The Learning Hub
Chronological
Writing Handout Series
Organization Strategies
One important aspect that is often overlooked in the writing process is consideration for the structure and order
that ideas will appear in the paper. Depending on what you will be writing, there are different organizational
structures that may strengthen or weaken your writing depending on which you select. This handout is designed to
give more information on chronological organization patterns, but you can find more information about other
organization patterns from our General Organizational Strategies Guide, which will direct you to other handouts
that will address other categories of organization patterns.
Organize by Order of Events
Sometimes you will have a topic that needs to be organized in chronological order. If you’re writing a
biography of a person, or detailing a historical event or period of time, you likely should write about
those things from their earliest point to their latest point in time as demonstrated in the example below.
Although this biography is
obviously missing many events,
it does highlight many of the
main points. As a writer, you
have to pick which events and
ideas need to be featured.
When discussing order of events, you can
organize your paragraphs by decade or by
theme. In this case, Rowling’s life is divided
into paragraphs about her early life, the time
before publishing Harry Potter, after
completing Harry Potter, and current projects.
Transitional
phrases and time
markers help keep
this biography
organized.
Last Edited: 8/9/2016
By: AA, SC
[email protected] | (217) 206-6503
BRK 460 | www.uis.edu/thelearninghub
#thehub
With narrative writing, events are most often told chronologically with a clear beginning, middle, and
end and often features a combination of description and dialogue. Although main events may be told in
a chronological order, there may be references to the past and mentions of past events. Without clearly
noting when events are occurring and differentiating between what occurred in the past and what is
currently happening, the narrative could become very confusing. Use transitional phrases to indicate
these “dips” into the past. On the next page, we have an example of a narrative that makes these
occasional journeys into the past.
Note that the
transitional phrases
and paragraph
separations help keep
the reader on track
and note the
transition of time.
Last Edited: 8/9/2016
By: AA, SC
This narrative contains a
combination of dialogue
and description of
events. Descriptions
become more detailed
at more important parts
of the story.
In these instances, the story
flashes back to a previous
point in time, but we can
differentiate between what
is currently happening and
what happened in the past.
[email protected] | (217) 206-6503
BRK 460 | www.uis.edu/thelearninghub
#thehub