short essay about organization

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Organization and Structure

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

There is no single organizational pattern that works well for all writing across all disciplines; rather, organization depends on what you’re writing, who you’re writing it for, and where your writing will be read. In order to communicate your ideas, you’ll need to use a logical and consistent organizational structure in all of your writing. We can think about organization at the global level (your entire paper or project) as well as at the local level (a chapter, section, or paragraph). For an American academic situation, this means that at all times, the goal of revising for organization and structure is to consciously design your writing projects to make them easy for readers to understand. In this context, you as the writer are always responsible for the reader's ability to understand your work; in other words, American academic writing is writer-responsible. A good goal is to make your writing accessible and comprehensible to someone who just reads sections of your writing rather than the entire piece. This handout provides strategies for revising your writing to help meet this goal.

Note that this resource focuses on writing for an American academic setting, specifically for graduate students. American academic writing is of course not the only standard for academic writing, and researchers around the globe will have different expectations for organization and structure. The OWL has some more resources about writing for American and international audiences here .

Whole-Essay Structure

While organization varies across and within disciplines, usually based on the genre, publication venue, and other rhetorical considerations of the writing, a great deal of academic writing can be described by the acronym IMRAD (or IMRaD): Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. This structure is common across most of the sciences and is often used in the humanities for empirical research. This structure doesn't serve every purpose (for instance, it may be difficult to follow IMRAD in a proposal for a future study or in more exploratory writing in the humanities), and it is often tweaked or changed to fit a particular situation. Still, its wide use as a base for a great deal of scholarly writing makes it worthwhile to break down here.

• Introduction : What is the purpose of the study? What were the research questions? What necessary background information should the reader understand to help contextualize the study? (Some disciplines include their literature review section as part of the introduction; some give the literature review its own heading on the same level as the other sections, i.e., ILMRAD.) Some writers use the CARS model to help craft their introductions more effectively.
• Methods: What methods did the researchers use? How was the study conducted? If the study included participants, who were they, and how were they selected?
• Results : This section lists the data. What did the researchers find as a result of their experiments (or, if the research is not experimental, what did the researchers learn from the study)? How were the research questions answered?
• Discussion : This section places the data within the larger conversation of the field. What might the results mean? Do these results agree or disagree with other literature cited? What should researchers do in the future?

Depending on your discipline, this may be exactly the structure you should use in your writing; or, it may be a base that you can see under the surface of published pieces in your field, which then diverge from the IMRAD structure to meet the expectations of other scholars in the field. However, you should always check to see what's expected of you in a given situation; this might mean talking to the professor for your class, looking at a journal's submission guidelines, reading your field's style manual, examining published examples, or asking a trusted mentor. Every field is a little different.

Outlining & Reverse Outlining

One of the most effective ways to get your ideas organized is to write an outline. A traditional outline comes as the pre-writing or drafting stage of the writing process. As you make your outline, think about all of the concepts, topics, and ideas you will need to include in order to accomplish your goal for the piece of writing. This may also include important citations and key terms. Write down each of these, and then consider what information readers will need to know in order for each point to make sense. Try to arrange your ideas in a way that logically progresses, building from one key idea or point to the next.

Questions for Writing Outlines

• What are the main points I am trying to make in this piece of writing?
• What background information will my readers need to understand each point? What will novice readers vs. experienced readers need to know?
• In what order do I want to present my ideas? Most important to least important, or least important to most important? Chronologically? Most complex to least complex? According to categories? Another order?

Reverse outlining comes at the drafting or revision stage of the writing process. After you have a complete draft of your project (or a section of your project), work alone or with a partner to read your project with the goal of understanding the main points you have made and the relationship of these points to one another. The OWL has another resource about reverse outlining here.

Questions for Writing Reverse Outlines

• What topics are covered in this piece of writing?
• In what order are the ideas presented? Is this order logical for both novice and experienced readers?
• Is adequate background information provided for each point, making it easy to understand how one idea leads to the next?
• What other points might the author include to further develop the writing project?

Organizing at the sentence and paragraph level

Signposting.

Signposting is the practice of using language specifically designed to help orient readers of your text. We call it signposting because this practice is like leaving road signs for a driver — it tells your reader where to go and what to expect up ahead. Signposting includes the use of transitional words and phrasing, and they may be explicit or more subtle. For example, an explicit signpost might say:

This section will cover Topic A­­ and Topic B­­­­­.

A more subtle signpost might look like this:

It's important to consider the impact of Topic A­­ and Topic B­­­­­.

The style of signpost you use will depend on the genre of your paper, the discipline in which you are writing, and your or your readers’ personal preferences. Regardless of the style of signpost you select, it’s important to include signposts regularly. They occur most frequently at the beginnings and endings of sections of your paper. It is often helpful to include signposts at mid-points in your project in order to remind readers of where you are in your argument.

Questions for Identifying and Evaluating Signposts

• How and where does the author include a phrase, sentence, or short group of sentences that explains the purpose and contents of the paper?
• How does each section of the paper provide a brief summary of what was covered earlier in the paper?
• How does each section of the paper explain what will be covered in that section?
• How does the author use transitional words and phrases to guide readers through ideas (e.g. however, in addition, similarly, nevertheless, another, while, because, first, second, next, then etc.)?

WORKS CONSULTED

Clark, I. (2006). Writing the successful thesis and dissertation: Entering the conversation . Prentice Hall Press.

Davis, M., Davis, K. J., & Dunagan, M. (2012). Scientific papers and presentations . Academic press.

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

What Defines a Successful Organization?

The characteristics that help an organization succeed have changed over the past century. While a highly structured, top-down management style used to be companies’ preferred approach to organization, the internet has made this structure (and the layers of hierarchy that developed over decades) irrelevant. In this article, the author discusses how a successful organization today moves from mass markets to markets of one, routinely replaces core competencies, shifts to team-based structures, and manages from the outside in, among other features.

In our age of discontinuity, you need the ability to continually shift.

Organizations succeed over time only when they adapt to the speed and character of external change. Every aspect of an organization — from how it operates and is structured to how it is led — must match the current yet ever-shifting context in which it exists.

How HBR’s coverage has evolved over time.

• Ram Charan serves on seven private and public boards across the globe and is author or coauthor of 36 books and several HBR articles on corporate governance. He is the co-author of Boards That Lead: When to Take Charge, When to Partner, and When to Stay Out of the Way .

Partner Center

Your Article Library

Essay on organisation: top 6 essays.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Read this essay to learn about Organisation. After reading this article you will learn about: 1. Meaning of Organisation 2. Theories of Organisation 3. Principles for Dividing the Work 4. Scalar Process 5. Span of Control 6. Unity of Command.

• Essay on Unity of Command in an Organisation

Essay # 1. Meaning of Organisation:

“Organisation”, according to the dictionary, “is the work of connecting inter-dependent parts so that each has a special function, act, office or relation to the whole”.

According to J. M. Gaus, “Organisation is the arrangement of personnel for facilitating the accomplishment of some agreed purpose through the allocation of functions and responsibilities. It is the relat­ing of efforts and capacities of individuals and groups engaged upon a common task in such a way as to secure the desired objective with the least friction and the most satisfaction to those for whom the task is done and those engaged in the enterprise.”

In the words of Mooney, “Organisation is the form of every human association for the attainment of a common pur­pose”.

Some other definitions of organization are as follows:

(i) “Organisation is the arrangement of personnel for facilitating the accomplishment of some agreed purpose through allocation of functions and responsibilities”. —L.D. White

(ii) “Organisation structure is a pattern of inter-related posts- connected by line of del­egated authority”. —Milward

(iii) “Organisation consists of the relationship of individual to individual and of group to groups which are so related as to bring about an orderly division of labour”. —Pfiffner

(iv) “Organisation refers to the structure developed for carrying out the tasks entrusted to the chief executive and his administrative subordinates in government”. —Mark, M.

(v) “Organisation is the formal structure of authority through which work sub-divisions are arranged, defined and coordinated for the defined objective.” —Gulick Luther

“Organisation is to determine the activities to accomplish a job and to arrange the distri­bution of activities among the people” —L.F. Urwick

“Organisation is the structural relationship between various factors in an enterprise.” —Leusbeng and Sprinegal

(vi) “An organization is a combination of the necessary human beings, materials, tools, equipment, working space and appurtenances brought together in systematic and effective coor­dination to accomplish some desired object”. —Schulze, William

(vii) “Organisation is concerned with the pattern of relationships between persons in an enterprise, so constructed as to fulfill the enterpriser’s function”. —Gladden

(viii)”By organization we mean a planned system of co-operative effort in which each participant has a recognized role to play and duties and tasks to perform”. —Simon

(ix) It embraces the duties of designating the departments and personnel that are to carry on the work defining the functions and specifying the relationship that are to exist between departments and individuals” — Kimbal and Kirmball

(x) “Organisation is a harmonious adjustment of specialized parts for the accomplishment of some common purpose or purposes” —L.H. Haney

(xi) “An identifiable group of people contributing efforts towards the attainment of goals is called organisation” —Mc Parland

The above definitions reveal that some are on the basis of functions whereas some are on the basis of objectives.

The term organisation is generally used in at least three different meanings:

(a) The act of designing the administrative structure;

(b) Both designing and building the structure, and

(c) The structure itself Of course, some thinkers believe that organisation is simply designing the structure and nothing more.

Urwick, for example, restricts the meaning of organisation only to the designing of the administrative machine. He defines organisation as “determining what activities are necessary to any purpose and arranging them in groups which may be assigned to individuals.” His approach is called structural or traditional approach.

Others do not accept his structural or engineering approach to the concept of organization. They believe that organisation is essentially a network of human relationships and this fact should not be lost sight of in the study of an organisation.

Dwight Waldo says, “In many ways the classical theory was crude, presumptuous, incomplete, wrong in some of its conclusions, naive in its scientific methodology, parochial in its outlook. In many ways it was the end of a Movement, not the foundation for a science.” Milward has said, “Organisation by itself does nothing; it is the staff making up the organisation who do the work.”

” Similarly, Gaus highlights the importance of human element in an organisation when he defines organisation as the “relating of efforts and capacities of individuals and groups engaged upon a common task in such a way as to secure the desired objective with the least friction and the most satisfaction for whom the task is done and those engaged in the enterprise.”

There is no denying the fact that organisation is not merely a structural framework ; it is both a structure and a network of social relationships, and as such, any organisational theory must be basically human.

This fact is vividly brought out by the following observation of the learned thinkers: “Organisation is the systematic bringing together of inter-dependent parts to form a unified whole through which authority, coordination and control may be exercised to achieve a given purpose. Because the interdependent parts are made up also of people who must be directed and motivated and whose work must be co­ordinated in order to achieve the objectives of the enterprise, organisation is both structure and human beings….To try to deal with organisation merely as framework and without considering the people who make it up and those for whom Its services are intended would be wholly unrealistic.” In the words of L.D. White, “an organisation is an aggregate of positions and incumbents” and its primary elements are (a) persons, (b) combined efforts, and (c) a common purpose.

In olden days, organisations were simple because human society was in its primitive stage. It, of course, does not mean that there never were large-scale organisations of the type we find today. It only means that the relationship pattern in the old simple organisations was different from what it is today.

Giving an account of the pre-industrial scale organisations Pfiffner and Sherwood write:

“They were massively simple groups put together to perform a tremendous job that was simply the endless repetition of a simple one. Obedient to the principle that the organisation is conditioned by the circumstances that give it rise, these groups were structurally nothing but the innumerable repetition of but one human relationship—the one—ways authori­tarian relation which in its “pure” form is that between master and slave.”

But, today, the old master-slave relationship is a far cry. There have been many factors at work which have influ­enced and added to the complexity of modern organisations. These factors are just those which have served to complicate the entire fabric of society.

They include:

(a) The liberation of the individual in our social philosophy and policies;

(b) The development of new understandings of the nature of human co-operation;

(c) The broadening range of organisation goals; and

(d) The movement towards task specialization.

It is important to recognize that organisations are social entities and as such, they are subject to the same kinds of influences, pressures, prejudices, and biases as any of the social organisms. It is, therefore, essential that they must be viewed in their total, multi-dimensional context, rather than from a narrow, mechanical point of view.

As James D. Mooney has written, “Organisation, therefore, refers to more than the frame of the edifice. It refers to the complete body, with all its correlated functions. It refers to those functions as they appear in action, the very pulse and heartbeats, the circulation, and respiration, the vital movement, so to speak of the organised unit.

It refers to the co-ordination of all these factors as they co-operate for the common purpose.”

Essay # 2. Theories of Organisation:

There has been a heavy flow of current literature on the theories of organisation. Such theories include theories like behavioural theory, game theory, decision theory, information theory, communication theory, group theory, concept of informal organisation, motivational approach, quasi-mathematical approach, human relations approach, etc., but none among them can be said to be entirely satisfactory.

It is, perhaps, on account of the fact that the study of organisation is still in its infancy. On the whole, studies of administrative organisation have tended to cluster at one or the other of two poles. At one end is the traditional, mechanistic, engineering approach to the problem and at the other end is the human behavioural orientation, in which the sociologists, psychologists, and antropologists hae been most prominent.

These two theories are quite opposite to each other and their contrast involves the value systems of each position.

Those who are involved in the disciplines of industrial management, with its concern for formal structural concepts, place considerable store by the values of productivity, individual competition, and the more humanistic attitude towards the actors in organisation, regarding authority for example, as coming from within the group rather than from the top down.

Let us study these two theories in detail.

Structural (Mechanistic) Functional (Classical) Theory:

This theory is also known as traditional or mechanistic theory of organisation and a clas­sical theory of organisation. According to this theory, organisation is a formal structure of plan, amenable to creation in accordance with certain accepted principles in the same way as the plan of a building which can be prepared in advance by the architect according to some principles.

In fact, there are ‘organisation engineers’ in the United States, who have taken to drawing of organisational charts as their profession. The whole concept of this theory is based on two assumptions.

Firstly, the theory assumes that there are certain fundamental principles in accor­dance with which an organisation can be built up to meet the requirements of the contemplated purpose or activity, and secondly, that the job is independent of its incumbent. By now, it is obvious that this theory regards organisation as a machine wherein the human beings are made to fit like cogs.

The scientific management movement which originated in the opening decades of the twentieth century under Frederick Winslow Taylor had as its principal objective the divi­sion of work into its component parts. The movement ignored the human behaviour in its at­tempt to fix a fair day’s work for the workers, and suffered as a consequence of it.

The traditional theory, according to Pfiffner and Sherwood, is “derived philosophically from a combination of absolutism, laissez-faire economics, rationalism and in interpretation of human behaviour based upon the automation.”

It originated in the pre-democratic climate of the nineteenth century industrial institutions and the validity of this observation is attested by its metamorphosis command, control, direction, and communication through channels.

It be­lieves that personalities in the jobs do not count. People must adapt themselves to organisational needs and that those who are unable to meet job demands should be discarded. It further as­sumes that workers are always motivated by rational choice which make them to behave like an economic man when faced with alternative choices.

In the words of L.D. White, “it is a formal declared pattern of relationships established in government by law and by top management, it is based on the nature and volume of work to be done and is dictated by the requirements of efficiency in the sense of securing the most effective use of men and materials and by the need for responsibility. This organisation is established and supported by authority and can be set out, although imperfectly, on a chart or diagram. It is normally the dominant set of work relationships.”

Briefly summarized the underlying ideas of the traditional theory are:

(i) It takes an administrative view of human relationship;

(ii) It considers human behaviour to be completely rational and ignores the irrational or non-rational elements in human nature;

(iii) It considers the economic incentives to be the sole motivating factor in human life and does not take any note of the psychological factors;

(iv) It assumes that individuals are immune from the control of groups and other social factors;

(v) It takes a mechanistic view of organization and ignores the dynamics of organizational behaviour;

(vi) It takes into account only the formal relationships in an organization and ignores the informal relationships.

This approach “bears the stamp of the engineer seeking scientific precision, logical struc­ture, and the one best way of performing each step and of relating the parts to a unified whole.”

Social-Psychological Theory:

The late 1930’s marked the emergence of a revolt against traditionalism in organisation theory. This revolt came from a number of sources, movements and schools which were critical of the narrow and limited concept of organisation held by the traditionalists. It was a revolt against the dehumanization of organisation and against the belief of regarding human beings as cogs in the machine.

The main elements of the new approach are:

(i) An explicit recognition of the place of values,

(ii) Emphasis on questions of methodology;

(iii) a changed conception of jobs or positions;

(iv) An acceptance of the fact that the government employees are human beings who work as members of a group;

(v) An organization is a social institution.

In the words of Etzioni “organisations are social units (on human groupings) deliberately constructed and reconstructed to seek specific goals”. Herbert A. Simon blasted the so-called principles of organisation stating that they were merely proverbs which had never been scientifically tested.

This ideological revolution in the organisation theory came as a consequence of the Hawthorne experiment conducted during the 1920’s though the results of the principal researches were not published until a decade later. Elton Mayo and his colleagues who conducted the experiment made two significant contributions in organisation and management.

These were:

(i) A challenge to the physical or engineering approach to motivation.

(ii) The first real assault on the purely structural, hierarchical approach to organisation.

The experiment proved that people do not respond in any predictable fashion when physi­cal or environmental incentives are applied. In other words, motivation cannot be engineered. Organisation is a social institution and the persons working therein are social beings.

They can work most efficiently if they are provided with humane conditions of work. In the words of Roethlisberger, “Too often we try to solve human problems with non-human tools and in terms of non-human data. It is my simple thesis that a human problem requires a human solution…. A human problem to be brought to a human solution requires human data and human tools.”

As Henri Fayol has admirably stated “If we could eliminate the human factor, it would be easy enough to build up an organization; any one could do it if they had some idea of the current practice and had the necessary capital. But we cannot build up an effective organisation simply by dividing men into groups and giving them functions; we must know how to adapt the organisation to the requirement of the case and how to find the necessary men and put each one in the place where he can be of most service ….”

The essence of this theory lies in its dominant emphasis on people, on human motivation and on informal group functioning. The theory rejects institutionalization. It lays more emphasis on the day to day informal functioning of the structure. It considers it more important and indicative than the charts and maps.

As such for analysis and solution of the organisational problem it is imperative to comprehend the multi-dimensional nature of man. Pfiffner and Sherwood have depicted the changing trends in organisation theory most comprehensively in their book ‘Administrative Organisation’.

They are as follows:

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

9.3 Organizing Your Writing

Learning objectives.

• Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
• Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
• Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
• Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

• Chronological order
• Order of importance
• Spatial order

When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research.

Chronological Order

In Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or relate an experience
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing , which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first , second , then , after that , later , and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first , then , next , and so on.

Writing at Work

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first , second , then , and finally .

Order of Importance

Recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” that order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly , almost as importantly , just as importantly , and finally .

During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

Spatial Order

As stated in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up most of the wall, which is the color of lavender.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• On the left or on the right
• Across from
• A little further down
• To the south, to the east, and so on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning right

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

• The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
• A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
• Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Welcome to the new OASIS website! We have academic skills, library skills, math and statistics support, and writing resources all together in one new home.

• Walden University
• Faculty Portal

Writing a Paper: Revising for Effective Organization

Revising for effective organization, whole-essay organization:.

These strategies will help you identify paragraphs with information or ideas that need to be rearranged or adjusted.

• Read each paragraph. On note paper, write the central idea for each paragraph, forming an outline of your paper.
• Does each central idea help you support the thesis of your paper? If not, then you have gone off-topic. Identify which paragraph does not relate to your assignment, and revise it.
• Do your ideas progress logically? If not, then you have presented them out of order. Identify which paragraphs to present earlier or later in your paper, and rearrange them.

Individual-Paragraph Organization:

These strategies will help you identify sentences that need to be added to your paragraphs. Additionally, click this link for more details about organization on the Writing Center website.

• Main point: The first sentence of each paragraph should present its main idea.
• Evidence: The next line should support for your topic with cited sources.
• Analysis: The next lines should explain the evidence and connect it to your topic.
• Lead out: The last line of each paragraph should help readers shift smoothly to the new idea in the next paragraph.
• If you find any paragraphs that do not follow the MEAL plan, identify which element is missing (main point, evidence, analysis, or lead out) and revise your paragraph to include this material.

Related Multimedia Resources

• Previous Page: Revising for Stronger Evidence
• Next Page: Revising for Scholarly Voice
• Office of Student Disability Services

Walden Resources

Departments.

• Academic Residencies
• Academic Skills
• Career Planning and Development
• Customer Care Team
• Field Experience
• Military Services
• Student Success Advising
• Writing Skills

Centers and Offices

• Center for Social Change
• Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services
• Office of Degree Acceleration
• Office of Research and Doctoral Services
• Office of Student Affairs

Student Resources

• Doctoral Writing Assessment
• Form & Style Review
• Quick Answers
• ScholarWorks
• SKIL Courses and Workshops
• Walden Bookstore
• Walden Catalog & Student Handbook
• Student Safety/Title IX
• Legal & Consumer Information
• Website Terms and Conditions
• Cookie Policy
• Accessibility
• Accreditation
• State Authorization
• Net Price Calculator
• Cost of Attendance
• Contact Walden

Walden University is a member of Adtalem Global Education, Inc. www.adtalem.com Walden University is certified to operate by SCHEV © 2024 Walden University LLC. All rights reserved.

Teamwork in organizations Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Technological developments have brought about great impacts on the world evidenced by constant and unexpected changes in the environment. These effects have been felt in the business circles with an increase in competition. Many businesses have found themselves in stiff and breath-taking competition.

On the same note, this kind of environment requires any ambitious business organisation to utilise its resources well so that it can remain productive as well effective. Therefore, in this fast changing world, most organisations have resorted to increase their levels of production especially by team building at workplace.

To achieve this, they have applied various methods of motivating their workers who are by far and large, are able to use their abilities and work harder and make achieving of high goals in that organization a reality (Gupta & Shaw, 1998, p. 28). Such efforts by employees have also been found to be instrumental towards workers’ satisfaction at workplace.

In addition to motivation, many organizations have adopted collaborative working patterns whereby various team building exercises have been devised by organisations in order to boost the working morale of employees. The teams come together to perform a specific tasks and responsibilities (Appelbaum , Serena & Shapiro, 2004, p.5). Teams in an organization would include management team, project team, work team and so on.

These teams are motivated in a number of ways to work together and achieve impressive results. Some of the ways include actions to satisfy their needs, monetary incentives, rewards and punitive measures where necessary (Kohn, 1998 p. 30).

Today, many organizations owe their success to teamwork since workers are motivated when they achieve great goals set forth by the organisation over and above some personal rewards and recognition that they may earn.

The practice of team work has been established in several workplaces and has proved to be not only effective in managing organisations but also a prudent measure of assessing the performance of employees and growth of an organisation (Proctor & Currie 2002 p. 306).

This is an indication of its prevalence and its effectiveness in management and successful operations of an organisation. It is important to note that for a business to grow, work performance should be regularly assessed, evaluated and improved where necessary (Findlay et al., 2000, p.1552).

A team is a group of individuals, who share roles and duties towards achieving the same goal while each team member is interdependent in their duties and are embedded in social systems like corporations or business units (McCabe,1990, p.204). In HRM, teamwork has been found to be beneficial due to the myriad gains it brings to the business.

One of the dominant reasons why managers would prefer their employees to work as a team is motivation of group members. According to Wiley (1997), the attitude of employees while performing a particular task is largely influenced by the nature of team work spirit (Wiley, 1997 p.279). Hence, it is important to create an environment that is conducive enough while forming cohesive teams.

For instance, the respective teams constituted by an organisation should be source of motivation for employees rather than just pulling efforts together. In addition, the author argues that most employers may not be keen in finding out other possible employees can be motivated over and above using monetary incentives.

The way employees behave and respond to their various duties depends on the nature of motivation they obtain while working as a team.

The theory of motivation looks into how to motivate an employee, how that motivation will influence how he behaves and the output of work. It tries to describe ways of motivating workers to work harder to satisfy their own needs as well as attain company goals (Wiley, 1997 p.279).

There are numerous ways today of motivating workers in an organization. These ways or methods include ongoing learning, team based rewards, trust, 360-degree feedback, leadership, justice, empowerment, monetary incentives and so on (Herzberg, 1987, p.90).

Teamwork can be understood in several ways. Firstly, it forms the basic unit of an organization and brings about high levels of production. It is therefore important that an organization know how and where to put teams depending on the wide range of responsibilities that the company has (Proctor & Currie, 2002, p.306).

There are various types of teams in an organization such as project teams, work teams, management teams and so on (Findlay et al., 2000 p.1552). Also, there are teams that perform autonomous work like the self managed work teams (SMWT) and the autonomous work group (AWG). In comparison, work teams that have been formed voluntarily perform better and are highly motivated than non voluntary groups.

An employee’s attitude towards teamwork greatly affects the success of an organization. An organization will fail to realize a certain goal if employees resist teamwork (Proctor & Currie, 2002 p.306).

This will win the attitudes of the employees and as a predictor, will work towards building teamwork in the organisation. Therefore this indicates that organizational outcomes are based on the trust that exists between the management of an organization and the employees (Kirkman, Jones & Shapiro, 2000, p. 74).

The performance of small groups within an organisation is a key ingredient to the overall output of the entire organisation. Hence, the success of any organisation heavily relies on the individual output of small teams that constitute departments or divisions within an organisation. Increased productivity has been directly linked to group efficacy in an organisation.

Besides, there are other group dynamics elated to group efficacy that may also contribute positively to the growth of an organisation (Paterson, 2010 p.10). Most studies have also revealed that group dynamics derive a lot of benefit from efficacy and the overall effectiveness of a group. Although leadership style in an organisation is paramount in driving groups, leadership satisfaction may not necessarily be affected by group efficacy.

One of the most powerful ways through which groups can increase their efficacy and effectiveness is through team building exercises. It is worth noting organisations with high employee base coupled with diverse values may be cumbersome to manage.

In order to improve the productivity of employees working in various departments, team work is indeed paramount. It may not be easy to harmonise different groups to work collectively and still appreciate their contribution and usefulness (Beeson, 2011, p.16). Therefore, team building exercise is duly necessary to improve the efficacy of teams.

Team work is a very important organizational practice and behaviour that is highly recommended for any organisation seeking to boost its performance. The essence behind any team building and team work strategy is that when employees work or pull together towards achieving a common goal, it is more likely that the organisation will realize a much faster growth compared to when they pull in different directions.

Hence, the concept of team building can be described as an organizational behaviour and practice that attempts to bring employees together as one cohesive team that works to achieve a common objective or goal.

Through team work or working in small cohesive groups, an organisation will be in a position to not only advance the leadership skills of its employees, but the morale of its staff will equally be boosted (Casse & Claudel, 2011 p.50). For example, when employees are taken for an outing in form of a retreat to conduct team building exercises, it will assist in breaking some of the barriers that exist among them.

These barriers may be social, political or even personal and can significantly hinder the effectiveness of team work. Hence, team work that has been cultivated through team building for the purpose of creating vibrant working groups can indeed assist in identifying barriers that hinder the ability of members to be creative.

Moreover, the huge number of employees that may be working in one particular organisation can work best if the organisational goals and objectives are clear. In this regard, goal setting theory suggests that employees from all levels of an organisation should participate in the process of goal setting and while they do so, it is upon the senior management to explain to them the importance of setting these goals.

However, this can be achieved with much ease when employees work as small organized teams pursuing a common goal (Kohn, 1998 p.30). Such small harmonized and cohesive teams are capable of giving clear definitions of the expected goals and objectives, set a particular time frame within which to achieve the set goals and objectives and above all, carry out performance appraisal (Kirkman, Jones & Shapiro, 2000 p.74).

In addition, procedures and process within the different departments in an organisation will be improved considerably owing to the fact that there will be a high level of cooperation among workers. In a nutshell, effectiveness of each department in an organisation can only be improved through well defined and constructed groups coined from team building exercises.

An organisation that intends to experience tremendous growth and development in this competitive world must build its foundation for success on the strategy of teamwork. It is the key to the development of the staff as well as the employees.

Organizational objectives and performance results fully depend on the strength and effectiveness of the teamwork (McCabe,1990 p.209). Sequentially, it is through the same that low trust syndrome and the feeling of isolation at the place of work are overcome (Kohn, 1998, p. 30).

Finally, team work enables the management of an organisation to identify, recruit and retain talent (McCabe,1990 p.209). Talent flow within an organisation and the way it is strategically hired, developed, nurtured and retained are all components of talent management.

Although a business organisation or institution may opt to settle for trained professionals, the process of aligning the right personnel with jobs that suits them most demands more than just professionalism and training. Indeed, the availability of sufficient and most productive labour supply requires cross-section of talent management throughout an organisation as per the broad objectives of a business organisation.

Such a process may be difficult to accomplish if the management of a company does not work with small harmonised groups. It is only through team work that managers can integrate and incorporate talent in human resource development.

To sum up, managers play an important role in encouraging teamwork and organizing the context in which they work. Team work adds value to the performance of an organization. However, it is important to note that the system of rewarding and appraisals should be given due attention because it affects team working.

Managers need to motivate their workers, empower and address issues affecting them. Besides, teamwork should not be resisted by the employees or the manager because it increases the productivity of an organisation. Its strategic nature is exemplified in the relationship it has with performance.

Appelbaum , S. H ., Serena, M., & Shapiro, B. T. 2004. Generation X and the Boomers: Organizational Myths and Literary Realities. Management Research News . 27(11), 1-20.

Beeson, J. 2011. Build a Strong Team. Leadership Excellence . 28 no.2: 15-18. Web.

Casse, P., & Claudel, P. 2011. Leadership styles: a powerful model. Training Journal. 46-51.

Findlay, P. et al. 2000. In search of perfect people: Teamwork and team players in the Scottish spirits industry. Human Relations. 53(12), 1549-1574.

Gupta, N. & Shaw, Jason D. 1998. Let the evidence speak: Financial incentives are effective!! Compensation and Benefits Review. 30 (2), 26-32.

Herzberg, F. 1987. One more time: how do you motivate employees. Harvard Business Review. 87- 99.

Kirkman, B. L., Jones, R.G. & Shapiro, D.L. 2000. Why do employees resist teams? Examining the “resistance barrier “to work team effective. The International Journal of Conflict Management . 11(1), 74–92.

Kohn, A. 1998. Challenging behaviorist dogma: Myths about money and motivation Compensation and Benefits Review. 30(2), 27-33.

McCabe, D. 1990. The team dream:the meaning and experience of teamworking for employees in an automobile manufacturing company. The meaning and experience of teamworking for employees. 204-213.

Paterson, J. 2010. Do teams work? Leadership for Student Activities.39 no.4: 9-12. Web.

Proctor, S. & Currie, G. 2002. How team working works in the Inland Revenue: meaning, operation and impact. Personnel Review . 31 (3) 304-319.

Wiley, C. 1997. What motivates employees according to over 40 years of motivation surveys. International Journal of Manpower . 18(3), 263-280.

• From Comcast to Xfinity
• Barriers to an Effective Organizational Learning
• A Discussion of Key Challenges Faced by MNCs in Developing a Cohesive & Inclusive Culture
• Leadership and Motivating the Employees
• Advantages of a Cohesive Team in the Modern World
• Master Manager
• Organizational Capabilities of Consulting Company
• Strategic Human Resource Management in Bank Central Asia
• Managing Human Resource in an International Company
• Group Processes in an Organizational Setting
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, May 6). Teamwork in organizations. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teamwork-in-organizations-essay/

"Teamwork in organizations." IvyPanda , 6 May 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/teamwork-in-organizations-essay/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Teamwork in organizations'. 6 May.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Teamwork in organizations." May 6, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teamwork-in-organizations-essay/.

1. IvyPanda . "Teamwork in organizations." May 6, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teamwork-in-organizations-essay/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Teamwork in organizations." May 6, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teamwork-in-organizations-essay/.

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• The four main types of essay | Quick guide with examples

The Four Main Types of Essay | Quick Guide with Examples

Published on September 4, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. There are many different types of essay, but they are often defined in four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays.

Argumentative and expository essays are focused on conveying information and making clear points, while narrative and descriptive essays are about exercising creativity and writing in an interesting way. At university level, argumentative essays are the most common type. 

In high school and college, you will also often have to write textual analysis essays, which test your skills in close reading and interpretation.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

Table of contents

Argumentative essays, expository essays, narrative essays, descriptive essays, textual analysis essays, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about types of essays.

An argumentative essay presents an extended, evidence-based argument. It requires a strong thesis statement —a clearly defined stance on your topic. Your aim is to convince the reader of your thesis using evidence (such as quotations ) and analysis.

Argumentative essays test your ability to research and present your own position on a topic. This is the most common type of essay at college level—most papers you write will involve some kind of argumentation.

The essay is divided into an introduction, body, and conclusion:

• The introduction provides your topic and thesis statement
• The body presents your evidence and arguments
• The conclusion summarizes your argument and emphasizes its importance

The example below is a paragraph from the body of an argumentative essay about the effects of the internet on education. Mouse over it to learn more.

A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

An expository essay provides a clear, focused explanation of a topic. It doesn’t require an original argument, just a balanced and well-organized view of the topic.

Expository essays test your familiarity with a topic and your ability to organize and convey information. They are commonly assigned at high school or in exam questions at college level.

The introduction of an expository essay states your topic and provides some general background, the body presents the details, and the conclusion summarizes the information presented.

A typical body paragraph from an expository essay about the invention of the printing press is shown below. Mouse over it to learn more.

The invention of the printing press in 1440 changed this situation dramatically. Johannes Gutenberg, who had worked as a goldsmith, used his knowledge of metals in the design of the press. He made his type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, whose durability allowed for the reliable production of high-quality books. This new technology allowed texts to be reproduced and disseminated on a much larger scale than was previously possible. The Gutenberg Bible appeared in the 1450s, and a large number of printing presses sprang up across the continent in the following decades. Gutenberg’s invention rapidly transformed cultural production in Europe; among other things, it would lead to the Protestant Reformation.

A narrative essay is one that tells a story. This is usually a story about a personal experience you had, but it may also be an imaginative exploration of something you have not experienced.

Narrative essays test your ability to build up a narrative in an engaging, well-structured way. They are much more personal and creative than other kinds of academic writing . Writing a personal statement for an application requires the same skills as a narrative essay.

A narrative essay isn’t strictly divided into introduction, body, and conclusion, but it should still begin by setting up the narrative and finish by expressing the point of the story—what you learned from your experience, or why it made an impression on you.

Mouse over the example below, a short narrative essay responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” to explore its structure.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

A descriptive essay provides a detailed sensory description of something. Like narrative essays, they allow you to be more creative than most academic writing, but they are more tightly focused than narrative essays. You might describe a specific place or object, rather than telling a whole story.

Descriptive essays test your ability to use language creatively, making striking word choices to convey a memorable picture of what you’re describing.

A descriptive essay can be quite loosely structured, though it should usually begin by introducing the object of your description and end by drawing an overall picture of it. The important thing is to use careful word choices and figurative language to create an original description of your object.

Mouse over the example below, a response to the prompt “Describe a place you love to spend time in,” to learn more about descriptive essays.

On Sunday afternoons I like to spend my time in the garden behind my house. The garden is narrow but long, a corridor of green extending from the back of the house, and I sit on a lawn chair at the far end to read and relax. I am in my small peaceful paradise: the shade of the tree, the feel of the grass on my feet, the gentle activity of the fish in the pond beside me.

My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above. From his perch he can watch over his little kingdom and keep an eye on the neighbours. He does this until the barking of next door’s dog scares him from his post and he bolts for the cat flap to govern from the safety of the kitchen.

With that, I am left alone with the fish, whose whole world is the pond by my feet. The fish explore the pond every day as if for the first time, prodding and inspecting every stone. I sometimes feel the same about sitting here in the garden; I know the place better than anyone, but whenever I return I still feel compelled to pay attention to all its details and novelties—a new bird perched in the tree, the growth of the grass, and the movement of the insects it shelters…

Sitting out in the garden, I feel serene. I feel at home. And yet I always feel there is more to discover. The bounds of my garden may be small, but there is a whole world contained within it, and it is one I will never get tired of inhabiting.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

• Academic style
• Vague sentences
• Style consistency

See an example

Though every essay type tests your writing skills, some essays also test your ability to read carefully and critically. In a textual analysis essay, you don’t just present information on a topic, but closely analyze a text to explain how it achieves certain effects.

Rhetorical analysis

A rhetorical analysis looks at a persuasive text (e.g. a speech, an essay, a political cartoon) in terms of the rhetorical devices it uses, and evaluates their effectiveness.

The goal is not to state whether you agree with the author’s argument but to look at how they have constructed it.

The introduction of a rhetorical analysis presents the text, some background information, and your thesis statement; the body comprises the analysis itself; and the conclusion wraps up your analysis of the text, emphasizing its relevance to broader concerns.

The example below is from a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech . Mouse over it to learn more.

King’s speech is infused with prophetic language throughout. Even before the famous “dream” part of the speech, King’s language consistently strikes a prophetic tone. He refers to the Lincoln Memorial as a “hallowed spot” and speaks of rising “from the dark and desolate valley of segregation” to “make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” The assumption of this prophetic voice constitutes the text’s strongest ethical appeal; after linking himself with political figures like Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, King’s ethos adopts a distinctly religious tone, recalling Biblical prophets and preachers of change from across history. This adds significant force to his words; standing before an audience of hundreds of thousands, he states not just what the future should be, but what it will be: “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” This warning is almost apocalyptic in tone, though it concludes with the positive image of the “bright day of justice.” The power of King’s rhetoric thus stems not only from the pathos of his vision of a brighter future, but from the ethos of the prophetic voice he adopts in expressing this vision.

Literary analysis

A literary analysis essay presents a close reading of a work of literature—e.g. a poem or novel—to explore the choices made by the author and how they help to convey the text’s theme. It is not simply a book report or a review, but an in-depth interpretation of the text.

Literary analysis looks at things like setting, characters, themes, and figurative language. The goal is to closely analyze what the author conveys and how.

The introduction of a literary analysis essay presents the text and background, and provides your thesis statement; the body consists of close readings of the text with quotations and analysis in support of your argument; and the conclusion emphasizes what your approach tells us about the text.

Mouse over the example below, the introduction to a literary analysis essay on Frankenstein , to learn more.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

• Choosing Essay Topic
• Write a College Essay
• Write a Diversity Essay
• College Essay Format & Structure
• Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

At high school and in composition classes at university, you’ll often be told to write a specific type of essay , but you might also just be given prompts.

Look for keywords in these prompts that suggest a certain approach: The word “explain” suggests you should write an expository essay , while the word “describe” implies a descriptive essay . An argumentative essay might be prompted with the word “assess” or “argue.”

The vast majority of essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Almost all academic writing involves building up an argument, though other types of essay might be assigned in composition classes.

Essays can present arguments about all kinds of different topics. For example:

• In a literary analysis essay, you might make an argument for a specific interpretation of a text
• In a history essay, you might present an argument for the importance of a particular event
• In a politics essay, you might argue for the validity of a certain political theory

An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). The Four Main Types of Essay | Quick Guide with Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 2, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/essay-types/

Is this article helpful?

Jack Caulfield

Other students also liked, how to write an argumentative essay | examples & tips, how to write an expository essay, how to write an essay outline | guidelines & examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

Module 1: An Overview of the Writing Process

Organizing an essay.

There are many elements that must come together to create a good essay. The topic should be clear and interesting. The author’s voice should come through, but not be a distraction. There should be no errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or capitalization. Organization is one of the most important elements of an essay that is often overlooked. An organized essay is clear, focused, logical and effective.

Organization makes it easier to understand the thesis. To illustrate, imagine putting together a bike. Having all of the necessary tools, parts, and directions will make the job easier to complete than if the parts are spread across the room and the tools are located all over the house. The same logic applies to writing an essay. When all the parts of an essay are in some sort of order, it is both easier for the writer to put the essay together and for the reader to understand the main ideas presented in the essay.

Strategy 1. Reverse Outlining

If your paper is about Huckleberry Finn, a working thesis might be: “In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.” However, you might feel uncertain if your paper really follows through on the thesis as promised.

This paper may benefit from reverse outlining. Your aim is to create an outline of what you’ve already written, as opposed to the kind of outline that you make before you begin to write. The reverse outline will help you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both your organization and your argument.

Read the draft and take notes Read your draft over, and as you do so, make very brief notes in the margin about what each paragraph is trying to accomplish.

Outline the Draft After you’ve read through the entire draft, transfer the brief notes to a fresh sheet of paper, listing them in the order in which they appear. The outline might look like this:

• Paragraph 1: Intro
• Paragraph 2: Background on Huck Finn
• Paragraph 3: River for Huck and Jim
• Paragraph 4: Shore and laws for Huck and Jim
• Paragraph 5: Shore and family, school
• Paragraph 6: River and freedom, democracy
• Paragraph 7: River and shore similarities
• Paragraph 8: Conclusion

Examine the Outline Look for repetition and other organizational problems. In the reverse outline above, there’s a problem somewhere in Paragraphs 3-7, where the potential for repetition is high because you keep moving back and forth between river and shore.

Re-examine the Thesis, the Outline, and the Draft Together Look closely at the outline and see how well it supports the argument in your thesis statement. You should be able to see which paragraphs need rewriting, reordering or rejecting. You may find some paragraphs are tangential or irrelevant or that some paragraphs have more than one idea and need to be separated.

Strategy 2. Talk It Out

Find a Friend, your T.A., your Professor, a relative, a Writing Center tutor, or any sympathetic and intelligent listener. People are more accustomed to talking than writing, so it might be beneficial to explain your thinking out loud to someone before organizing the essay. Talking to someone about your ideas may also relieve pressure and anxiety about your topic.

Explain What Your Paper Is About Pay attention to how you explain your argument verbally. It is likely that the order in which you present your ideas and evidence to your listener is a logical way to arrange them in your paper. Let’s say that you begin (as you did above) with the working thesis. As you continue to explain, you realize that even though your draft doesn’t mention “private enterprise” until the last two paragraphs, you begin to talk about it right away. This fact should tell you that you probably need to discuss private enterprise near the beginning.

Take Notes You and your listener should keep track of the way you explain your paper. If you don’t, you probably won’t remember what you’ve talked about. Compare the structure of the argument in the notes to the structure of the draft you’ve written.

Get Your Listener to Ask Questions As the writer, it is in your interest to receive constructive criticism so that your draft will become stronger. You want your listener to say things like, “Would you mind explaining that point about being both conservative and liberal again? I wasn’t sure I followed” or “What kind of economic principle is government relief? Do you consider it a good or bad thing?” Questions you can’t answer may signal an unnecessary tangent or an area needing further development in the draft. Questions you need to think about will probably make you realize that you need to explain more your paper. In short, you want to know if your listener fully understands you; if not, chances are your readers won’t, either. [2]

Strategy 3. Paragraphs

Readers need paragraph breaks in order to organize their reading. Writers need paragraph breaks to organize their writing. A paragraph break indicates a change in focus, topic, specificity, point of view, or rhetorical strategy. The paragraph should have one main idea; the topic sentence expresses this idea. The paragraph should be organized either spatially, chronologically, or logically. The movement may be from general to specific, specific to general, or general to specific to general. All paragraphs must contain developed ideas: comparisons, examples, explanations, definitions, causes, effects, processes, or descriptions. There are several concluding strategies which may be combined or used singly, depending on the assignment’s length and purpose:

• a summary of the main points
• a hook and return to the introductory “attention-getter” to frame the essay
• a web conclusion which relates the topic to a larger context of a greater significance
• a proposal calling for action or further examination of the topic
• a question which provokes the reader
• a vivid image or compelling narrative [3]

Put Paragraphs into Sections You should be able to group your paragraphs so that they make a particular point or argument that supports your thesis.  If any paragraph, besides the introduction or conclusion, cannot fit into any section, you may have to ask yourself whether it belongs in the essay.

Re-examine each Section Assuming you have more than one paragraph under each section, try to distinguish between them. Perhaps you have two arguments in favor of that can be distinguished from each other by author, logic, ethical principles invoked, etc. Write down the distinctions — they will help you formulate clear topic sentences.

Re-examine the Entire Argument Which section do you want to appear first? Why? Which Second? Why? In what order should the paragraphs appear in each section? Look for an order that makes the strongest possible argument. [4]

• Organizing an Essay ↵
• Reorganizing Your Draft ↵
• Parts of an Essay ↵
• Authored by : J. Indigo Eriksen. Provided by : Blue Ridge Community College. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Image of kitchen. Authored by : Elissa Merola. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/5u4XQt . License : CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• Image of two men talking. Authored by : Lovelorn Poets. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/at9FgL . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Organizing an Essay. Authored by : Robin Parent. Provided by : Utah State University English Department. Project : USU Open CourseWare Initiative. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Topic Sentence and Paragraph Organization

Paragraph organization refers to the way sentences are structured and ordered to create a unified and cohesive body of text.

The principal features to consider in paragraph organization are the topic sentence and controlling idea, supporting details, organizational patterns, and signal words. Together, these features develop a topic and connect ideas from one point to the next, logically and fluidly. This resource explains these features and provides numerous examples of paragraph organization.

The Topic Sentence and Controlling Idea

Similar to a thesis statement, which establishes the central focus or point of a whole piece of writing, a topic sentence works at the paragraph level to express the focus and general point of an individual paragraph. A topic sentence has two parts: 1) the topic that is being discussed throughout the paragraph and 2) a controlling idea that limits the focus on the topic to one point or idea. Each additional sentence in the paragraph then develops or expounds on that point with supporting details. The example topic sentence below is from a body paragraph in an informative essay.

Example Topic Sentence and Controlling Idea

The economy also plays a role in an increase in prescription pain reliever addiction.

The example topic sentence suggests the paragraph topic is “the economy,” and the controlling idea about the economy is how it “plays a role in an increase” in opioid addition. The signal word “also” connects this topic as an additional example or contributing factor to the opioid epidemic, the focus of the paper. The example below shows the topic sentence in the context of the complete paragraph.

The economy also plays a role in an increase in prescription pain reliever addiction. According to Jungeun Olivia Lee, a social work professor at University of Southern California, “The relationship between joblessness and substance abuse is strongest among people from low socioeconomic brackets, who might not be able to afford healthier ways to relieve their stress” (2017, as cited in Khazan, 2017, para. 8). Additionally, every point the unemployment rate rises, opioid-related death rates rise by almost 4 percent (Khazan, 2017). Unemployment makes it not only difficult for those suffering from pain to afford medication or healthy alternatives, but it can also contribute to depression and varying degrees of self-medication and addiction.

Supporting Details

In a paragraph, the topic and controlling idea are developed with supporting details. Listed here are some types of supporting details found in paragraphs along with an example of each in a sentence.

Facts: statistics or evidence from research that can be verified

• The office sold seven million dollars of real estate during the boom years.

Opinions: statements, quotes, or paraphrases from subject matter experts

• According to expert tea maker, Millie Stoff, there are three easy steps to making tea.

Definitions: explanations of what a term or concept means

• A crossover is a family vehicle with the features of a sedan, a mini-van, and an SUV.

Examples: parts, pieces, instances, traits, or specimens that illustrate the essence or character of a greater whole.

• Mario is a shy, introverted young man. For example, he has few friends and mostly keeps to himself.

Anecdotes: narrative accounts of one time or recurring events

• When I visited the Washington Monument, I enjoyed the 180-degree view the most.

Descriptions: a visual or sensory depiction of a person, place, event, activity, or idea

• Frostbit leaves crunched beneath our winter boots on the path through the snow-frosted trees.

Example Paragraph and Analysis of the Supporting Details

Hiking can be exhilarating during snowy winter months. When my friend and I visited North Carolina last January, we hiked in the Blue Ridge Mountains near the highest peak, Mount Mitchell, which is6,684 feet above sea level. We first crossed a foot bridge over a rapidly moving, ice-cold river and then followed a wooded trail up to a waterfall. Frostbit leaves crunched beneath our winter boots on the path through the snow-frosted trees. We saw deer and rabbits as we trekked up the path. I assure you that nothing feels better than inhaling crisp mountain air, but the neatest part of hiking in winter, besides the beauty of the mountain, is exhaling and seeing my breath turn to frost when it hits the cold air!

The topic sentence in the example paragraph indicates that the paragraph is on “hiking,” and the focus is that hiking is “exhilarating” during winter. The sentences in the paragraph support and develop this idea with an anecdote of the writer’s experience hiking up a mountain during winter. An anecdote is a narrative account that helps a reader understand an event or situation. Had the writer said hiking was “dangerous” instead of “exhilarating,” the anecdote in addition to the visual and sensory details, facts, and opinions about the experience would have been different. Additionally, while the sample paragraph is a personal account, writers in many professions use anecdotal evidence to report events from an objective point-of-view, where the writer is not a participant but rather a witness or observer.

Paragraph Organization

Along with having topic sentences and supporting details, paragraphs are also organized to achieve a certain purpose. However, just as a paragraph can contain different types of supporting details, a paragraph may also include more than one organizational pattern. Listed here are some common patterns for organizing a paragraph:

• Cause and Effect for showing how one thing leads to another
• Chronological Order for narrating events that occurred over time
• Classification for grouping things together according to their features
• Comparison and Contrast for showing how things are similar or different
• Definition and Example for defining a term or idea and then expanding it with examples
• Description for listing details
• Episode for presenting details or information about a specific event or anecdote
• General/Specific Order for presenting a general idea followed by specific examples
• Generalization/Principle for making a general statement or applying a broad principle to explain the supporting details
• Listing for presenting ideas from least to most important
• Order of Importance for building up to or leading away from the most important point.
• Problem and Solution for presenting an issue and a way to address it
• Process/Cause for explaining what or how something happens and then why
• Spatial Order for ordering details directionally

Signal Words

Signal words are signposts or clues to a paragraph’s organization. If the word “type” is used in a sentence, for example, it signals that the ideas involve types or classification, which is an organizational pattern. Signal words are context clues that hint at what the paragraph is about and how it is organized.

Listed here are signal words associated with different types of paragraph organization.

• Cause and Effect : because, consequently, for this reason, hence, and on account of
• Chronological Order : after, at last, at (time), as long as, at the same time, as soon as, before, during, eventually, finally, in (month or year), later, meanwhile, next, on (day or date), since, second, subsequently, then, until, and whenever
• Classification : categories, classes, classifications, elements, features, groups, kinds, methods, types, varieties, and ways
• Comparison and Contrast : another, both, however, likewise, one difference, on the other hand, on the contrary, similarity, similarly, unlike, and while
• Definition and Example : concept, defined as, described as, e.g., for example, for instance, i.e., illustrates, is, is called, is stated, known as, means, refers to, specifically, such as, term, and that is to say
• Description : above, across, along, appears to be, as in, behind, below, beside, between, down, in back of, in front of, looks like, near, onto, on top of, outside, over, such as, to the right/left, and under
• Episode : a few days/weeks later, around the same time, as a result of, as it is often called, because of, began when, consequently, for this reason, just, lasted for, led to, shortly thereafter, since then, subsequently, this led to, and when
• General/Specific Order : for example, for instance, indeed, in fact, in other words, like, namely, such as, and that is
• Generalization/Principle : additionally, always, because of, clearly, conclusively, first, for instance, for example, furthermore, generally, however, if…then, in fact, it could be argued that, moreover, most convincing, never, not only…but also, often, second, therefore, third, truly, and typically
• Listing : additionally, also, and, as well as, besides, furthermore, in addition, in fact, moreover, or, plus, and too
• Order of Importance : central, chief, ending with, finishing with, key, lastly, least, main, major, finally, primary, principal, and significant
• Problem and Solution : answer, challenge, difficulty, dilemma, enigma, indicate, improve, issue, need, plan, problem, propose, resolve, respond, solve, and suggest
• Process/Cause : accordingly, as a result of, because, begins with, consequently, effects of, finally, first, for this reason, how to, how, if…then, in order to, is caused by, leads/led to, may be due to, next, so that, steps involved, therefore, thus, and when…then
• Spatial Order : above, below, behind, beside, down, east, feels, highest, looks, lowest, next to, north, smells, sounds, south, tastes, under, and west

Sample Paragraphs and Analyses of the Organization

The sample paragraphs in this section illustrate topic sentences, supporting details, organizational patterns, and signal words in context. Read each paragraph to identify the type of paragraph organization on your own, and then proceed to the analysis to check your comprehension.

Sample Paragraph 1

• In 1995, Lawrence started his real estate business, and it has since become a huge success. When Lawrence Real Estate opened its door in Oviedo, Florida, it sold seven million dollars of real estate during the first few boom years. By 2000, Lawrence decided to open two branch offices: one in Tampa in 2003 and one in Miami in 2004. By 2007, the home office and both the branch offices had survived the economic slowdown, so Lawrence and his associates expanded their business to the Carolinas and opened a branch office in Charlotte in 2020. It can be safely said that Lawrence Real Estate has become a model for success despite economic struggles and real estate devaluation.

Analysis of Paragraph 1: According to the topic sentence, which contains two coordinating clauses and therefore two subjects and two topics, this paragraph is about Lawrence and his real estate business, and the controlling idea is that they have been successful.

To understand how the supporting details are organized to present information about this topic and idea, the reader can consider the supporting details. To do this, they look at the way the sentences begin and at any signal phrases that lead readers along a certain line of thinking. Here are some key signal words: “in 1995,” “By 2000,” “By 2007,” and “in 2020.” These dates make a pattern. They go back to 1995 and then in a chronological order, they move forward to when the success of the business happened.

This paragraph uses chronological order . The reader will notice too that the last sentence returns to the beginning idea of 15 years ago. In this sentence, a final comment about the time period overall is given with respect to the new information

Sample Paragraph 2

• Making a great cup of tea is easy if you follow these three steps. First, heat a cup of water to the boiling point. Then put the tea bag in the hot water, and let it steep for at least three minutes. Finally, add creamer and sugar to taste. There is nothing tastier than a strong cup of tea early in the morning.

According to the topic sentence, which is the first sentence of the paragraph, making a cup of tea is the topic, and the controlling idea is that it’s easy to do if you follow three steps. Signal words open the following sentences: “first,” “then,” and “finally.” These indicate a sequence of steps, not times or dates as in a narrative story, but steps that happen in a specific order as in the process of doing something or informing others how to do something.

This paragraph uses process order (or process/cause). In the last sentence of this paragraph, the process is completed with a return to the original topic—a cup of tea—and a new comment about it—that a strong cup is tasty in the morning, making those three steps not only easy but also worthwhile.

Sample Paragraph 3

• The Washington Monument is divided into three main areas. The lowest section of the building houses the entrance, a gift shop, and a restaurant. The middle section consists of elevators and stairways to the top. The top section of the monument includes an observation deck with a spectacular view of the Washington D.C. area. When I visited the Washington Monument, I toured every section but enjoyed the spectacular 180-degree view the most.

Based on the topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph, the topic is the Washington Monument, and the controlling idea is that it is divided into three main areas. The paragraph presents information about the lowest section first, the middle section second, and the top section third. The last sentence makes a remark about the most enjoyable of all the sections. This is an example of spatial organization . The information is given in the order you might see it if you were there.

Sample Paragraph 4

• There are three types of family vehicles made in the United States. The first type is the minivan. All American car manufacturers make a version of the minivan. Some say that the comfort and amenities of the minivan compare to none. The second type of family vehicle is the SUV. Some SUVs offer four-wheel-drive to navigate tough terrains, and they also offer seating for a large crowd. A third type of family vehicles is called the crossover. These vehicles supposedly have the best features of the sedan, minivan, and SUV. They are easy to maneuver, look much like a regular sedan, and sit up to six people. All of these vehicles are family friendly; they offer safety, roomy comfort, and many extra features to accommodate the special needs of families.

This paragraph shows another way to organize the details of a topic. The topic sentence of this paragraph is structured differently than the previous ones. Typically, the topic of a sentence is also the grammatical subject, but the subject in this sentence is “there,” a pronoun, and the topic that tells what the paragraph is about, “family vehicles,” is in the predicate of the sentence. The controlling idea is that there are three types made in the U.S.

The paragraph is organized according to those three types: the first type, the second type, and the third type. To conclude, there is a comment about “all of these vehicles” or all of these types of vehicles. When information is organized by types or features, the information is classified. This type of organization is classification .

Sample Paragraph 5

• Although the twin brothers share many physical characteristics, they handle themselves differently in social situations. Mario is a shy introverted young man. He has few friends and mostly keeps to himself. On the other hand, Gino is outgoing and the life of the party. Unlike Mario, Gino has many friends and feels totally at ease among big crowds. The best way to tell these identical twins apart is to invite both to a party and observe how differently they interact with the other guests.

When the topic sentence is complex (having more than one clause) as in this paragraph, there may be two subjects and therefore two topics; however, here, the subject of the first clause is “the twin brothers” and the subject for the second clause is “they,” so both subjects refer to the same topic—the twin brothers. The controlling idea is that the twin brothers share many physical characteristics but handle themselves differently socially.

The paragraph then progresses with descriptions of these similarities and differences. Contrast is created by signal phrases and words such as “although, “on the other hand,” and “unlike.” Words such as “apart” and “differently” also indicate that the organizational pattern of this paragraph is comparison and contrast .

Sample Paragraph 6

• There are many reasons why I enjoy walking tours when visiting new cities. For starters, walking through a city allows the visitor to see the details of an area without having to hurry. This often results in meeting locals and experiencing their lives and traditions first hand. Furthermore, walking tours are flexible and inexpensive because there are no strict schedules or transportation expenses. Travelers taking walking tours are rewarded with firsthand experiences in the places they visit and the opportunity to personally interact with the people who live there.

Because the first sentence begins with “there are,” the reader must move beyond the subject and verb to find the topic. Additionally, this is a complex sentence with an independent and dependent clause connected by “why,” so there may be two topics. Looking at the objects of both clauses, the reader finds “many reasons” and “walking tours.” These two topics are linked together by the controlling idea: the writer enjoys walking tours while visiting new cities for many different reasons.

The signal words build on this idea of “why” with terms such as “results” and “because.” The last sentence then sums up the ultimate effect of walking tours: Travelers are rewarded. This is an example of cause and effect organization.

Sample Paragraph 7

• Hiking can be especially exhilarating during snowy winter months. When my friend and I visited North Carolina last January, we hiked in the Blue Ridge Mountains near the highest peak, Mount Mitchell, which is 6,684 feet above sea level. We first crossed a footbridge over a rapidly moving, ice-cold river and then followed a wooded trail up to a waterfall. Frostbit leaves crunched beneath our winter boots on the path through the snow-frosted trees. We saw deer and rabbits as we trekked up the path. I assure you that nothing feels better than inhaling crisp mountain air, but the neatest part of hiking in winter, besides the beauty of the mountain, is exhaling and seeing my breath turn to frost when it hits the cold air!

In the first sentence, the topic of the paragraph is “hiking,” and the comment or main idea is that it “can be especially exhilarating during snowy winter months.” Based on this, the reader can expect supporting details to illustrate this exhilaration, but they do not know how it is organized until they look at the signal words that help progress the topic from one idea to the next.

Taking inventory of the signal words, the reader will find several time markers: “When” and “last January” set the narrative in the past while “first” and “then” develop a chronological order of events. The final summarizing sentence about hiking “in winter” reminds the reader of the season.

Within this chronology , signal words are associated with spatial organization: “over,” “up,” “beneath,” “through,” “crunched” (sounded), “saw,” “feels,” and “seeing.” Narratives typically include descriptive elements about the setting. Additionally, the concluding thought contrasts “inhaling” to “exhaling.” The reader can thus conclude that this paragraph has multiple patterns of organization that are intricately connected.

Share this:

• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive email notifications of new posts.

Email Address

• RSS - Posts
• RSS - Comments
• COLLEGE WRITING
• USING SOURCES & APA STYLE
• EFFECTIVE WRITING PODCASTS
• LEARNING FOR SUCCESS
• PLAGIARISM INFORMATION
• FACULTY RESOURCES
• Student Webinar Calendar
• Academic Success Center
• Writing Center
• About the ASC Tutors
• DIVERSITY TRAINING
• PG Peer Tutors
• PG Student Access

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

• College Writing
• Using Sources & APA Style
• Learning for Success
• Effective Writing Podcasts
• Plagiarism Information
• Faculty Resources
• Tutor Training

Twitter feed