Organization means arranging thoughts and connecting ideas in a
document and within its individual paragraphs. Sentences must be
grouped into paragraphs, and paragraphs linked throughout the
document. Like a living organism, a piece of legal prose has a
complex structure. It has a head (the lead), a torso (the
argument), the limbs (support for the argument), organs
(paragraphs), tissues (sentences) and words (cells).
Goldstein and Lieberman at p. 88.
Transitions act as bridges throughout this structure connecting
paragraphs, sentences, clauses, and words helping readers
develop and keep a train of thought.
Indicators:
• Organizing principles are apparent throughout the writing.
Such principles include:
- Giving Both Sides (grouped or interspersed throughout a
writing) -- pros and cons, assets and liabilities, similarities
and differences, hard and easy, bad and good, effective and
ineffective, weak and strong, complicated and uncomplicated,
controversial and uncontroversial
- Chronological -- order of
historical events, cause to effect, step-by-step sequence
- CRAC -- Conclusion, Rule,
Application to facts, and Cases
- General to Specific --
general topic to subtopics, theoretical to practical,
generalizations to specific examples
- IRAC -- Issue, Rule,
Application to facts, and Conclusion
- Least to Most -- easiest to
most difficult, smallest to largest, worst to best, weakest to
strongest, least important to most important, least complicated
to most complicated, least effective to most effective, least
controversial to most controversial
- Most to Least -- most
important to least important, most persuasive to least
persuasive, most known to least known, most factual to least
factual (fact to opinion)
- Oppositional -- giving a
particular argument and showing what's wrong with it.
• Selected organizing
principles reflect your purpose and the reader's expectations,
e.g., most important information is placed in a prominent place.
• The lead or
roadmap section
at the beginning of the writing orients the reader to your most
important, general idea and directs the reader to the one idea
that brings all other ideas and details into focus. It may also
describe the way your main idea will be developed. The roadmap
shows your destination and helps readers make sense of what
follows, e.g., who, what, where, why, and how.
• The conclusion at the
writing's end shows the reader that you have reached your
destination, i.e., done what you set out to do.
•
Transitions between
paragraphs and sentences are coherent. Words and phrases are
included that help readers understand how different ideas relate
to each other, e.g., exemplify (for example, for instance);
affirm (actually, certainly); negate (on the contrary, however);
add (moreover, and, also); con-cede (although, granted that);
summarize (finally, thus).
• Paragraphs are in a logical
order and of appropriate length.
• Each
paragraph is adequately
developed with a topic sentence and coherent transitions. The
topic sentence focuses and orients the reader on the paragraph's
main idea. The topic sentence is strategically placed either at
the beginning to alert the reader to how the paragraph is going
to develop or at the end to summarize what has been said.
• Formatting such as bullets,
subheadings or lists are used to emphasize key points.
• Pictures, graphs, or tables
are used to visually represent meaning.
|
 |
Resources
Roadmap:
Seeing
the Big Picture
Paragraphs
Transitional Words and Phrases |
