English I M odes Of Arrangement: Patterns For Structuring Your Paper Below are three common modes of arrangement for

academic papers: narrative, compare/contrast, and cause/effect. Note that for compare/contrast & cause/effect papers, I have listed more than one outline option. These are by no means the only ways you can structure an academic; however, if you havent written many papers in the past, one of these might provide you with a good starting point for organizing your thoughts and writing. M ODE 1: NARRATIVE Use this mode to tell a story or to piece together the history of something. I. Introduction i. Introduce topic who/what/when/where ii. Address existing scholarship iii. Deliver your claim, or the THESIS of your argument II. First (earliest) event or occurrence i. present evidence ii. analyze/explain evidence ii. segue to next event/occurrence III. Second event or occurrence i. present evidence ii. analyze/explain evidence iii. segue to next event/occurrence IV. Third, Fourth, Fifth event or occurrence see above V. Conclusion i. Tie together occurrences as a cohesive whole (what story do the events tell?) M ODE 2: COM PARE & CONTRAST Use this mode to explore or find the differences and/or similarities between topics. OPTION A: Examine First Topic, then the other I. Introduction i. Introduce two topics you are comparing ii. Address existing scholarship iii. Deliver your claim, or the THESIS of your argument II. Topic A i. Explain who/what/when/where of Topic A ii. First characteristic of Topic A iii. Second characteristic of Topic A iv. Third characteristic III. Topic B i. Introduce who/what/when/where of Topic B ii. Compare Topic B to first characteristic of Topic A iii. Compare Topic B to second characteristic of Topic A iv. Compare Topic B to third characteristic of Topic A IV. Conclusion i. What do these comparisons tell you? ii. How do they prove your thesis?

OPTION B: Compare Trait-by-Trait I. Introduction i. Introduce two topics you are comparing a. Topic A who/what/when/where b. Topic B who/what/when/where ii. Address existing scholarship iii. Deliver your claim, or the THESIS of your argument II. Comparison of Trait/Characteristic 1 i. Explain what you are comparing the trait or characteristic ii. Analyze trait in Topic A iii. Analyze trait in Topic B iv. How are A & B the same/different? III. Comparison of Trait/Characteristic 2 i. Explain trait or characteristic ii. Analyze trait 2 in Topic A iii. Analyze trait 2 in Topic B iv. How are A & B the same/different? III. Comparison of Trait/Characteristic 3, 4, etc i. Explain trait or characteristic ii. Analyze trait 3 in Topic A iii. Analyze trait 3 in Topic B iv. How are A & B the same/different? IV. Conclusion i. What do these comparisons tell you? ii. How do they prove your thesis? OPTION C: Look at Similarities, then Differences I. Introduction i. Introduce topics you are comparing a. Topic A who/what/when/where b. Topic B who/what/when/where ii. Address existing scholarship iii. Deliver your claim, or the THESIS of your argument II. Similarities between topics i. Similarity 1 a. evidence for Topic A b. evidence for Topic B ii. Similarity 2, 3, 4 a. evidence for Topic A b. evidence for Topic B III. Differences between Topics i. Difference 1 a. evidence for Topic A b. evidence for Topic B ii. Difference 2, 3, 4 a. evidence for Topic A b. evidence for Topic B IV. Conclusion i. Overall, are these topic more similar or more different? ii. What do these comparisons tell you about the topics? iii. How do they prove your thesis?

M ODE 3: CAUSE & EFFECT Use this mode to show a relationship between two topics, or the influence of something. OPTION A: M ultiple Effects, One Cause I. Introduction i. Introduce Topic (cause) who/what/when/where/why ii. Address existing scholarship iii. Deliver your claim, or the THESIS of your argument II. Effect 1 i. Present evidence ii. Explain how your topic caused this III. Effect 2 i. Present evidence ii. Explain how your topic caused this IV. Effect 3, 4, 5. i. Present evidence ii. Explain how your topic caused this V. Conclusion i. Evaluate the effects youve presented do they prove your thesis? OPTION B: M ultiple Causes, One Effect I. Introduction i. Introduce Topic (effect) who/what/when/where/why ii. Address existing scholarship iii. Deliver your claim, or thesis Several things caused _________: first cause, second cause, third cause, etc. II. Cause 1 i. Present evidence ii. Explain how this caused your topic III. Cause 2 i. Present evidence ii. Explain how this caused your topic IV. Cause 3, 4, 5 i. Present evidence ii. Explain how this caused your topic V. Conclusion i. Evaluate the causes youve presented are they sufficient to explain why something your topic, that is happened?

& FOR THE CURIOUS M IND M ORE M ODES OF ARRANGEM ENT! Below Ive listed several other modes of arrangement, which you may want to consider using for future papers. I dont provide full outlines here, but I am happy to explain any of these in more detail if you ask! M ODE M ODE M ODE M ODE 4: 5: 6: 7: PROCESS use to describe the sequence of steps in a process DEFINITION use to illustrate the meaning of a word (term) or idea (concept) CLASSIFICATION & DIVISION use to categorize or group ideas/objects/events ANALOGY use to compare two topics that initially seem unrelated