Putting ideas together can be such a pain.

Organizational Strategies to the rescue!

Good writers aren't organized by accident. They keep these strategies in their tool belts, and use them to outline their work. Organizational strategies* are diving boards--choose one, and give it the old bounce and dive. You'll find that it sets you in the right direction, simplifies your task, and pushes you to discuss your topic in greater depth than what you might have done had you merely jotted down your immediate, unplanned thoughts. Consequently, it's a cure for writer's block! Next time you write, consider

A. focusing on one strategy as the structural skeleton for your project

OR

B. using several of these strategies together to create a structural plan unique to your needs.

Organizational Strategies

1. General-Specific-General
2. Cause-Effect
3. Compare-Contrast
4. Connection-Distinction
5. Time Sequence (chronological or otherwise)
6. Spatial Sequence
7. Claim-Reason-Example-Elaboration
8. Problem-Solution
9. Topic-Description
10. Concept-Definition
11. Classification

These structural forms often overlap, or work together simultaneously in one work. For example,

a novel comprised of time-sequenced events follows the efforts of a character seeking a solution to her problem. In one chapter, the author describes several characters one by one, according to the spatial order of their homes on the street. Throughout this description, he draws connections and distinctions among the characters. The cliff-hanger at the chapter's end is a mysterious phenomenon, the cause of which may be found only in the next chapter.

*Organizational Strategies are sometimes referred to as "Text Structures."