On Organization

Greetings again. I hope you’re doing well.

In writing about research, good organization is essential. In fact, as stated by scientific-writing expert Robert A. Day, “The preparation of a scientific paper has less to do with literary skill than with organization.”

But how to organize what one writes? Here are 2 principles: (1) Follow conventions for organizing the type of piece you’re writing. (2) Present items in a logical order.

Some examples of following conventions are as follows:

• If you’re writing a journal article reporting new research, use the journal’s usual structure for such articles. In many journals, the structure is IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion).
• If you’re writing a medical case report for a journal, follow the journal’s structure for such items. Often, this structure consists of an introduction, a case description, and a discussion.
• If you’re writing a news article or news release, generally use the inverted-pyramid format. In this format, the main point appears at the beginning, and increasingly specialized details follow.

Within parts of an article, here are some logical orders in which to present items:

• chronological (from earliest to latest)
• by importance (from most important to least important, or vice versa)
• by size (for largest to smallest, or vice versa)
• spatial (for example, from top to bottom or from north to south)
• alphabetical
• by cause and effect
• by problem and solution
• by subtopic

Choose one of these orders or another order that helps present effectively what you want to say.

Wishing you a good week— Barbara