Organization

1. Organization The internal structure of the piece—the thread of logic, the pattern of meaning

2. Organization • Create the Lead • Grab your reader’s attention from the start. • Use Sequence Words and Transition Words • Link ideas logically to guide your reader through the idea. • Structure the Body • Order details and examples so they flow smoothly. • End with a Sense of Resolution • Wrap it up and leave the reader thinking about your ideas.

3. Organization: Create the Lead • Grab your reader’s attention right from the start. • Did I give the reader something interesting to think about right from the start? • Will the reader want to keep reading? • Have I tried to get the reader’s attention? • Did I let the reader know what it coming?

4. Compare these two paragraphs. Animals are important in our world. My favorite animal is the gecko because I saw one in Hawaii last year on our vacation. But, this paper isn’t about geckos; it’s about saving the polar bear. “They cling precariously to the top of what is left of the ice floe, their fragile grip the perfect symbol of the tragedy of global warning” (Mouland, p. 1). The image of the magnificent polar bears, struggling to survive as the earth warms and their natural habitat thaws, has gained national and international attention. But could it be too late to save them? Scientists are conflicted on the cause of global warming and therefore, the solutions are not clear either: While they argue, form study committees, and play politics, every day more polar bears drown. Every day. It’s time to take action.

5. Organization: Using Sequence Words and Transition Words • Link ideas logically to guide your reader through the idea. • Have I used sequence words such as later, then, and meanwhile? • Did I use a variety of transition words such as however, because, also, and for instance? • Have I shown how the ideas connect from sentence to sentence? • Does my organization make sense from paragraph to paragraph?

6. It was then that we realized making a deep enough hole for this huge tree was going to be a challenge. “Thanks.” At long last, when the work was done, we stood back, admiring our handiwork. Not so surprisingly, we didn’t feel like doing any of the chores my mom left for us when she went to work. After we paid for it, we carried it home. Luckily, there was a nursery only a few blocks from my house. Unfortunately it took a long time and wore us out. We ate lunch then we left to pick out the perfect tree. It was summer break, and my friends and I were looking for something to do. “Mom’s gonna love this,” I told them. Even though the rock-hard dirt made our work nearly impossible we dug a good-sized hole for the blue spruce. The tree was heavier and bigger than we expected. After a while, we decided to plant a tree in the backyard that would give us shade on a hot, late summer days.

7. Warm-Up • Reread the jumbled up paragraph with a partner. • Circle the transition words. • Revise the paragraph on a separate sheet of paper. • Use the Think About questions for Using Sequence Words and Transition Words to help you revise. • You may wish to create two paragraphs. • There is no right way to do revise the paragraph, but there are better ways. 

8. It was summer break, and my friends and I were looking for something to do. Not so surprisingly, we didn’t feel like doing any of the chores my mom left for us when she went to work. After a while, we decided to plant a tree in the backyard that would give us shade on a hot, late summer day. Luckily, there was a nursery only a few blocks from my house. We ate lunch then we left to pick out the perfect tree. After we paid for it, we carried it home. The tree was heavier and bigger than we expected. It was then that we realized making a deep enough hole for this huge tree was going to be a challenge. Even though the rock-hard dirt made our work nearly impossible we dug a good-sized hole for the blue spruce. Unfortunately it took a long time and wore us out. At long last, when the work was done, we stood back, admiring our handiwork. “Mom’s gonna love this,” I told them. “Thanks.”

9. Making sense of sea snakes • Please place the ten sentences about sea snakes in an order that makes sense. Look for sequence and transition words and other clues to help you. Sea snakes are wonderful divers. Some scientists studied how well sea snakes dive by attaching little radio transmitters to them. When the snake dived, the transmitters told the scientists how deep they went. One snake dived 150 feet deep. It stayed under water for three and a half hours! How can the sea snakes stay underwater for so long? Sea snakes have a single lung that is larger than the lung of land snakes. For this reason, they can hold their breaths for a long time. Sea snakes also breathe through their skin. Land snakes can only do this a little bit.

10. Tell It Like It Is • You will go in birthday month order (January birthdays go first, February birthdays go second, etc.) • The first player rolls the story cubes and comes up with and recites an opening line. Make it an intriguing lead sentence.  • The last player records the first player’s sentence and then passes the paper to the first player. • The second player draws a card and, using the word or phrase on the card, adds the next sentence to the story. • The first player records the second player’s sentence and then passes the paper to the third player. • Continue in this pattern until each player has gone twice. When the last player is on his/her second turn, he/she must end the story.

11. Organization: Structuring the Body • Order the details and examples so they flow smoothly. • Have I shown the reader where to slow down and where to speed up? • Do all the details fit where they are placed? • Will the reader find it easy to follow my ideas? • Does the organization help the main idea stand out?

12. Compare these two paragraphs. John Wilkes Booth was born on May 10, 1838. He was a stage actor. Booth threatened to kill Lincoln several times. He shot and killed Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. He died several days later. John Wilkes Booth is famous and infamous for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C., April 14, 1865. Booth shot and killed Lincoln while the president and his wife were enjoying a play, thus making it the first presidential assassination in U.S. history. What is not as well known, however, is that Lincoln’s assassination was part of a larger conspiracy to not only kill President Lincoln, but Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William H. Seward, and General Ulysses S. Grant as well. Booth and his accomplices intended to throw the government into a state of panic and therefore allow the Confederate government time to reorganize and continue fighting the Civil War that was going badly for the South. Lincoln was killed, but attempts on the lives of the others were thwarted. Booth was chased down and shot a few days later, marking the end of one of the most tragic chapters in American history.

13. At Disneyland there were a lot of people who wanted to ride on the same rides as we did, so we had to wait in line for a long time. That part wasn’t so great, but except for that, Disneyland was a lot of fun. My favorite ride was Splash Mountain, but I liked the food there, too. There was popcorn and chili cheese fries. My son, Sam, really liked the hamburgers there because they were barbecued and had a lot of good stuff on them, but I liked the chili cheese fries the best. Sometimes we make them at home now because they were so good. Anyway, Sam and I had a great time at Disneyland. He liked to ride the bumper cars. He wanted to drive since the day he was born. He stood in line on his 16th birthday to get his license the minute the DMV opened up. He got to practice driving at Disneyland. It was fun.

14. My mouth still waters at the thought of those delicious chili cheese fries. The potatoes so hot they almost burn the top of your mouth; the cheese, melted to just the right temperature, gently oozing down the side of the dish; the aroma of chili pungent with the Texas Prairie spices. I couldn’t believe it; I was finally at Disneyland, and my senses were going wild. Most people remember a thrilling ride, or the crowds of people milling around the acres of land designed to help visitors forget their everyday lives for a few precious hours. Not me. I remember the food—rich, delicious, and everywhere. Pleasures for the palate, just another dimension of this magical kingdom designed to fulfill every wish and dream. You see, when I was growing up, we ate plain food. Good, healthy, wholesome food (at least by 1960s standards), but plain. Meatloaf, tuna on toast, chicken and dumplings, fruit in Jell-O molds, and at least a weekly dose of liver. That’s why now that I found myself at Disneyland, surrounded by rides, shops, and sights designed to create a lifetime of memories, what amazed me most were the chili cheese fries. Gloriously hot, gooey, savory, chili cheese fries. Ahhh…they were definitely an E-ticket ride.

15. Organization: Ending with a Sense of Resolution • Wrap it up and leave the reader thinking about your ideas. • Have I wrapped up all the loose ends? • Have I ended at the best place? • Do I have an ending that makes my writing feel finished? • Did I leave the reader with something to think about?

16. Examples of not-so-satisfying endings • “That’s all I have to say about…” • “Thank you for reading my paper.” • “Then I woke up and it was only a dream.” • “The end.”

17. A satisfying ending • Ties up loose ends • Brings the reader to a new level of thinking • Softly echoes the piece’s overarching theme

18. Compare these two paragraphs. These are three reasons I believe every student should have a laptop. I hope I have persuaded you to provide a laptop for every student. Thank you for reading my paper. To receive the education every student deserves, students need to have access to the latest technology in every class, every day in school. As I’ve shown, a huge amount of money is spent on resources that are out-of-date before they ever enter our classrooms. A laptop, so students can take notes, write papers, access the Internet for research, create charts and graphs, keep scientific journals, work with multiple languages, study art, and read and respond to current affairs as they happen, would save money in the long run. And, today’s students would be better prepared to take on more difficult work and more challenging classes by using current resources instead of old ones. A laptop for every student could be the answer to many of the most critical woes of the American education system.

19. Analyzing a Picture Book  • Either on your own or with one other person, pick a picture book. • Record the title and author on a piece of loose-leaf paper. • Read the entire book. • When you are finished reading, record the lead and the ending on your paper and classify the lead and the ending. Use the worksheet on types of endings as a guide.