Organization and Techniques of Writing

Organization of Writing

All writing has a structure. This can be thought of as a specific format or how the writing is organized. It is important to understand this structure in order to fully comprehend the material written. If you know the organization of the piece of writing, you will better understand the author’s message.

There are many types of organization an author can follow in his writing. Some of those include chronological order, order of importance, compare and contrast, and cause and effect. Let’s take a closer look at those types of organizational patterns.

Chronological Order

Perhaps the easiest pattern to identify is chronological order. For this organizational pattern, the writing follows the order of time. This means that the plot sticks to a specific timeline. The best example of writing in chronological order can be seen in any novel or short story. For the most part, all fiction is written in chronological order. These stories have a specific beginning, middle, and end. For example, think of the story of ‘Cinderella.’ It starts when she is a child, then follows what happens to her father and how she grows up with her stepmother. There is a sequence of events that is fairly easy to follow since it stays in order of time.

Besides fiction, there are some examples of nonfiction, or writing based on real life, that is also written in chronological order. For example, a biography is the story of a person’s life. This is written in chronological order because a biography almost always begins with that person’s birth, then describes their childhood, young adulthood, and on and on as they age. This is a perfect example of chronological order. Any writing that strives to show a sequence of events in order of time is following chronological order.

Order of Importance

A second type of organizational pattern is order of importance, which is exactly how it sounds. The importance of the ideas determines the order each occurs in the writing. The most important idea is described in the writing first, followed by the second most important, then the third, and so on and so forth.

This type of pattern is often seen in essays, which focus on a single topic with supporting details. The writer of an essay should analyze his supporting ideas. Whichever idea is the strongest should be the first one explained in the essay. For example, imagine you are writing an essay on the importance of recycling. You have found much information on the benefits of recycling, but which idea has the most support? Perhaps you found the best reason to recycle is that it saves trees, which helps the environment. This, then, should be the first idea you explain in your essay. Using this organizational pattern helps to strengthen any piece of writing centered on supporting arguments.

Compare and Contrast

A third type of organizational pattern is compare and contrast. In terms of writing, compare means to describe the similarities between two objects or ideas. On the other hand, means to describe the differences. With this in mind, there is a simple way to identify this pattern.

Writing Techniques

Good writing comes from the creativity inside you, making it hard to teach. But once your creative juices are flowing, writing techniques can act as the foundations for your work. There are a range of techniques available to writers that serve many different purposes, some help you highlight a point, while others aid the description of lifeless objects.

List of Writing Techniques

1. Simile

This descriptive writing technique compares one subject to a different subject even though they are not normally related. An example of a simile is, “Linda looks as thin as a toothpick.”

2. Metaphor

These are similar to similes, but instead of comparing things they go as far as to say to objects are the same. For example, “Life is a rollercoaster.”

3. Rhetorical Question

Rhetorical questions are questions that do not require or expect and answer. They can be used to make the reader think about a point being made in the question. For example,” How am I supposed to live without you?” shows the story’s love interest, as well as the reader, how strongly the speaker feels.

4. Alliteration

Alliteration is a writing technique commonly used in poetry that links together at least two words by repeating the sound of the first word, which must be a consonant. An example would be, “The waves washed wistfully against the shores.”

5. Assonance

Another technique often seen in poetry, assonance is similar to alliteration but repeats vowel sounds instead of consonants. An example of assonance is “The man with the tan was the meanest in the land.”

6. Personification

This is a writing technique that gives human characteristics to something non-human, such as a car, animal or plant. Personification helps bring things to life, making them more interesting. For example, “The thunder grumbled like an old man,” or “The moon winked at me through the clouds.”

7. Onomatopoeia

This writing technique is where a sound is represented by a word, such as “whack,” “boing,” or “thud.” Onomatopoeia is used in all literature but commonly in comic books. An example of onomatopoeia is, “Beep! Beep! The drivers behind were becoming impatient.”

8. Emotive Language

Emotive language refers to adjectives and adverbs that are related to emotions. Emotive writing generates a sense of empathy in the reader. An example would be, “Lee was sad after hearing about the death of his grandmother,” or “Jane loved the chocolate cake.” Words like love and sad help the reader feel the emotions of the characters.

9. Colloquial Language

This is language used informally, such as the shortening and joining of words together that many people do in text messages. An example of colloquial language is “I ain’t going to the party anymore, I’m just gonna stay in.” Instead of “I’m not going to the party anymore, I’m just going to stay in.” This technique can be used by writers when speaking through a character in their story.

10. Hyperbole

This is the use of excessive exaggeration to highlight a point. Examples of hyperbole include “I’ve been waiting forever.” Literally, this means the speaker has been waiting his entire life. The reader however knows he has only been waiting a while, but it feels like forever.