climactic order essay

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7 Different Ways to Organize an Essay

Tolstoy once said that happy families are all alike but unhappy families are unhappy in different ways. Essays are a little different. Bad essays tend to all be very much the same, but good essays often shine in different ways. As students work through the essay writing process, they often encounter challenges in determining how to develop and organize their essays. In this article, we’ll take a look at seven ways to organize an essay so you can be armed with a tool kit that will help you vary your essay structure and keep your audience engaged no matter what you need to write.

Before we do, however, it’s worth considering why we would need different organizational structures. Organization should connect to the content and help the reader to best understand the topic and the material. For example, if you are writing a historical essay that is explaining an event, you would do better to organize the information in the order that it occurred rather than telling the story out of order. The exact organizational framework that you choose will depend on the content of the essay and the purpose since each format has its own style, impact, and effect.

Chronological Order

The most obvious and most frequently used organizational strategy is chronological order, which provides details about the topic in the order that they happened, from beginning to end. It’s most frequently used in expository writing when you are providing a narrative about events. In a chronological essay, you will guide the reader from one topic to the next with the use of transition words that are based in temporal relationships, such as “next,” “then,” “afterward,” etc. Chronological essays are among the most effective formats because they are clear and direct, but they tend to work better for descriptions than for analysis.

Logical Order

Logical order can occur in one of many different formats, but the important issue is that it provides information in the way that makes the most sense for the reader in following the argument that you make. For example, not every argument needs to have information presented chronologically, and sometimes knowing how a situation ended is important to know first before analyzing and trying to make sense of it. In an essay that is developed in logical order, you provide the information that the reader needs to know first and then analyze it. When using transitions in logical order, you may need to remind the reader of facts with phrases like “as previously mentioned,” or “therefore.”

The Toulmin Model

One of the most popular ways to build an argument is the use of the Toulmin Model. In this organizational style, you provide the claim that you are going to demonstrate or prove and then support that claim with grounds and warrants explaining why it is true, and qualifiers indicating exceptions and uncertainties, before examining counterarguments and rebutting them. A variety of the Toulmin model, called the Rogerian Response, provides concessions to the other side in order to emphasize common ground.

The Five-Paragraph Model

The essay format most students learn in high school is the five-paragraph model. In this organizational framework, you present a three-part thesis explaining what you will demonstrate or prove with three reasons why it is true and then support it with three paragraphs each providing evidence for one part of the thesis, followed by a conclusion summarizing the main idea.

Climactic Order

Climactic order organized information to build toward an effective climax. In this type of organizational structure, the most important, shocking, or convincing information is held for the end of the essay in order to lead the reader to a dramatic reveal. This type of organizational structure contains some dangers for writers, however, since it means that your paper will open with weaker, less important information and may not hook the reader. When done right, however, it can create a powerful argument that will push the audience toward an ever-more-convincing conclusion, as long as you can hook them from the start.

Random Order

One of the rarest organizational structures is random order, in which information is presented without a fixed plan and without regard to logical progression. This type of organization is most useful for impressionistic or descriptive essays. However, it is difficult to pull off in an academic essay, where great weight is placed on logic and argumentation. Therefore, it’s a good idea to seriously consider whether random order will be effective for your essay topic before deploying this format in an academic paper.

Spatial Order

This is another organizational framework that is often best deployed for a descriptive essay. In a spatial order essay, you will describe objects in a physical space by moving from one to the next to help the audience understand the organization and arrangement of the space. 

Choosing which essay format to use can be difficult, and the writing process can be notoriously difficult for students who don’t have the skills and experience to effectively produce varied essays. If an assignment leaves you saying, “I wish someone would write my essay for me online!”, it might be worth considering whether you need to pay someone from an online service to write papers for you. When you get help from experts, you can discover the most effective ways to develop papers, organize them, and support them.

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How to Organise an Essay – A Comprehensive Guide & Examples

Published by Grace Graffin at August 17th, 2021 , Revised On October 11, 2023

The quality of a well-written essay largely depends on the quality of the content and the author’s writing style. Students with little to no essay writing experience  almost always struggle to figure out how to organise an essay.

Even if you have great essay writing skills but are unable to keep the sequence of information right in your essay, you may not impress the readers.

A narrator cannot craft an engaging story until he learns to organise his vivid thoughts. The best way to organise an essay is to create a map of the essay beforehand to ensure that your essay’s structure allows for a smooth flow of information.

Here is all you need to learn in order to organise an essay.

The Importance of Organisation of an Essay

Readers are always looking for an essay that is easy in its approach, i.e. an essay that is reader-friendly and follows an easy-to-understand structure, etc.

Your essay should be organised to convey a clear message to the reader without using any vague statements. As an essayist, it will be your responsibility to make sure that there are  no spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation  errors in the essay paper.

You might wonder why you need to put increased effort into the organisation of an essay. If you had the opportunity to work with a professional essayist or any other individual working in English literature, you would get to know that each of these professionals pays a lot of attention to organising an essay because a poorly structured essay can really turn away your readers.

Basic Essay Organisation

The first things to organise are what you are going to say and in what order you are going to say those things. After this, it is a case of refining those things. You can start by separating all your text into three sections: introduction , main body , and conclusion . Can it really be so simple? Yes, and of course, no. There are several ways to organise an essay depending on different factors.

Different Patterns for the Organisation of an Essay

There is no specific way of organising an essay. Multiple styles and methods are utilised by writers based on the academic subject, academic level, and expectations of the audience. Below we have discussed some of the most common ways to organise an essay.

Chronological Organisation

Organising an essay chronologically – sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach – is one of the simpler ways to organise your essay. This way of organisation tends to discuss the events in the specific order they occurred. The chronological organisation method is especially important for  narrative  and  reflective essays .

The writer will be expected to recognise the sequence of events and structure the essay accordingly, i.e. what happens in the beginning, middle, and at end. Use this approach if it allows for the clearest and most logical presentation of your information.

Where is Chronological Organisation Used?

• Scientific processes – Where a process has many steps, it is likely that the order of these steps is vital.
• Historical events – Things are clearer for the reader when events in the past are relayed in the order in which they happened. This can also apply to political progress.
• Biographies – Events that occurred in someone’s lifetime or examining events covering just a short time in one person’s life, such as a JFK’s final day.

Specific Language Needed

Essays that describe a succession of events following each other will require good use of prepositions of time. These are words, often pairs, such as next, after this/that, following on from that, later… Be careful not to overuse the same word, as this can become repetitive and tedious for the reader.

Spatial Organisation

The spatial organisation refers to describing items based on their physical locations or relation to other items. It often involves describing things as and when they appear. It makes it easier for the writer to give a vivid picture through the essay. This method tends to discuss comparisons, narrations, and descriptions .

When using this technique, make sure to organise the information pertaining to comparisons, narrations, and descriptions from either top to bottom or left to right. Note that while location and position are very important with this method, time is largely ignored.

Where is Spatial Organisation Used?

• Descriptive essays – It is excellent for describing objects, people, and places. It is also useful for showing social or physical phenomena – the arrangement of a rainforest.
• Narrating events – You can take the reader through a visual processor to describe events that occurred, showing them everything on the way.
• Medical – Those who need to describe the workings of bodies, medicines, operations on bodies, and anatomy might choose this approach.
• Technical construction – You can describe how a physical mechanism or building works or is constructed.

If you do not have a picture to show, you need to describe it.

For instance, if you are writing an essay about a brand-new, impressively featured smartphone, you can begin to brief about the smartphone starting from the top camera down to the buttons located at the bottom .

From the example above, you can see that an essay using spatial organisation will require you to talk about where things are. This will mean quite extensive and careful use of a group of words called prepositions , such as next to, attached to, near, behind, under, alongside… If you are describing movement, then there are prepositions that indicate movement, such as through, into, out of, toward, away from, and past.

You need to be specific in your use of prepositions as the reader might be imagining events with no image to refer to other than what you have described.

Climactic Order

This method is also known as organising by importance or ascending order. Following this technique, the writer  starts the essay with the least important information and gradually moves towards the most important – the climax. The idea is to save the best till the last.

The introduction and conclusion are unaffected by this organisational style. The main body of the essay is where the structure is used. This type of organisation is applicable where there is no need for logical ordering. For example, in a scientific process, each step logically follows the previous one. Steps will vary in how eventful they are; you cannot write about such a process by saving the most eventful for the end.

When to Use Climactic Order

This method is sometimes used as a way of keeping readers interested, even in suspense. If written in the opposite direction, anticlimactic, you might lose readers after they have learned about the most exciting part.

In narrating a story or sequence of events that culminate in something serious or important, this is a good style to use.

Interested in ordering an essay?

Topical Organisation

As the name itself suggests, this form of  organisation explains different features and sides of the topic with no specific order. Unlike climactic order, this type of essay organisation treats different aspects of one topic with the same importance. The way to achieve this is to divide the whole topic up into its subtopics and then define each one.

Where is Topical Organisation Used?

• Scientific essays – This could be an exploratory essay, especially where an organism or something consisting of multiple parts has to be described.
• Compare-and-contrast essays – Where things have to be compared against each other for their similarities and differences. This could be when comparing two pieces of art or literature; the works’ various aspects could be examined separately.
• Descriptive essays – If, for example, you have to write an essay about yourself, you can describe the different aspects of your body and personality in their own sections.
• Expository essays – Where something is explained with facts, not opinions, the subject can be broken down and looked at piece by piece.

For example , describing how information technology has had serious consequences on mankind can start with how people overlooked technology in the beginning. It could then discuss the causes of social media addiction that have taken the world by storm in recent times.

Comparing and Contrasting: Alternating and Block Methods

It is worth noting that compare-and-contrast essays can be structured in two distinct ways. They are the alternating method, where each part is compared in turn, and the block method, where each thing is considered in its entirety.

Using the alternating method to compare two cars, you might compare the bodywork of both, then move on to their interiors, and then the engines. The other way is the block method; here, you would write a full block discussing all aspects of one car and then a block discussing the same aspects of the other car.

Also Read:  How to Develop Essay Topic Ideas

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Key Tips for Organising your Essay

Planning and organising your essay not only benefit the reader, but the writer also gets great help from the whole process. Following organisational patterns helps the writer by saving time without having to go through the same content repeatedly.

If you plan to develop a  great essay , you must ensure good planning for your essay. Using the correct format to present your material will complement the material itself. Let’s discuss some key tips on how to organise an essay:

Also Read:  Organisational Templates for Essays

Start your Essay with Simple Arguments

A good tactic in producing an organised essay is to start your essay by providing simple arguments. It does not mean that only simple arguments should be part of the essay. Relatively complex or difficult arguments should also be placed later in  the main body of the essay .

If your readers can understand the most basic arguments, they will be more likely to grasp the message resulting from more complicated arguments and statements.

This further relates to the point that if you  start your essay  with simple information that your readers can agree to without much hesitation, you will be more likely to convince them to agree to more controversial arguments.

Get the Readers on your Side

As an example, by presenting a simple, well-understood scientific argument early on, you start to get your readers on board. You then present another argument that can be seen as a logical progression from the first. When you raise a more complex and possibly contentious argument, it helps if you can apply principles from your initial example. If the readers agreed with the basic argument, logically they would agree with the more complex version.

This early presentation of a simpler argument ties in with giving your audience background information early in the essay. While you might assume your readers understand the subject you are writing about, you should not skip background information by assuming they will know it.

Know your Audience

In this era of technological advancement, people tend to make quick decisions as they have to look at multiple platforms to find content. Understandably, the essay needs to be well structured and well formalised, yet it should be organised in a way that is user-friendly. If the audience you are going to target is not going to be enticed by it, you need to reconsider your approach and tactics.

Define Technical Terms

While providing information in the essay, make sure that you define all the technical terms that the readers may not be aware of. This needs to be done as the first step before you alienate and confuse your reader and he decides to avert.

It would be best if you drafted your essay in such a manner that a layperson can understand it without making any extra effort. Jargon or technical terms must be defined within the content.

If used excessively, you can describe these terms in a different paragraph, making it more convenient for the readers.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is an essay structure.

The structure of an essay is the way in which you present your material. This mostly applies to the main body of your essay. You can consider the introduction and conclusion parts as bookends that hold the main block of information in place. There are several ways to organise the main body, and they mostly depend on what kind of material you are presenting. Certain types of essays benefit from certain ways of delivering the information within.

An appropriately structured essay gives your arguments and ideas their best chance. When the correct structure is supported by well-written paragraphs and good use of transitions , it will be an impressive essay to read.

Is referencing affected by the essay style I choose?

No, the approach you take in organising your essay does not affect how you reference your sources. What affects your referencing is the formatting style you are instructed to use, such as Harvard , APA, MLA, or Chicago.

Are there fixed rules on which method of organising to use for certain subjects?

No, there is no rule that says you have to use a certain style. However, practice shows that the aims of certain types of essays are best achieved when presented in particular styles.

Do I have to provide a glossary of technical terms?

How you define technical terms to your readers is your choice. It can depend on the amount of them. If there are not many, they can be introduced within the text. If the essay topic is of a highly technical nature, then a separate sheet with definitions might be the best way to explain them without extending the length of your essay .

You May Also Like

Before diving into the how-to, grasping what critical discussion entails is essential. Essay writing help often emphasises the importance of this step. Critical discussion requires a deeper level of analysis where you explain a topic and evaluate and dissect its various facets.

Here are some tips on writing the main body paragraphs of an essay to help you correctly plan and organize the most critical part of your academic essay.

While there are many types of essays, they can be broadly categorized into the following four main types – argumentative, expository, descriptive, and narrative.

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9.3 Organizing Your Writing

Learning objectives.

• Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
• Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
• Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
• Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

• Chronological order
• Order of importance
• Spatial order

When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research.

Chronological Order

In Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or relate an experience
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing , which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first , second , then , after that , later , and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first , then , next , and so on.

Writing at Work

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first , second , then , and finally .

Order of Importance

Recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” that order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly , almost as importantly , just as importantly , and finally .

During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

Spatial Order

As stated in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up most of the wall, which is the color of lavender.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• On the left or on the right
• Across from
• A little further down
• To the south, to the east, and so on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning right

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

• The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
• A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
• Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Organizing Principles for Writing an Essay

Christopher cascio, 26 sep 2017.

Perhaps the most crucial aspect of writing a successful essay is clearly organizing your thoughts on paper. When deciding on how to best organize your main ideas, you have to analyze your subject and determine how these individual ideas relate to one another. Once you make that connection, you can employ one of four specific strategies to ensure that your message will come across loud and clear.

Explore this article

• Chronological Order
• Climactic Order
• Spatial Order
• Topical Order

1 Chronological Order

Perhaps the most basic way to organize your ideas is according to chronology. To use this method you arrange your ideas according to the order in which the subjects occur. For example, if you are writing a narrative, you would tell the events in the order that they happen. However, chronological order also works for other essay modes, such as process analyses, in which you provide the reader with instructions on how to perform a task or explain how something works. This organizational pattern often suits descriptive modes as well. For example, if you are describing a place, you can organize the characteristics you want to describe according to the seasons in which they occur.

2 Climactic Order

To use climactic organization means to order your ideas according to their increasing importance. This method builds tension as the essay moves forward, so that you end with your most important points. The idea is that because these most important points are the last ideas your audience reads, your audience will remember them best. An alternate form of climactic order is known as psychological organization. Psychological organization is different in that it places the emphasis on both the first and last ideas in the essay, with the final idea still being the most important. For instance, if you rank the importance of your ideas from one to five, with five being most important, you might arrange those ideas in the following order: four, one, two, three, five.

3 Spatial Order

Spatial organization dictates that you order your ideas based on each idea's relationship to the ones around it. This method is most useful for subjects that can be linked geographically. For example, if you are writing an essay about the various types of natural disasters that occur in the United States, you might begin with East Coast to discuss hurricanes then discuss the Midwest's Tornado Alley, followed by the West Coast and earthquakes. However, this method is also useful for narrative description. If you are writing a setting, for instance, you can describe what the narrator sees by moving from one location to the next, or from person to person.

4 Topical Order

Topical order is another organizational method that uses the relationships between subjects as the link, but instead of using spatial relationships this one uses figurative relationships. For example, if you're writing a critical analysis of a novel, you might organize your essay according to the various elements of the story that are subject to criticism, such as themes, writing style, the book's success compared to the author's previous work. This pattern is useful when you need to analyze the individual components of your subject, but you can't warrant ordering them according to chronology, importance or physical proximity.

• 1 Capital Community College: Principles of Organization; John Friedlander
• 2 Education.com: Logical Organizational Strategies for Essay Writing Help

About the Author

Christopher Cascio is a memoirist and holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and literature from Southampton Arts at Stony Brook Southampton, and a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in the rhetoric of fiction from Pennsylvania State University. His literary work has appeared in "The Southampton Review," "Feathertale," "Kalliope" and "The Rose and Thorn Journal."

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Climax (Figure of Speech)

Climax Definition

What is a climax? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Climax is a figure of speech in which successive words, phrases, clauses, or sentences are arranged in ascending order of importance, as in "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird ! It's a plane ! It's Superman !"

Some additional key details about climax:

• Climax has the effect of building excitement and anticipation.
• The device is used in writing of all types, from speeches and songs to novels and plays.
• The term "climax" also has another meaning: climax, the figure of speech, is different from climax , the moment in a plot when the central conflict of the story reaches peak intensity.

Climax Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce climax: cly -max

Understanding Climax

Climax appears all over the place, and it's easy to identify if you know what you're looking for. The definition of climax includes any use of language that is characterized by a feeling of mounting intensity across successive words, phrases, clauses, or sentences, but it's generally agreed that something is only an example of climax if tension is built over the course of three or more discrete words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. So for example, the following phrases do not count as climax, since each one contains only two discrete ideas :

• "If you think that's bad , it gets worse ."
• "To infinity , and beyond !"
• "Out of the frying pan and into the fire !"

Here's a handful of examples that do contain at least three discrete words or clauses in order of increasing importance , which qualifies them as examples of climax:

• Let a man acknowledge his obligations to himself , his family , his country , and his God .
• Since concord was lost , friendship was lost ; fidelity was lost ; liberty was lost — all was lost .

When Climax is Unclear

It can sometimes be difficult to tell whether the words, phrases, or sentences in a sequence actually have a hierarchy of importance or power, which makes it difficult to know whether climax is at play. For instance, was Abraham Lincoln using climax when he declared in his Gettysburg Address that the Union was fighting to defend a government

"of the people, by the people, for the people."

Some people might argue that government "for the people" is the most revolutionary idea of the three presented here, and that therefore this is an example of climax. However, others might say that there is no hierarchy between these three ideas—that they're all equally important—and that this sequence therefore isn't an example of climax.

Here's another example: is the following phrase from the Declaration of Independence an example of climax?

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Here, some might argue that t's hard to argue that happiness is "more important" than life itself, and so this isn't climax. But others might point out that the right to life is basic, while liberty and the right to pursue happiness are the hallmarks of a truly free society, and so it is climax. 

Ultimately, if you can see a way that the three words or phrases are increasing in importance, then you can make a case that it is an example of climax. But if you're unable to tell whether a sentence is using climax even after you've analyzed its words closely, it's probably safe to say that, even if it is an example of climax, it's not a very good or effective one.

Climax and Parallelism

Generally speaking, climax works in tandem with parallelism . In parallelism, two or more elements of a sentence (or series of sentences) have the same grammatical structure, which makes lists (or sequences of multiple ideas) easier to read and understand. All of the examples we've looked at so far have used parallelism, and the following is another good example of both climax and parallelism:

Veni, vidi, vici : I came , I saw , I conquered .

The three clauses of the sentence are parallel because each starts off with the pronoun "I" followed by a verb in the past tense, so therefore they have the same grammatical structure. Because the grammatical structure of the clauses is identical, it is easer to see that the ideas in each successive clause grow in intensity and significance.

Climax vs. Anticlimax

The opposite of climax is a figure of speech called anticlimax . There are two different types of anticlimax.

The First Type of Anticlimax

In the first type, words are arranged in order of descending importance , as in:

• "For God , for Country , and for Yale ." (A Yale University motto.)
• "He has seen the ravages of war , he has known natural catastrophes , he has been to singles bars ." (Woody Allen)
• "He lost his family , his job , and his house plants ."

The Second Type of Anticlimax

In the second type of anticlimax, which is similar to but slightly different from the first, words are arranged in order of ascending importance with a sudden shift at the end back to the unimportant , as in:

• "'Oh, poor Mr. Jones,' mourned Mrs. Smith, 'Did you hear what happened to him? He tripped at the top of the stairs , fell down the whole flight , banged his head , and died '. 'Died?' said Mrs. Robinson, shocked. 'Died!' repeated Mrs. Smith with emphasis. ' Broke his glasses, too.' " (Isaac Asimov)
• “Among the great achievements of Benito Mussolini's regime were the revival of a strong national consciousness , the expansion of the Italian Empire , and the running of the trains on time ."

Anticlimax generally has a comedic effect, since it subverts the listener's expectations by placing the least important thing at the end of the list, where they would expect to hear the most important thing. Some examples of anticlimax are intended to be funny (like Woody Allen's), and some are funny without intending to be (like the Yale motto).

Climax Examples

In all the examples that follow, we'll continue to highlight the instances where climax occurs, using different colors to indicate the increasing importance or power of the words.

Examples of Climax in Literature

Climax is used throughout literature, from poetry to fiction to nonfiction. Here are just a few examples.

Climax in Melville's Moby Dick

In this passage from Herman Melville's Moby-Dick ,  climax is used very effectively to convey how Captain Ahab feels about the whale.

All that most maddens and torments ; all that stirs up the lees of things ; all truth with malice in it ; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain ; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought ; all evil , to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified and made practically assailable in Moby Dick.

Climax in Shakespeare's “The Passionate Pilgrim”

Here's an example of climax from a poem by Shakespeare:

Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good; A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly; A flower that dies when first it gins to bud; A brittle glass that’s broken presently: A doubtful good , a gloss , a glass , a flower , Lost , faded , broken , dead within an hour .

The final lines of this stanza contain two examples of climax: in the second-to-last line, words increase in beauty and delicacy, from the middling "doubtful good" to "flower." In the last line, the words once again increase in intensity, but this time in a progression from bad to worse ("lost" to "dead").

Examples of Climax in Music

You may be surprised, once you start listening for it, just how often climax is used in songwriting. It's an effective figure of speech for making lyrics memorable.

Climax in Van Morrison's "Days Like This"

This song by Van Morrison uses climax in each verse to describe the conditions of a peaceful day. Here, the first verse climaxes with Morrison imagining everything falling into place "like the flick of a switch."

When it's not always raining there'll be days like this When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch Well mama told me there'll be days like this.

Climax in Drake's "Too Good"

Here's the chorus from Drake's song "Too Good," featuring Rihanna. This may not seem like a clear example of climax, but we'll explain why it is. The first thing to take note of is the use of parallelism in the repetition of "last night:"

Yeah, and last night I think I lost my patience Last night I got high as your expectations Last night I came to a realization And I hope you can take it I hope you can take it: I'm too good to you I'm way too good to you You take my love for granted I just don't understand it

The thing that ultimately makes this an example of climax—even though it's not immediately clear whether any one idea in the sequence is more important than any of the others—is that the subject of the song turns out to be the important realization that Drake arrives at (i.e., that he's too obliging of the woman he's seeing) and not that he lost his patience or got high. So in that sense, the sequence follows an order of increasing importance. 

Examples of Climax in Speeches

Climax is a highly effective tool of rhetoric, since it lends structure at the sentence level, builds anticipation in the listener, and makes it clear which idea in a series the speaker assigns the most value.

Climax in Barrack Obama's 2004 DNC speech

This excerpt from a 2004 speech made by Obama contains a great example of climax:

When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going , to care for their families while they're gone , to tend to the soldiers upon their return , and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world .

Notice how another instance of climax occurs within the broader climactic arc of this passage, when Obama says, at the very end: " win the war , secure the peace , and earn the respect of the world ."

Climax in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" Speech

MLK used climax frequently throughout his speeches. Here are two separate examples from his famous "I Have a Dream" speech:

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

And here's another passage from the same speech that uses climax:

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire . Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York . Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania . Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado . Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California . But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia . Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee . Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi . From every mountainside , let freedom ring.

What's the Function of a Climax in Literature?

Putting the most important information at the end of a sentence may not seem that logical if you're trying to convey critical information very quickly—for instance, imagine if every road sign, or every poster for an event, buried the most significant information at the very end. But it proves to be a logical and highly effective way to organize a sentence or paragraph if you have a series of ideas to convey and you want to work your way up to your most powerful ideas instead of giving them all away right off the bat. In addition to this, there are many reasons why a writer might want to use climax to organize their ideas:

• It lends structure at the sentence level;
• It builds anticipation in the listener;
• It makes clear which idea in a series the speaker assigns the most value.
• It makes words (and the order in which they occur) easier to remember—a valuable quality for both songwriting and speechwriting.
• It adds a touch of drama and suspense to the presentation of a list.
• It establishes a clear relationship of hierarchy between things on a list.

Other Helpful Climax Resources

• The Wikipedia Page on Climax:  A brief overview with a few helpful examples.
• The Dictionary Definition of Climax:  A basic definition. The word has several definitions, but in this entry we focused on the third definition listed in this dictionary.

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Organizational Strategies for Using Chronological Order in Writing

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The word chronological comes from two Greek words. "Chronos" means time. "Logikos" means reason or order. That is what chronological order is all about. It arranges information according to time.

In composition  and speech , chronological order is a method of organization in which actions or events are presented as they occur or occurred in time and can also be called time or linear order.

Narratives and process analysis essays commonly rely on chronological order. Morton Miller points out in his 1980 book "Reading and Writing Short Essay" that the "natural order of events — beginning, middle, and end — is narration 's simplest and most-used arrangement."

From " Camping Out " by Ernest Hemingway to "The Story of an Eyewitness: The San Francisco Earthquake" by Jack London , famous authors and student essayists alike have utilized the chronological order form to convey the impact a series of events had on the author's life. Also common in informative speeches because of the simplicity of telling a story as it happened, chronological order differs from other organizational styles in that it is fixed according to the timeframe of events which happened.

How Tos and Who-Done-Its

Because time order is essential in things like "How-To" presentations and murder mysteries alike, chronological order is the preferred method for informative speakers. Take for example wanting to explain to a friend how to bake a cake. You could choose another method to explain the process, but putting the steps in order of timing is a much easier method for your audience to follow — and successfully bake the cake.

Similarly, a detective or officer presenting a murder or theft case to his or her team of police would want to retrace the known events of the crime as they occurred rather than bouncing around the case — though the detective may decide to go in reverse chronological order from the act of the crime itself to the earlier detail of the crime scene, allowing the team of sleuths to piece together what data is missing (i.e., what happened between midnight and 12:05 am) as well as determine the likely cause-effect play-by-play that led to the crime in the first place.

In both of these cases, the speaker presents the earliest known important event or occurrence to happen and proceed to detail the following events, in order. The cake maker will, therefore, start with "decide which cake you want to make" followed by "determine and purchase ingredients" while the policeman will start with the crime itself, or the later escape of the criminal, and work backward in time to discover and determine the criminal's motive.

The Narrative Form

The simplest way to tell a story is from the beginning, proceeding in time-sequential order throughout the character's life. Though this may not always be the way a narrative speaker or writer tells the story, it is the most common organizational process used in the narrative form .

As a result, most stories about mankind can be told as simply as "a person was born, he did X, Y, and Z, and then he died" wherein the X, Y, and Z are the sequential events that impacted and affected that person's story after he was born but before he passed away. As X.J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron put it in the seventh edition of "The Bedford Reader," a chronological order is "an excellent sequence to follow unless you can see some special advantage in violating it."

Interestingly, memoirs and personal narrative essays often deviate from chronological order because this type of writing hinges more upon overarching themes throughout the subject's life rather than the full breadth of his or her experience. That is to say that autobiographical work, largely due to its dependence on memory and recall, relies not on the sequence of events in one's life but the important events that affected one's personality and mentality, searching for cause and effect relationships to define what made them human.

A memoir writer might, therefore, start with a scene where he or she is confronting a fear of heights at age 20, but then flash back to several instances in his or her childhood like falling off a tall horse at five or losing a loved one in a plane crash to infer to the reader the cause of this fear.

When to Use Chronological Order

Good writing relies on precision and compelling storytelling to entertain and inform audiences, so it's important for writers to determine the best method of organization when attempting to explain an event or project.

John McPhee's article " Structure " describes a tension between chronology and theme that can help hopeful writers determine the best organizational method for their piece. He posits that chronology typically wins out because "themes prove inconvenient" due to the sparsity of occurrences that relate thematically. A writer is much better served by the chronological order of events, including flashbacks and flash-forwards, in terms of structure and control. 

Still, McPhee also states that "there's nothing wrong with a chronological structure," and certainly nothing to suggest it's a lesser form than thematic structure. In fact, even as long ago as Babylonian times, "most pieces were written that way, and nearly all pieces are written that way now."

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TAP022: How to Write The Climactic Sequence of a Novel

by Amelia D. Hay | Authorpreneur Podcast , Outlining Your Novel , Plot and Story Structure , Season 1: Story Structure , Writing

Hello, Writers!

So, you’ve reached the third act of your novel, and you’re wondering how to write an unforgettable climactic moment. The real secret is in the building up to this climactic moment in the third act. I remember that feeling I got when I reached the start of the third act for the first thriller that I wrote; I was so excited. This probably sounds a little dramatic, but I could almost hear the hallelujah chorus. As I’ve recently discovered reaching the end of the story, is where the real work starts, no matter how great you are at outlining. But, you’re not here for revision tips, you want to know how to write the climactic sequence of a novel.

And that’s precisely what you’re going to get.

In this episode, I will breakdown the three key elements of the story climax, so that you can write a show-stopping climactic sequence for your novel.

So, let’s get started.

About The Series

Before I dive into the writing tips, this is the eleventh instalment in my series on three-act structure. If you’ve just joined me on this episode, then, I will link the previous ten episodes below.

• TAP012, What is Three-Act-Structure?
• TAP013, Plot and Structure: The Hook
• TAP014, How to Write a Great Ordinary World Scene
• TAP015, How to Write the Inciting Incident
• TAP016, How to Write the First Plot Point Scene
• TAP017, How to Write the Rising Action Scenes
• TAP018, How to Write the Midpoint of a Novel
• TAP019, How to Write the Second Half of the Second Act 
• TAP020, How to Write the Dark Night of the Soul Scene of a Novel
• TAP021, How to Choose the Right Ending for Your Story 

What is the climax of a story?

In terms of three-act-structure, the entire third act is considered the climax. Action needs to raise from the dark night of the soul scene or the seventy-fifth percent mark of the story onward. However, the climactic plot point needs to occur towards the end of the third act. This episode will focus on the crucial scenes leading up to, and including the climactic moment.

Where does the climax start?

The climax is a moment within a sequence of events that starts around the eighty percent mark of the story. And thus referred to as the climactic sequence. This sequence is made up of three key elements, a moment of recovery, the confrontation, and the climactic moment. Leading up to this sequence, something needs to happen to force the hero and the villain to face each other. This moment usually occurs within the previous scenes and thus, acts as a springboard for the climactic sequence. It goes without saying that the climactic sequence, although logical, needs to come as a surprise to your reader.

A Moment of Recovery

But, you need to bridge the gap between the dark night of the soul scene and the start of the climax with a moment of recovery for the protagonist. As highlighted in episode twenty, the dark night of the soul is the moment in your story where your hero hits rock bottom. I’ll leave a link to episode twenty below.

Nevertheless, the journey doesn’t end at this point, your protagonist needs a moment to regroup before he faces the final confrontation and the events that follow on from that point. It’s in this moment of recovery that your hero questions his choices and commitment to the larger story goal. Through questioning, your protagonist finds the strength and a dose of last minute resolve to keep going to the end. This recovery period is crucial because it reveals vulnerability, and creates sympathy with the reader.

Without this moment, your protagonist would be an unrealistic character with an unbreakable amount of resolve, thus making the climax a little less moving. What makes your hero different is he finds what he needs to move forward at the last minute, creating a more inspiring ending, and keeping the connection with the reader.

The Confrontation

I will go into this moment within the climactic sequence in greater detail, in the next episode, especially for those of you who write within the Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense genres; but, for now, I’ll share the readers digest version. This is the moment where your hero goes up against the antagonistic force. It’s that final battle. Everything in the story is building up until this point.

To defeat the bad guy, your protagonist uses the lessons learned along the way. In a thriller or action-adventure novel, your protagonist has pieced together clues which have led them to this very moment where he’s quite literally face-to-face with the antagonistic force. It’s only in this moment of the story that the protagonist has everything he needs to go up against the villain. The protagonist can have allies to help solve the story problem, but there needs to be a moment where he acts alone. There must be something that only the protagonist can do in the final showdown.

Raising the Stakes

As your hero crosses the threshold into the final confrontation the stakes are raised, usually after a last-minute twist or surprise. Things become personal, or the stakes reach greater heights, and more people will be affected by the repercussions of the antagonist force achieving its goal.

But, not all story climactic sequences feature show-stopping gunfights, epic chases, or a fight. Large scale external conflict isn’t the only source of momentum, you can bring to the climactic sequence. Foreshadowing a layer of mystery in your story arc will add a level of tension in the third act. In other genres, the climax can be nothing more than an admission that changes everything for the hero. If you’re writing a romance novel, this is the moment the reader finally gets an answer to the will they/won’t they seesaw you’ve tortured them with on the previous 300 or so pages.

The Climactic Moment

The climactic moment is the final moment where the protagonist realises they have won, lost, or reached an impasse. It’s that moment in your story where the conflict cannot go on as it has done before. No matter how your story ends, the core conflict of the story must be resolved, in this climactic moment. Even if you’re writing in a series or trilogy, there needs to be a resolution to this story’s core conflict. I know this seems obvious, but your climactic moment, that moment your story has been building to, needs to fulfil the promise you made to the reader at the start of the story, and give this sequence a satisfying conclusion.

Concluding Thoughts

The three key moments you need to include in your climactic sequence are a moment of recovery, the confrontation, and the climactic moment. Now, I have an important question for you. Are you struggling to write the climactic sequence for your story? I want to hear from you. Share your experience or ask a question in the comments section below.

Thank you for listening, reading, commenting and sharing with such enthusiasm.

Your coach,

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I’m Amelia. When I’m not hosting the Authorpreneur Podcast™️ and the Book Nerd Podcasts, I write Mystery Novels under the pen name A. D. Hay. And, I’m the author of Suspicion, the Lawn, and the Candidate.

On this blog, I help new writers to finish their first draft, prepare their manuscripts for professional editing, and when they get stuck in the first draft phase or are confused about the revision process.

Right now, I’m editing and preparing my soon to be published mystery novels, Suspicion, Duplicity, 24 Hours, and Immunity for publication.

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• Published: 16 April 2024

Timeless order

Nature Physics volume  20 ,  page 521 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Eighty years on from the publication of Erwin Schrödinger’s interdisciplinary analysis on the origin of order in living organisms — What is Life? — we look at how physicists and biologists are approaching the topic today.

Based on a series of lectures Erwin Schrödinger delivered at Trinity College Dublin, his book What is Life? The Physical Aspects of the Living Cell inspired biologists and challenged the expectations of physicists on the underlying working principles of living systems. It was published in 1944 and explored whether the statistical approach of physics can account for cellular processes in living organisms. On the occasion of its 80th anniversary, we reflect on its efforts to link biology and physics and on how scientists study these phenomena today.

Physical laws rely on order, or “order from disorder”, as Schrödinger put it 1 . Although Isaac Newton’s description of the planets had become a paradigmatic case of determinism by the time Schrödinger delivered his lectures, advances in statistical physics and quantum mechanics had shown that at the microscopic level lay disorder and indeterminism. Take atoms in a gas, for example. They move randomly, producing varying degrees of thermal disorder; but when averaged over large numbers, their macroscopic properties can be described by exact physical laws. One typical example is diffusion: although it can be modelled as a structured process, it stems from random Brownian trajectories of individual components.

But living and inanimate matter differ in their statistical behaviour. Whereas physicists would expect “a big number of atoms controlling the whole system” 1 , an organism’s biology is controlled by a relatively small number of atoms making up its genetic material. In this way, genes generate “order from order” by passing hereditary information down a lineage. This concept, together with X-ray crystallography experiments by Rosalind Franklin, inspired James Watson and Francis Crick and led to the discovery of DNA structure and its central role in living cells.

Today, scientists know there is more to order and disorder than meets the eye. For example, cell signalling is coordinated by intrinsically disordered proteins (or regions within proteins). This so-called disorder–function paradigm 2 changed the traditional view on structure–function relationships and proved that proteins can carry out cellular functions without three-dimensionally stable folded structures.

But how is an organism able to maintain any form of collective order given the thermal disorder at its core? In his essays, Schrödinger evoked clockwork as a metaphor. In the same way heat disorder is unable to disturb the solid constituents of clockwork enough to alter its movement, an organism’s workings rely on an “aperiodic crystal” (now known as DNA) which is held together by forces that are strong enough to resist thermally driven structural variations. Beyond this illustrative explanation, it all comes down to entropy.

Living systems operate in non-equilibrium conditions to reduce their entropy. This is an organism’s secret to avoid the second law of thermodynamics and a relentless descent into a more disordered form. In the pursuit of homeostasis — the dynamic, self-regulating state characteristic of life by which organisms maintain stability against changing conditions — biological systems depart from the physicist’s probabilistic framework, which describes inanimate matter, leading to an inherently informational and more deterministic picture.

This mechanism is at play during cellular processes that are paramount to life, such as cell metabolism and the transport of solutes across the cell membrane 3 . Entropy reduction also occurs via the formation of biomolecular condensates and information storage in DNA 3 . Biomolecular condensates are membraneless structures present in eukaryotic cells — cells that contain a nucleus — which perform a range of functions from controlling the rate of chemical reactions to enabling homeostatic cellular responses. Their formation is driven by extracellular stimuli, placing them at the centre of information exchange between a cell and its environment 4 .

Today’s equivalent of Schrödinger’s clockwork-inspired view on biological order may be found in mechanobiology. This field is concerned with the mechanical rather than the thermodynamic aspects of the interaction between living cells and their environment. The processes by which cells sense external mechanical signals and translate them into a response — mechanosensing and mechanotransduction — govern crucial cellular behaviour, such as motility and tissue morphogenesis 5 .

From understanding the role of DNA as information carrier and of structure-dependent protein functionalities, to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, biomolecular condensates and mechanobiology, the connection between physics and biology proposed by Schrödinger continues to go from strength to strength. The idea of bringing two seemingly opposite disciplines together was a crucial step to advancing our understanding of life. It has already generated a number of interesting fields that promise to thrive for years to come.

Schrödinger, E. What is Life? The Physical Aspects of the Living Cell (Cambridge University Press, 1944).

Trivedi, R. & Nagarajaram, H. A. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23 , 14050 (2022).

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Jansen, K. A. et al. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1853 , 3043 (2015).

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Timeless order. Nat. Phys. 20 , 521 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02488-y

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This page was written by John Friedlander, associate professor in the English department at Southwest Tennessee Community College . It is used here with his permission. Why you want organization . . . When we talk about effective writing, we often think first about elements like word choice, grammar and mechanics, and content or evidence. But a really important part of effective writing—and effective thinking, too—is clear, logical organization. Maybe an analogy will help here. I know where every tool and ingredient is in my kitchen, and I can cook pretty efficiently. When I begin a recipe, I bring out all the ingredients, measure them, and line them up in the order in which I'll use them. Even complicated recipes seem fairly easy once I have everything laid out, and the organization gives me some sense of control. In the chaos of my garage, on the other hand, I don't know where anything is, and I'll leave a faucet dripping for a week because I don't want to hunt down a screwdriver or a wrench. I find it hard even to imagine more complicated projects. My office looks like a shambles, too—and I've wasted a lot of time looking for a book or document that I know is here somewhere . Thinking and acting are both harder when things are disorganized. The same principle affects you and me as writers and readers. When things are laid out in some sort of order, we can work with them more easily. If we can impose some kind of order on information, the information is easier to talk about, easier to understand, and easier to remember. If you choose a clear, recognizable pattern (for a single paragraph, and also for a whole essay), you find it easier to select details and choose transitions, and you also help your reader discover relationships that connect things, that make things seem more coherent. How you find organization . . . Humor me for a moment and agree that organization is really desirable, both in the process of writing and in the product of writing. The remaining problem is figuring out how to create or impose that organization. My garage is such a mess that I can't see beyond the clutter, but other people have neat garages, so I know a clean garage is possible . I just need to choose some principle of organization. I could start by putting all the lawn and garden stuff on the left wall and all the house maintenance stuff on the right wall. Then I could arrange the two sides—maybe all the big stuff (rakes, mower, ladder, tiller, power saw) closer to the garage door, and smaller stuff nearer to the far wall. Or I could arrange everything in alphabetical order, hanging or standing the stuff clockwise from the left wall, around the back, and then back along the right wall. Or I could put supplies on one wall, power tools on another, and manual hand tools on the third. Or I could have a section for gardening, a section for lawn care, a section for exterior house maintenance, and another for interior house maintenance. Maybe I could arrange them in order of frequency of use (if I ever used any of it . . .). Actually, any of those principles of order would help me find stuff in my garage—I just have to choose one principle and impose it. Sorry, your browser doesn't support Java. It's the same with writing. With any given group of ideas and details, you might use any of a number of principles of organization, and any one of them would help you and your reader. Some will be better than others, of course (I really can't see alphabetizing the tools and supplies in my garage, even though it would make them easier to find later). The main trick to imposing organization is to know some options and to choose one. [By the way, another similarity between organizing my garage and organizing writing is the need for some motivation. I don't want to organize my garage, because I don't want to do any work around the house to begin with. Leaving the place a mess suits me fine. If I never wanted to write or talk or think, I wouldn't need to deal with organizing ideas or details. Give some thought to your own motivation as you think about this stuff.] Patterns of Exposition (vs. Principles of Organization) In A Writer's Reference , Diana Hacker talks about "patterns of organization" (section C4-c, pp. 26-31). She identifies these as examples and illustrations narration description process comparison and contrast analogy cause and effect classification and division definition But these are not exclusively patterns of organization. As Hacker herself says, these patterns are "sometimes called methods of development. " Randall Decker uses the same patterns to group essays in our reader, and he calls them "patterns of exposition." A slightly more formal term you may run across is "rhetorical modes." These patterns (or methods or modes) are partially patterns of organization, and partially patterns of development—that is, sometimes they help you organize content; other times they help you find content. Some of these rhetorical modes do imply basic patterns for organizing information. Underlying organizational patterns seem particularly clear in comparison & contrast [you can look at the online discussion of comparison and contrast to see its basic organizational patterns]; in process [do this, then do this, then do this; or this happens, then this happens, then this happens]; and in cause & effect [this happens, then (as a result) this happens]. Organization is also imposed by definition [narrowing groups of meanings, from the broad class to which the term belongs, to the narrower groups, to the individual distinguishing characteristics], and in most narration [this happened, then this happened, then this happened]. Principles of Organization I think you can develop a more flexible sense of organization if you also look at some patterns that are more exclusively patterns or principles of organization. You should understand, though, that these four broad principles have many variations, that they sometimes overlap with patterns of development or exposition, and that good writing sometimes combines different methods. Chronological Order (order of Time) In chronological order or time order , items, events, or even ideas are arranged in the order in which they occur. This pattern is marked by such transitions as next, then, the following morning, a few hours later, still later, that Wednesday, by noon, when she was seventeen, before the sun rose, that April , and so on. Chronological order can suit different rhetorical modes or patterns of exposition. It naturally fits in narration, because when we tell a story, we usually follow the order in which events occur. Chronological order applies to process in the same way, because when we describe or explain how something happens or works, we usually follow the order in which the events occur. But chronological order may also apply to example, description, or parts of any other pattern of exposition. Spatial Order Another principle of organization is spatial order . In this pattern, items are arranged according to their physical position or relationships. In describing a shelf or desk, I might describe items on the left first, then move gradually toward the right. Describing a room, I might start with what I see as I enter the door, then what I see as I step to the middle of the room, and finally the far side. In explaining some political or social problem, I might discuss first the concerns of the East Coast, then those of the Midwest, then those of the West Coast. Describing a person, I might start at the feet and move up to the head, or just the other way around. This pattern might use such transitions as just to the right, a little further on, to the south of Memphis, a few feet behind, in New Mexico, turning left on the pathway , and so on. Spatial order is pretty common in description, but can also apply to examples, to some comparisons, some classifications [the southern species of this bird . . . ; rhinos in Southeast Asia . . .], some narrations [meanwhile, out on the prairie ], and other forms of exposition as well. Climactic Order (Order of Importance) A third common principle of organization is climactic order or order of importance . In this pattern, items are arranged from least important to most important. Typical transitions would include more important, most difficult, still harder, by far the most expensive, even more damaging, worse yet, and so on. This is a flexible principle of organization, and may guide the organization of all or part of example, comparison & contrast, cause & effect, and description. A variation of climactic order is called psychological order . This pattern or organization grows from our learning that readers or listeners usually give most attention to what comes at the beginning and the end, and least attention to what is in the middle. In this pattern, then, you decide what is most important and put it at the beginning or the end; next you choose what is second most important and put it at the end or the beginning (whichever remains); the less important or powerful items are then arranged in the middle. If the order of importance followed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, with 5 being most important, psychological order might follow the order 4, 3, 1, 2, 5 . Still other principles of organization based on emphasis include general-to-specific order , specific-to general order , most-familiar-to-least-familiar , simplest-to-most-complex , order of frequency , order of familiarity , and so on. Topical Order A fourth broad principle of organization is called topical order , and this is sort of a catchall pattern. It refers to organization that emerges from the topic itself. For example, a description of a computer might naturally involve the separate components of the central processing unit, the monitor, and the keyboard, while a discussion of a computer purchase might discuss needs, products, vendors, and service. A discussion of a business might explore product, customer, and location, and so on. Topical order, then, simply means an order that arises from the nature of the topic itself. Transitions in this pattern will be a little vague—things like another factor, the second component, in addition , and so on. I'm not sure any single list can identify all of the different logical ways of organizing information. You may have forms in your workplace that impose a certain order on how an event or action is reported. Many people trying to persuade others to change policy or behavior often examine the issue in the order of need or problem first, then the benefits of the change, then the mechanics or ease of implementing the change. You may see a question-answer pattern, a problem-solution pattern, or sometimes a solution-problem pattern. You will also see (and use) combinations of patterns as your ideas and purposes become more complex. You do need to see, though, that imposing order on information makes the information easier to talk about, easier to understand, and easier to remember. If you choose a clear, recognizable pattern (on the level of the single paragraph, and also on the level of the whole essay body), you guide yourself in selecting details and choosing transitions, and you also guide your reader in discovering relationships that connect things, that make things seem more coherent. [See the section on Transitions .]  

  *A simplified list. Be sure to recognize that that these principles offer many variations. (Occasionally a writer moves backward in time, using reverse chronological order. Climactic order can include psychological order and other variants (the group of transitions, "occasionally, frequently, regularly," for example, shows an order of frequency ). **Another simplified list. As topics, audiences, and purposes change, writers discover wide varieties of ways to develop material and to organize it, and they often combine different methods of development and different principles of organization. ***These examples barely scratch the surface—I'm just trying to give you a feel for how the principles might be identified or reinforced. Please note, too, that not all transitions are related to principles of order. Transitions like "for example," "another way of defining," "just as," "a similar process," "as a result." and "because of" reinforce patterns of development rather than principles of organization.

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‘Shogun’ Episode 9 Recap: an Army of One

Lady Mariko is bound to her orders, which force the hand of Lord Ishido and Lady Ochiba.

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By Sean T. Collins

Season 1, Episode 9: ‘Crimson Sky’

It’s a deception by which even the ingenious Lord Toranaga would be impressed. Step one: Spend several episodes of your prestige-drama period piece touting “Crimson Sky,” a battle plan for an all-out assault on a medieval castle the brutality of which frightens even Toranaga himself.

Step two: Use “Crimson Sky” as the name for the penultimate episode of your 10-episode mini-series, when both you and the audience know that the penultimate episode is where massive battles tend to happen in prestige-drama period pieces.

Step three: Don’t have a battle.

Put that way, “Crimson Sky” is a bit of a bait and switch. But to deride it as such is to ignore all the episode delivered in exchange for putting off a climactic confrontation of samurais. It is a riveting look at a woman in extremis, channeling a lifetime of pain into one final incandescent act of strength and sacrifice.

After opening with a flashback that shows young Lady Mariko desperate to follow her family in death, the episode proper begins with Mariko, Lord Yabushige and John Blackthorne’s arrival in Osaka. The rascally Yabushige continues playing each side against the other, to mixed results, while deepening his unlikely friendship with Blackthorne.

Mariko, it soon becomes clear, is there on a very specific mission. Addressing the shocked Council of Regents, led by Lord Ishido but ruled by his fiancée Lady Ochiba, Mariko declares her intention to leave the city the next morning, with Lord Toranaga’s consorts and infant son in tow. Ishido comes up with procedural reasons to delay their departure, or at least he tries to, largely based on Mariko’s own shockingly indecorous behavior in court.

Proudly declaring herself the daughter of the disgraced Lord Akechi Jinsai and heir to a thousand years of samurai tradition, she declares, “I will never be captive, or hostage, or confined. I am free to go as I please, as is anyone.” She says this from the center of the frame, with her eyes pointed at the camera. The staging is clear: It all comes down to her.

Mariko, acting in concert with Toranaga, has placed the rival lord in a terrible bind. If he refuses to allow Mariko and the ladies to leave, then he’s shown to the nation that all the nobles and their families gathered in Osaka aren’t his guests, but his hostages: As long as he holds so many lords and ladies, no one in Japan, including Toranaga, can rise against him.

Ishido and Ochiba know how bad stopping Mariko’s departure will look. They also know that she’s right, that she and all the other nobles are hostages, hostages they badly need. Letting Mariko and company go will open the floodgates for everyone else.

Two incredible sequences follow, demonstrating both Mariko’s bravery and her determination to use her own death for a cause — to “walk into a sword just to prove the blade is sharp,” as Blackthorne despairingly puts it. First, she uses her warrior training to personally lead a battle against Ishido’s guards at the gate. As an audience of nobles and their retinues gaze down from the rooftops, a screeching, exhausted Mariko swings her naginata against a phalanx of spear-wielding soldiers, forbidden from harming her but also from letting her pass.

Finally, the lady gives up. Since she cannot obey her lord’s instructions to return to Edo with his family, she also cannot live with the offense of failing him. She will kill herself at sunset, she announces. Since Mariko is Christian, this is a mortal sin, unless she can find a second willing to deliver the death blow. It’s a grim honor — one that the Christian regent Lord Kiyama (Hiromoto Ida) refuses, despite his own beliefs. The lords are not yet ready to make a public break with Ishida and Ochiba, whose control of the Heir gives her incredible power.

But Mariko’s resolve gives her power of her own — a terrible sort of power. When Kiyama fails to show up at the ceremony to serve as her second, her ultimate reward for all this suffering seems to be the damnation of her immortal soul.

It’s all too much for Blackthorne to take. Grabbing a sword, he takes his place by her side, preparing the fatal stroke that will slice off her head after she thrusts a blade into her belly.

Ironically, this is one of the show’s most intensely romantic moments. Such is Blackthorne’s love for Mariko that he is willing to kill her in order to grant her death the honor she believes it will hold. Mariko believes she is damning herself to hell for eternity. Whether he also believes this is immaterial. He simply cannot allow her to experience that anguish in her last moments. He cannot let her die alone and afraid.

This fleeting but real emotional intimacy, profound beyond words, is conveyed by Cosmo Jarvis and Anna Sawai with minimal speech and movement. It’s all shown with their eyes.

They are spared the ordeal, however, when Lord Ishido bursts in and stops the ritual, tossing a permit at Mariko that will allow her and the other ladies to leave as requested. Her act of protest works.

Or does it? The shifty Lord Yabushige has been doing some maneuvering of his own in Osaka, and Ishido has given him one last chance to prove his worth. Yabushige turns on his own men, killing several guards, and allows a force of shinobi, or ninjas, into the palace. These highly trained mercenaries have been sent by Ishido to infiltrate the hostages’ quarters and stop the escape by any means necessary.

After their intense near-death moment, Mariko and Blackthorne can’t resist their feelings for one another. But they are awakened from post-coital sleep by Ishido’s hired swords.

Mariko dodges their attempt to capture her and flees. With her are Blackthorne, the other ladies and even Yabushige, who of course is pretending to be as surprised by the attack as anyone. The group hole up in a storage room with a heavy door, and can hear the enemy plotting to blow it open. Blackthorne tries to push heavy furniture in front of the door to block the blast, but he can’t do it without the help of the cowardly Yabushige, who refuses.

Then Mariko makes her last stand. Using her own body to blunt the explosion, she presses her back against the door and begins one final speech of protest against Ishido — this time using her maiden name of Akechi, in her heroic father’s honor — before the blast hits. The last thing we see before flames engulf the screen is her face coming straight at us. It’s a fitting end to an episode in which Mariko was so often centered.

So no, there’s no battle for the future of Japan to be found here, or at least not the kind we’ve been conditioned to expect. There’s just one woman, her mind and soul stretched to their limit by the overlapping dictates of her faith, her family, her society, and her own heart, pulling herself together for one final defiant act. In death, she finds the purpose she felt she lacked in life. It is both a triumph and a tragedy.

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