Structure

Structure refers to the way in which a writer organizes his or her writing. The structure of a work helps to make the writer’s ideas clear to the reader. There are several patterns of organization that writers use to create structure.

Classification

A writer may divide a topic into smaller sections that each talk about a group of ideas or items that are related. The writer has put these ideas or items in the same group, or classified them, because they are similar in some way. Whenever a passage discusses kinds of things—different kinds of jobs, different types of doctors, different kinds of sports, for example—the writer has used the pattern of classification to organize the information.

Example

This passage is about UFOs, or unidentified flying objects. Notice how the first sentence gives you a clue about what to look for as you read.
Cases of UFO sightings are grouped into three categories:
  1. A close encounter of the first kind is when an object is sighted from five hundred or fewer feet away, in the daytime or at night.
  2. A close encounter of the second kind is when the object comes close to the earth or lands. If it lands, the grass or ground is usually burned. There might also be holes or tracks in the soil. This is called physical evidence, and it must exist after a close encounter of the second kind.
  3. A close encounter of the third kind begins like the first two kinds. However, the person must also see an alien. The alien can be inside or outside of the UFO.

    4. From Truth is Stranger than Fiction by Betty Burns Paden

The topic of the passage is the sighting of UFOs. The passage divides that topic into three kinds of sightings and describes each kind.

Time Order

When you read, it’s important to keep track of when one event happened in relation to another. Often an author patterns an entire passage around a time-order relationship.

Example

This short paragraph uses key words to show the order in which events happen.
       Every workday morning Luis Mendoza drags himself out of bed after his clock radio has clicked on. Sleepily he then showers and shaves. Even before he has finished dressing, he can hear his children waking up in their room. By the time they come downstairs, he will have a hot breakfast waiting for each of them.
Here is the order of events for Luis on a typical morning:
  1. The radio goes on.
  2. Luis gets up.
  3. He showers and shaves.
  4. He begins to dress.
  5. He hears his children.
  6. He finishes dressing.
  7. He fixes breakfast.
  8. The children come downstairs.

Compare and Contrast

You know that a comparison shows ways in which things are alike. A contrast shows the differences. An author may pattern all the ideas of a passage around a compare-contrast relationship. One way to find comparisons and contrasts is to look for signal words or phrases. Like, also, both, similar, and the same as are often used in comparisons. Unlike, but, however, on the other hand, only, and different are often used in contrasts.

Example

This passage compares and contrasts a snake with other animals.
       Snakes look as if they would be quite limited in their ability to get around. On the contrary, they can swim as fast as fish. Without legs, most animals would not be able to move about; however, certain snakes can travel for short distances as fast as people can run. Snakes have no arms, but some can climb as well as monkeys. They can also bury themselves like a flash in soft earth or sand, although they lack hands or paws.

From Reading Tactics by Olive Stafford Niles et al.

This paragraph goes back and forth between comparing and contrasting. It contrasts the way a snake looks and compares how well a snake moves.

Cause and Effect

You know that a cause is whatever makes something happen. You know also that an effect is what is made to happen. An author can use cause-and-effect relationships throughout an entire passage.

Example

There is a series of cause-and-effect relationships in this passage.
       The first memory was of the sound of his mother crying late one night, crying to his father because there was no money to buy shoes for the children, who had to go back to school. Then his father came to bed; his father slept with him in the same bed, the two little brothers on another narrow bed in the same room, his mother sleeping with his sister in the other bedroom. That night his father did not sleep at all; he could feel his father twisting and turning and tossing in the bed, while he tried to make his father believe he was unaware.

From In Search of History: A Personal Adventure by Theodore H. White

The author describes a series of results caused by the family’s poverty. The boy’s mother cried because they had no money for shoes. Another effect of their poverty was that the family had only two bedrooms: one for the four males and another for the two females. Also, the father couldn’t sleep, causing the boy to remain awake.

See pages 72–82 and 89–95 in Contemporary's GED Language Arts, Reading for more information on structure.