A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

Part-by-part. If you can break your topic into its constituent parts, you can deal with eachpart in turn, but you must still order those parts in some way that helps readers understandthem.You can also organize the parts from the point of view of your readers' ability to understandthem:Short to long, simple to complex. Most readers prefer to deal with less complex issuesbefore they work through more complex ones.More familiar to less familiar. Most readers prefer to read what they know about beforethey read what they don't.Less contestable to more contestable. Most readers move more easily from what theyagree with to what they don't.Less important to more important (or vice versa). Readers prefer to read more importantreasons first, but those reasons may have more impact when they come last.Earlier understanding as a basis for later understanding. Readers may have to understandsome events, principles, definitions, and so on before they understand another thing.Often, these principles cooperate: what readers agree with and most easily understandmight also be shortest and most familiar. But they may also conflict: reasons that readersunderstand most easily might be the ones they reject most quickly; what you think is yourmost decisive reason might to readers seem least familiar. No rules here, only principles ofchoice.Whatever order you choose, it should reflect your readers' needs, not the order that thematerial seems to impose on itself (as in an obvious compare-contrast organization), and leastof all the order in which ideas occurred to you.6.2.6 Make Your Order Clear with Transitional WordsBe certain that your readers can recognize the order you chose. Start each page of reasons inyour storyboard with words that make the principle of order clear: First, Second, Later,Finally, More important, A more complex issue is, As a result. Don't worry if these words feelawkwardly obvious. At this point, they're more for your benefit than for your readers'. Youcan revise or even delete the clumsy ones from your final draft.6.2.7 Sketch a Brief Introduction to Each Section and SubsectionJust as your whole report needs an introduction that frames what follows, so does each of itssections. If a section is only a page or two, you need just a short paragraph; for a sectionseveral pages long, you might need to sketch in two or more paragraphs. This openingsegment should introduce the key terms that are special to its section, ideally in a sentence at