Getting Smarter through Language
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Below are 15 common modes of writing, or modes of organization. Use the navigation buttons on each page to navigate through the course, or use the links below to jump to a particular mode.
Modes of Organization (this page)
1. Narration
2. Description
3. Definition
4. Example/Illustration
5. Listing
6. Comparison/Contrast
7. Process Analysis (Steps in a Process)
8. Division/Classification
9. Cause and Effect
10. Problem and Solution
11. Persuasion
12. Chronological order
13. Emphatic order (order of importance)
14. Question-and-answer
15. Other/Important Notes
Practice 1 (includes a PDF handout)
In a lesson about rhetorical modes of writing, we saw your writing falls into five broad categories or types of writing: expository, descriptive, persuasive, narrative, or reflective.
Having only five main rhetorical modes may seem to limit your options; however, within these types of writing you still have a great deal of flexibility to choose the mode of writing, or mode of organization, that communicates your main point the most effectively.
Olia Danilevich | Pexels | Pexels
Essentially, this means that, regardless of the type of writing, you should still organize the information depending on the topic, your purpose for writing, and your audience.
Let’s examine several common ways of organizing information or rhetorical modes of writing: narration; description; definition; example or illustration; listing; comparison and contrast; process analysis or steps-in-a-process; division or classification; cause and effect; problem and solution; and persuasion.
Continue the lesson to learn about the narrative mode of organization.
