Well-structured writing is essential to ensure readers understand your work. A strong structure provides clarity on the points you’re trying to convey. You also have to follow specific types of structure in writing to ensure the evaluator doesn’t reduce your grades.
Awareness of these academic writing frameworks can elevate your work from ordinary to worthy of higher grades. For instance, a casual structure in a serious piece can seem out of place.
This guide explores 11 different types of structures in writing so your material can have a strong foundation. Read this to find out what they are and when to use them.
1. Chronological Structure
In chronological structure, you organize your writing in a successive order. It’s usually based on how an event occurred in relation to time. You continue to build your talking points linearly. The reader should understand the order in which an event takes place.
For example, you’re writing an essay about the Declaration of Independence. You’ll start with the history of the European settlers coming into the country, followed by the war of independence. Ultimately, you’ll discuss the various colonies authorizing the Declaration of Independence.
You’ll also follow this structure for biographies and other series of time-based events. This structure ensures the reader can understand what’s going on. They can always refer to the previous sections to understand the context.
It’s like talking about what you did throughout the day. If you start by explaining your evening before jumping to when you woke up, it’s harder to follow.
2. Logical Structure
The logical structure is a writing framework where you systematically arrange your evidence and information. The reader can connect the next talking point with the previous one. This framework is useful for strengthening the claims you make in your work.
For instance, you need to write an essay about how the color of the sky changes during the day. You’ll need to explain how sunlight consists of different colors. You must explain the distance sunlight covers based on the sun’s position in the sky. Then, you have to talk about Rayleigh scattering and how this phenomenon affects the color of the sky.
If you just explain Rayleigh Scattering, the reader won’t understand why the sky changes from orange to blue during sunrise.
You need to organize your ideas and transition between them smoothly and naturally. There must be a connection between your talking points. It should be clear and easy to follow.
3. Argumentative Structure
In an argumentative structure, you make a clear and strong case for your point of view. This involves making the claim and providing evidence to support your statements. You have to talk about the other side of the argument to point out why it doesn’t hold up. Finally, you summarize your talking points to drive home the point.
There are several ways to argue your claims, as highlighted below:
- Classic: You make a statement, provide evidence to explain your reasoning, and tackle the opposing viewpoints.
- Rogerian: In this method, you cover both sides of the argument and try to find a common middle ground. In other words, you address opposing talking points and come to a conclusion that supports both.
- Toulmin: In the Toulmin method, you extensively explain your talking points for a specific topic. You break it down into multiple sections, like your claim, the evidence, your reasoning, and addressing the counterarguments. Each chunk is comprehensive, leaving no room for confusion.
4. Comparison and Contrast Structure
The comparison and contrast structure highlights the similarities and differences between two or more talking points. This framework works well in articles, essays, and research papers.
For example, you need to review two models of the same car. You’ll analyze various characteristics such as built-in features, safety utilities, design, fuel efficiency, and price. At the end, you’ll explain which one is better.
In this example, there are two ways to compare and contrast the two vehicles:
- You can go point by point. For example, you explain the fuel efficiency of car A, followed by car B. Then cover the safety features of car A before talking about car B.
- The second method is block by block. In this academic writing technique, you cover everything the reader should know about car A. After this, you’ll explain everything car B offers.
5. Problem and Solution Structure
In the problem and solution structure, you start with an issue before explaining the solution to resolve it. You must identify the problem, analyze it from different perspectives, and suggest fixes.
Here’s an example:
- You recognize there’s significant traffic in your area.
- You analyze the reasons behind increasing traffic jams. Let’s say there are too many private vehicles or only two roads lead to all the offices.
- You explain the effects of this issue, namely, that it increases the time it takes to reach work. You also highlight how traffic jams can reduce productivity.
- You provide a solution, such as better public transport for the working population. You suggest adding additional routes to reduce congestion on specific roads. You also propose changing working hours to ensure they don’t clash with other busy times, like school hours.
- In the last step, you evaluate the two solutions and recommend the best option.
6. Cause and Effect Structure
It’s easy to mistake cause and effect structure with comparison and contrast. However, in the former, you focus on the reasons that explain why something is occurring in the first place.
For example, Apple discontinued the iPhone mini series after the iPhone 13 Mini. Why did Apple make such a decision even though the phone was popular among reviewers? The primary reason was the sales numbers, highlighting the bigger models’ popularity among consumers.
You start with an introduction, followed by your talking points. You’ll need to share the evidence to ensure the validity of your findings. The message you’re trying to convey should be clear and logical.
7. Categorical Structure
The categorical structure covers topics in which the order you talk about them doesn’t matter.
For instance, you need to write about ten quarterbacks to keep an eye on this NFL season. In this example, you can place the athletes in any order, which is a categorical structure of writing. Each talking point has the same weight and relevance as the others.
However, if you covered the top 10 best quarterbacks of all time in the NFL, the order matters significantly.
8. Sequential Structure
The sequential structure is similar to the chronological structural elements of writing, as both rely on a sequence of events. However, in this academic writing framework, the events aren’t time-based. Rather, they follow step-by-step guidelines.
For instance, let’s say you’re writing a recipe for baking bread. You start with a list of ingredients and their measurements. Then, you explain in detail the steps the reader has to follow to make the bread from scratch.
Another example is explaining how to troubleshoot a laptop that doesn’t work properly. First, you must power off the device and turn it on again. Then, you’ll need to walk the reader through several step-by-step solutions to help resolve the issue.
9. Narrative Structure
Narrative structure or narrative arc gives foundation to storytelling so that it makes sense and makes your writing engaging. Without this creative writing structure, the reader won’t understand the story. All they’ll see are a bunch of words that don’t have any meaning when you put them together. The following section explains the narrative framework in writing:
- Exposition: It starts with an introduction, where the readers learn about the character and the setting.
- Rising action: Throughout the piece, you build conflict and tension, such as the characters’ difficulties during their journey.
- Climax: This is the turning point in the story where you hook the reader with your narrative. The characters make a breakthrough by facing their problems.
- Falling action: The character finally starts resolving the tension and conflicts during their journey.
- Denouement: This is the final stretch of your story. You ensure there are no loose ends, and the reader comes to terms with the ending of your narrative. You can use a circular structure (sometimes called a circular narrative) and to bring the character back to the story’s starting point.
With this essay outline, telling your story becomes easier. Moreover, the reader can follow the character arc without feeling like they don’t know what’s going on.
10. Braided Essay
The braided essay structure has multiple narratives or themes and weaves them together as a single piece. It’s common in storytelling, as the story’s progress may not always be linear. This technique lets you cover complex topics.
For instance, you talk about space travel and what it means for humanity. You also discuss your memories of space travel and its influence on how you perceive the world. You keep switching between these narratives to explore themes like how space travel breaks barriers and brings people together.
11. Spatial Structure
Spatial structure is a type of writing in which you describe various elements and their relation to space. This framework evokes visual imagery and paints a picture for your readers through their imagination.
You guide the readers on what to look at and feel as they explore the space with you. For example, how will you describe your experience when you look at a garden?
You’ll start with the plant or flower that’s closest to you. You’ll describe the color and its arrangement before moving to the next plant. By the end of the essay, the reader will know the layout and what you’re seeing.
FAQs
In this section, you’ll find answers to students’ queries about this topic.
What is structure in writing?
Structure in writing is the organization of your ideas, concepts, or talking points to explain a specific topic. As a writer, you have control over how you present your viewpoints in your work. In other words, there are different ways to explain the talking points. You guide your readers, ensuring they understand what you’re trying to convey.
How many basic formatting structures do writers use?
Writers use three basic formatting structures in their work. It starts with the introduction, which gives readers an idea of what to expect.
Following the introduction is the body, which explains the core concepts the writer wants to convey. The last is the conclusion, which brings all your talking points together. This frame is a common structure among writers.
Why is structure important in writing?
Structure is important in writing for the following reasons:
- It ensures your sentences flow naturally, making them easier to read.
- It lets you organize your ideas so the reader can understand your viewpoints.
- It gives you a foundation that you can use to make a strong argument for your talking points.
- It makes sure the reader is following the conversation.
How Smodin Can Help You Master the Types of Structure in Writing
A proper writing structure influences how well the evaluator understands your work. They may lose interest or find it difficult to follow if it’s all over the place. This can affect your grades, as the evaluator will reduce your score due to your writing skills.
Using the right writing structure isn’t easy, as you need to follow different formats. Moreover, following a specific framework becomes even more challenging if you’re writing in a non-native language.
Smodin gives you all the tools to create high-quality essays and outlines for essays from scratch. It can also improve your existing work to help you get better grades.
If you find it challenging to develop a good narrative, try our AI Story Generator. It can produce plagiarism-free stories to get your creative juices flowing in seconds.
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Finally, the AI Essay Generator will help you start working on your academic assignments. It can generate any type of essay using reliable sources and cite the information to avoid plagiarism.
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