Text Organisation

All texts have some kind of structure. The structure varies according to the purpose of the text. Some texts are very simple and may have a standard structure or format. For example, a receipt will show the amount of money received, the name of the receiver, the date and any other information legally required to be shown on the receipt, but little else. But the texts we are concerned with are more complex and will vary in different ways depending on their purpose, intended audience, subject matter and so on.

If you are a student of English, you may have been asked to write an essay outlining the advantages and disadvantages of something. Or perhaps causes and effects, or comparison and contrast. But very few real texts consist of only one or two of these patterns. Most real texts (not written purely for academic demonstration of writing ability) are a complex mixture of a variety of patterns of organisation.

Nevertheless, if you want to write well you need to understand how these patterns are used, so we will examine them one by one. Understanding these structures will also help you with your reading. In fact, the key to understanding these structures is to read widely so that you understand how writers use them in real texts.

The following list gives the main patterns of organisation used in English academic and technical writing. They are not easy to classify or place in any order of importance (it depends on the type of text you are writing) and you may find them described in different ways elsewhere.