Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen of the Bedford Researcher is all about organizing your paper. It starts off by explaining different organization patterns such a chronology, description, definition, cause/effect, process explanation, pro/con, multiple perspectives, comparison/contrast, strengths/weaknesses, costs/benefits, and problem/solution. It goes on to explain each pattern and give examples of how they may best be used. The chapter then talks about arranging an argument using methods like labeling, grouping, clustering, or mapping out evidence. From there the chapter goes on to explain how to create an outline, both informal and formal, from the evidence and organization you have already gathered.

I think this chapter is going to prove very useful over the next few days as we continue to work on our outlines and rationale. I was a little concerned about how I was going to organize my arguments for this research project since the evidence does not necessarily follow a chronological timeline. Having this chapter will be very useful as it provides specific explanations of other types of organization and ways you can combine different organizational patterns. It will also be very helpful to have the descriptions of the different outline types so that I can check my work against each and make sure I stay on the right track.