3.4  Organizing Pattern or Structure

Although it is true that almost any kind of text has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion, there are different kinds of introductions, bodies, and conclusions for different purposes.

You can think of different organizing patterns as information containers for different purposes. A recipe, for example, is an informational text. It is structured or organized as a list of ingredients and a list of steps to follow.

It doesn't matter if the recipe is for making blueberry muffins or reinforced the structure will be the same. A recipe uses an organizing pattern we'll call the how-to pattern, since it shows you how to do something. As a writer, you should use the how-to pattern when you need to explain how to do something, to give directions. The example that follows is brief how-to writing on patching a bicycle tube. Let's take a look at three types of organizing Patterns

Topic-Aspect Organizing Pattern

A Topic-Aspect structure or organizing pattern gives the reader a number of details about a topic. Most of the writing in your textbooks is organized this way.

Purpose: Organizing Pattern: Give information about a topic Topic - Introduction Aspect 1 Aspect 2 Aspect 3 Application - Conclusion

Let's take a look at Jill's use of topic-aspect structure or pattern in her writing about a healthy lawn.

A Healthy Lawn

Introduction: The Topic

To start, think about your lawn's health as you think about your own health. Prevention of disease is as important as finding cures once things go wrong. The idea is to prevent problems from occurring so that you don't have to spend time and money treating them.

Body: Aspects of the Topic

(1) A healthy lawn needs healthy soil, and you can make sure your soil has the right mix of soil types and the (2) right levels of nutrients and acidity. Knowing your climate helps, too. (3) Grass that likes the climate where you live will do better than grass meant for a different climate. (4) Mowing to the right height and (5) watering in proper amounts and at the right times will also help to promote a healthy lawn.

Conclusion: Applying the Information

Taking care of the environment begins in your own yard, and you don't have to be an expert. Just prevent problems and you'll have a healthy lawn.

True Narrative Pattern

     A true story or personal account is not written the same way as a how-to because the purpose is different. While the recipe's purpose is to tell you what to do, the true story's purpose is to tell you what happened. The true story or personal account will be organized in a narrative pattern, a sequence of events that already took place. Do not confuse the personal account or true story with a literary or creative short story. As you'll see later in this section, literary short stories have a similar pattern but a different purpose.

     Here is a short personal narrative account written by Jason. Notice what Jason includes in his introduction, body, and conclusion.

I Wonder What's Downstream?

Introduction: Engaging Hint at the Meaning of the Experience

One hot day at 4:00 in the afternoon I was running along the highway with Billy. We were getting ourselves into shape for fall sports practice that would start in two weeks. I had no idea I was about to put myself in deadly danger.

We'd run about four miles and I thought I would burst into flames if I got any hotter. We were two miles from my house, the end of the run. As we passed the stream below the power dam, I decided I had a better idea. I told Billy I was going to go sit in the water and cool off for awhile. He said he had to keep he didn't have time to stop.

As he ran on I slid down the bank to the stream. The stream was about fifty feet wide but only a foot deep. The bottom was all rounded stones. Some were so big they stuck out of the water by a foot or more. I took off my sneaks, not wanting to get them wet, tied the laces together, and threw them across to the other bank. I decided I would and coolly-- make my way across, pick up my sneaks, and continue home.

I was halfway across when a wave knocked me down. That's right, a wave. The power dam at the head of the stream had opened its gates for some reason, and the water flow was suddenly ten times what it had been when I started.

Body: Conflict

I was trapped. If I stood up, the water knocked me down. If I tried to stay low in the water and crawl, the water pushed me quickly downstream. I didn't know what was down maybe another dam. What would it be like to go through a dam?

There was no one to call for help. It hurt my bare feet too much to try to jump from rock to rock above the water. Of course, my sneaks were safely on the other side, where I couldn't reach them.

Body: Climax or Turning Point

With the creativity born of terror, I had an idea. I my fingers between some rocks and let the rest of me float. My feet and legs were pulled downstream, but I could hold on to the rocks. I let go with one hand, moved it six inches closer to the bank, and got a new grip. Slowly, I did the same with the other hand.

Conclusion

In forty-five minutes, I completed my sideways, horizontal, underwater rock climb and lay like a beached whale on the bank. After I tied my sneaks for the long I certainly wasn't going to run I looked back at the stream. The water flow had dropped to its original level. Anyone could cross now.

True Narrative Pattern
Purpose:	Organizing Pattern:
To tell What has happened	Background Conflict Climax Resolution

Persuasive: Opinion-Reason Pattern

A persuasive text such as a newspaper editorial or critical analysis will also have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. However, each part of a well-written persuasive piece will be aimed at convincing the reader. One of the most common forms of persuasive writing is the opinion piece or editorial, often organized in the opinion-reason pattern like the brief example written by Elissa that follows.

Just Say to My Friends?

Introduction: Statement of Opinion

We see and hear ads that tell us to Just say No' to drugs, to alcohol, or to smoking. There are other times when you have to say No, also. Sometimes you have to just say No to your friends.

Body: Reasons to support the opinion

Sometimes your friends may want you to do something that is okay for them, but may get you into trouble. (1) Your friends might have different rules about when they need to be home at night so it would not be a good idea to go for a bike ride with them if you know you won't get back until past the time that your family eats dinner.

(2) You may also have to say No to your friends if they ask for your help in doing something that you know is wrong. What if one of your friends was having trouble on a homework assignment and he asked if he could just copy yours? What would you say? You know that cheating is wrong, but sometimes it is very hard to say No to a friend.

(3) There also may be times that a friend will ask you to do something that you both know is wrong and isn't okay for either of you to do. If you can't convince your friend that it is a bad idea, you need to at least keep yourself out of trouble.

Conclusion: Recommendation for action

Feeling like it is hard to say No to your friends is normal. It is called peer pressure. It is something everyone must deal with at some point in their life.

The most important thing to remember is to make your own decisions based on what you know is right for yourself. Use your own head to think about what is right for you, even if that means saying No to a friend.

Purpose:	Organizing Pattern:
Persuade, recommend an action	Opinion Reason 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 Recommendation

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