E75

Chapter 8
Textbook Methods of Organization

Textbook authors usually organized information using certain classic methods or patterns. Being able to recognize organizational methods (listing, analysis, cause/effect, comparison/contrast, definition/example, and sequence) will help you understand the ideas in your textbook and how they are connected to each other, because they will fit into logical patterns you are already familiar with. It will also help you to remember what you have read, because you are not memorizing facts in isolation, but relating them to each other to form patterns that hold and organize them in your memory. A useful way to identify an author’s method of organization is look for the organizational word clues (OWCs) that indicate which patterns he or she is using. It is also important to assess an author’s overall method of organization.