americans need to cultivate better money-saving habits. This general statement would – THEA WRITING REVIEW– 180 then need to be supported by specific examples, such as: only five percent of Americans save money out of every paycheck, most Americans do not have enough money saved to retire comfortably, and Americans save 70% less than Europeans do. Specific to General The specific to general organizational pattern uses inductive reasoning. Writers who use this pattern move from specific examples or ideas to a general statement that logically follows the specific examples. For exam- ple, you might list several specific examples, such as: only five percent of Americans save money out of every paycheck, most Americans do not have enough money saved to retire comfortably, and Americans save 70% less than Europeans do. Then, you sum up this discus- sion by stating the general idea that Americans need to cultivate better money-saving habits. Definition Offering a definition of a term, idea, or concept is another method of organization. Writers using this organizational pattern offer an explanation of some- thing or list the many different definitions of what is being defined. Sometimes you can help define some- thing by stating what it is not. This is called negation or exclusion. Sample Organizational Pattern Question Read the passage below written in the style of a maga- zine article. Then answer the question that follows. (1) The floundering dance company could no longer fill their theater with patrons. (2) _____________. (3) Their ticket sales started to pick up. (4) The dance company began advertising the fact that the new choreographer was now working on their team. (5) More and more seats became full until there was standing room only. 4. Which of the following sentences, used in place of the blank line labeled (2), would best fit the writer’s pattern of development in the paragraph? a. The reason can be classified into three distinct categories: lack of advertising, the public’s dis- interest in classical ballet, and lack of a good choreographer. b. This saddened both the artistic director and the dancers in the company. c. Even though they were located in a busy downtown district. d. Therefore, they hired a new choreographer who had an excellent reputation. Answer The correct answer is d. The paragraph uses the cause and effect organizational pattern. The word therefore signals the change in the paragraph from lack of sales to booming sales. The cause of the low attendance is implied to be that the dance company didn’t have a good choreographer. You can infer this because after the new choreographer with the excellent reputation was hired, sales began booming. Choice a suggests the organizational pattern in the paragraph is classification; however, the paragraph does not support this method. Choice b does not make sense because there is no log- ical connection between the sadness of the dancers and the sudden increase in sales. Choice c is a sentence fragment. Now that you recognize main ideas and organi- zational patterns, it’s time to dig into the details of how to plan and write an essay. – THEA WRITING REVIEW– 181 Essay Planning and Introductions This section covers how to plan an essay and write an introduction for the essay portion of the THEA. The first step in writing an essay is to evaluate the assign- ment. You should spend the first four or five minutes of the allowed time to define your purpose for writing the essay, to identify your audience, and to establish the appropriate level of formality. After you evaluate the assignment, you will next want to plan or outline your essay. Planning Your Essay Below are some tips on how to use the first four or five minutes to plan your essay, based on an essay topic similar to one that could appear on the THEA. Take extra care in answering this sample question because this topic will appear many times in the next few lessons. Sample Persuasive Essay Question 5. In your opinion, should public schools require student uniforms? After you read the question carefully, choose your side of the issue. If there is a side of the issue you are pas- sionate about, the choice will be easy. If you know very little about a subject and do not have an opinion, just choose the side that you think you can best support. The test scorers don’t care which side you take. Brainstorming After you choose a side to support for this topic, jot down as many ideas as you can that directly relate to and support your position. Following are some exam- ples of questions that can help you frame your opinions for a persuasive essay. Note the suggested answers to the questions for the topic of school uniforms. 1. Do you know anyone who might feel strongly about the subject? parents of school-age children, children, uni- form companies, local children’s clothing shops 2. What reasons might they give for feeling the way they do? Parents will not have to worry about what clothing to buy for their children for school. Children will not feel peer pressure to dress a certain way. Some children will not feel that their clothing is less fashionable than that of the more affluent children. Uniform companies and fabric shops will receive more business. 3. If your side won the argument, who would benefit? teachers and principals, because uniforms may help keep discipline in the school; parents, because clothing costs will be lower; and chil- dren, because they’ll feel more accepted by their peers 4. If the opposing side won, who would be hurt? Take the arguments you came up with in ques- tion 3 and negate them. 5. What might happen in your city, state, country, and in the world should your side win? If your side was the law, what good might happen next and why? If the opposite side was the law, what bad might happen and why? Here you take your position and extend it to the larger community. For instance, imposing school uniforms will lead to a greater sense of order and equality among children across the United States. – THEA WRITING REVIEW– 182 6. How does your side affect, for the better, other current issues your readers might be passionate about; i.e., the environment, freedom of speech, and so on? Requiring uniforms will preserve natural resources, since children will buy fewer clothes. 7. Should your side win, what senses—taste, smell, sight, touch, sound, and feelings—might be affected? Think about the sight of hundreds of orderly- looking children quietly studying in an organ- ized classroom or whatever fits your topic. If you can appeal to one or more of the five senses, you will have a more persuasive essay. Organize When you have finished brainstorming, organize your notes into three or more topics. For instance, if you have three groups of people the proposal would affect, you would write how each group would be affected, whether any of the groups would take a financial loss, and what else might happen to them. Here’s an exam- ple of how the notes above might be organized into topics: Parents—Save money, children can use hand- me-downs, save wear on good clothes, buy- ing clothes easier, less pressure from children and fewer fights over money for clothes. Children—All children feel as well dressed as peers, feel more of a sense of belonging, eas- ier and faster to dress in morning, don’t have to worry about what others think, more dis- ciplined and calmer at school. School staff—Fewer fights at school, less bully- ing and teasing, more school loyalty among children so builds school community, par- ents less stressed so fewer calls for advice, frees officials to do other things like academics. Conclusion: In the end, children, families, and school employees benefit. Your essay doesn’t absolutely have to have just three body paragraphs, though it shouldn’t have fewer than three. It’s just that three is a good, solid number of main points, so start practicing with three right from the start. You wouldn’t want to be in the middle of your fourth body paragraph when time runs out. Practice Try outlining the following essay topic using the orga- nizational guidelines. 6. In the last three decades, environmental issues have received increasing amounts of attention. Teaching materials on this subject are abundant and some are even offered free to school districts. Taking into consideration that some environ- mental issues should be covered, do you believe too much emphasis is being placed on environ- mental issues in our schools? Giving Life to an Introduction If you feel your introductions are dull, or that they lack sparkle, there is hope. One way to enliven your introductions is to make them fun. Get creative. Indeed, the introduction can be the most fun of all the para- graphs of your essay because you have the opportunity to be creative about drawing readers into your essay. A surefire formula for a strong introduction has three parts: an attention-grabber, an orientation for the reader, and a thesis statement (using parallel struc- ture). The thesis statement is indispensable; you can play around with the other parts a bit. The purpose of the first sentence or two of your introduction is to get your reader’s attention. You may start your introduction with a question or statement that engages the reader’s imagination, such as: – THEA WRITING REVIEW– 183 Imagine a school auditorium full of alert chil- dren, all dressed neatly in blue and white uni- forms. Imagine these alert children happily running out to play in their blue shorts and white oxford shirts, playing tag and flying on swings. You will then need one or more sentences to ori- ent your reader. Introduce your topic and give some background information. Here’s an example: Over 98% of our nation’s schools have some kind of dress code for their students. Twenty percent of these codes designate a certain color and style of dress. Some of these uniform regulations even include specifics on shoes, socks, sweaters, and jackets. Over 1,000 schools each year are added to the ranks of those that have adopted stricter uniform policies for their children. State Your Thesis The most important part of your introduction includes a sentence that states your three or more main points in parallel form; this is called the thesis, or thesis state- ment. The purpose of this sentence is to tell readers what you are going to tell them in the rest of the essay. The thesis sentence is taken from the three main points of your outline: parents, children, and school staff. Put these in order from the least persuasive or important to the most persuasive or most important. Look at your arguments for each topic and put last the argument for which you can make the best case. Do you feel you can make the most convincing case for school staff and the least convincing case for parents? If so, write about parents first, then children, and finally, staff. The trick here is to put the three in parallel form. You can always just state the three topics as they are: Adopting a school uniform policy will benefit parents, children, and school staff. Alternatively, you can use any number of words in phrases or even whole sentences that summarize the ideas you are going to write about. This is not the place to give much detail, however, or you will have nothing to develop in the next paragraphs. Uniform policies provide relief for parents, enhance self-esteem in children, and facilitate learning at school. Parallelism Your thesis statement should use parallel form. Paral- lel writing serves to aid casual readers, impress test evaluators, and excite English teachers. The preceding sentence is an example of parallel writing. Parallel writ- ing occurs when a series of phrases or sentences follow the same form. In the second sentence of this para- graph, there are three phrases that are parallel in form: verb, adjective, noun. VERB ADJECTIVE NOUN aid casual readers impress test evaluators excite English teachers Practice Test and strengthen your skills at parallelism. Change each sentence to correct faulty parallelism. 7. Simple, cheerful, and having trust, children are a joy to be around. 8. Being happy is more desirable than to be rich. 9. Succeeding as a teacher requires patience, caring, and having a tolerant attitude. – THEA WRITING REVIEW– 184 Answers 7. Simple, cheerful, and trusting, children are a joy to be around. 8. Being happy is more desirable than being rich. 9. Succeeding as a teacher requires patience, car- ing, and tolerance. Body and Conclusion Once you have your outline and your introduction, you need not concentrate so much on ideas; you already have them written down. In the body and conclusion of the essay, show off your writing style. Each of the three paragraphs after the introduction should contain a topic sentence and at least four supporting sentences. Your conclusion should restate your thesis and offer a few closing words. Extra Practice The sample paragraphs on pages 186 and 187 contain mistakes in grammar, punctuation, diction, and even organization. See whether you can find all the errors, and try to correct them. You may need to simply rewrite some of the para- graphs. Then, compare your revisions to the ones you will find on pages 195 and 196. There are many ways to rewrite the paragraphs; maybe you will find a better way than the ones given. If you can do that, you’re sure to pass the writing portion of the THEA. Topic Sentence and Supporting Sentences Each paragraph should have a topic sentence. Usually the topic sentence begins the paragraph and states the main idea of the paragraph in general. For each of the three or more paragraphs that will make up the body of your essay, one of the points from your outline should be used. That is why you made the outline. The points you wrote down will be the subject of the rest of the sentences in the paragraph. After composing the topic sentence, uphold and explain your main idea with supporting sentences. These sentences should be as detailed and descriptive as possible. Let’s go back to the uniform example and write some topic sentences and supporting sentences. Remember, the outline looks like this: Parents—Save money, children can use hand- me-downs, save wear on good clothes, buy- ing clothes easier, less pressure from children and fewer fights over money for clothes. Children—All children feel as well dressed as peers, feel more of a sense of belonging, eas- ier and faster to dress in morning, don’t have to worry about what others think, more dis- ciplined and calmer at school. School staff—Fewer fights at school, less bully- ing and teasing, more school loyalty among children so builds school community, par- ents less stressed so fewer calls for advice, frees officials to do other things, like academics. Conclusion: In the end, children, families, and school employees benefit. These are the thesis statement examples: ■ Adopting a school uniform policy will benefit parents, children, and school staff. ■ Uniform policies provide relief for parents, enhance self-esteem in children, and facilitate learning at school. Your first reason in favor of uniforms is that par- ents benefit. To make things easier, you can copy the first part of the thesis statement. This provides you with a transition (see below) as well as a topic sentence: In my opinion, a uniform policy will benefit parents. – THEA WRITING REVIEW– 185 . negation or exclusion. Sample Organizational Pattern Question Read the passage below written in the style of a maga- zine article. Then answer the question that follows. (1) The floundering dance company. THEA. Take extra care in answering this sample question because this topic will appear many times in the next few lessons. Sample Persuasive Essay Question 5. In your opinion, should public schools. position. Following are some exam- ples of questions that can help you frame your opinions for a persuasive essay. Note the suggested answers to the questions for the topic of school uniforms. 1.