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Organizing your ideas

A well-organized paper with a recognizable structure will be easier to compose and will leave your readers with a clear understanding of your topic.

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>> Once you gather enough information about your topic to develop a working thesis, you need [music] to organize your paper. There are many ways to structure your paper including cause and effect, narratives, comparisons, and persuasion. In a cause and effect structure, you begin by discussing the cause of a problem and then examining its effects. One example of cause and effect is what are the emotional effects of growing up in a country where Africans are separated from those of European descent or vice versa? You might first introduce an effect and then investigate its causes. This structure is often used to trace the causes of historical events. For example, a researcher might ask what caused the Soweto Uprising in South Africa in 1976? The answer would include information on the system of apartheid and the rise of new African leaders. You can also write a narrative, an account of the progression of your thinking. You could tell the story of Nelson Mandela and his struggle against the system of apartheid. Case studies use this strategy to recount how an idea came about. Your narrative explains what inspired the project, how you arrived at your thesis. Some research papers compare and contrast two or more ideas, events, or objects. Looking at our example of apartheid. We might examine how blacks lived in comparison to whites. Argumentative or persuasive papers usually take a position on an issue and support it with evidence. You can deal with opposing arguments in several ways. For instance, you can argue which positions are important to consider and which aren't credible. One form of an argumentative essay is problem solution. Begin by examining the problem and then offer possible solutions. Show readers how much each solution would cost and what benefits it would bring and then choose the best solution. There are many other ways to organize a paper. No matter which structure which use, organize your thoughts in a way that will help readers understand your most important points.

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