Organizing An Essay Paper

Let's say you have come up with the following categories from the sources you have read: In this case, it seems that you will want to start off by showing that there is a problem, and then giving examples of that problem and its consequences.The best order for these categories would be the following: The way a paper is organized is largely the result of the logical and causal relationships between the categories or topics apparent in the research.

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The first step in this method of organizing your work is to pour your thoughts onto paper in several text boxes.

Once you've done this, you can arrange and rearrange those text boxes until they form an organized pattern.

Once you have read your sources, taken notes, and grouped your information by category, the next step is to read critically, evaluate your sources, determine your thesis statement, and decide the best order in which to present your research.

Note that as you begin to narrow your topic or focus, you will find some sources are not relevant. Do not try to squeeze every source mentioning "children" and "television" into your paper.

Once you have exhausted your ideas by dumping them into boxes, you are ready to identify the major themes.

Decide which of your boxes contain major ideas, then begin to line them up on the left side of your page. Text boxes can be edited in any way, so you can add background colors, highlighted text, or colored frames.

Any experienced writer will tell you that the organization of ideas on paper is a messy process.

It takes time and effort to get your thoughts (and paragraphs) into a sensible order. You should expect to deconstruct and rearrange your ideas as you craft an essay or long paper.

For example, let's say you had three sources that had the following information: With these three ideas, you might group them under this category: Amount of television children watch.

Each of these source quotations or paraphrases supports that category.