Thinking Thematically: A Method of Organization

When I addressed the different methods of organization, I defined “Thematic” as “organized by distinct topics or ideas” and I said little else on the matter.

At first, this makes it seem an easily manageable approach: an assortment of different topics and ideas, brought together in an essay. It seems easy, and this ease makes it appealing. However, it isn’t this simple. Every method of organization relies on having distinct topics or ideas because every paragraph and even groups of paragraphs should be distinct: a paragraph is a shift in topic or idea. Methods of Organization give us ways to structure and order the topics.

What, then, is Thematic organization?

Every other method organization gives you a way to distinguish each section or paragraph of an essay and a logical way to move from paragraph to paragraph. Graduated methods create hierarchies based on specificity, familiarity, or importance, while Sequential methods establish chronologies and trace ideas and concepts through time, and Comparative methods set the different topics in contrast to one another.

Thematic, however, gives a way to distinguish, but doesn’t give that logical progression.

Organizing Thematically involves using a theme appropriate for the essay as the governing mechanic to determine how everything is structured. The theme becomes the principle that logically brings the distinct topics together. This will then impact the topics themselves, with the theme running through the entire piece, impacting every decision you make. In other words, you need to find your own logic because the method itself doesn't supply it: it just reminds you that you need something to hang everything on, unlike the other methods of organization which give you the logic themselves.

It is possible for an essay to have multiple themes, just as fiction does, but to equate a theme with a paragraph is where the danger comes in. Too often disjointed, tangential essays are excused as being “thematic”, making Thematic Organization the refuge of the poorly organized: clusters of paragraphs placed together because they have to go somewhere, but without much attention given to why they are there. Most times a student proposes a Thematically organized essay or outline, they present either a disorganized mess or they haven't looked close enough to find a better way. Instead, themes should run across paragraphs, the length of broader sections and the essay as a whole, whether there’s only one theme or several. If you have a new organizational theme for every paragraph, then you don’t have an organized essay.

How then do we organize Thematically? Where are the examples? Because every use of Thematic organization will have a different theme, each will require a different approach and execution. The closest thing to such a general prescription for Thematic is to say every one will be different. Every combination of essay topic and organizational theme will yield a new situation, requiring its own organization.

For clarity's sake: Topic Sentences

Imagine going to a different city for the first time. You could be moving, meeting friends, starting a new job, whatever. You have a goal in mind, but when you get to the city, you're confronted by a lack of street signs. No matter how neat and orderly the streets are, there's little more than the unique features along the streets to help you find your way. Stuff like, brick houses with blue roofs, or black wrought iron fences, or the house with a stone lion occupying the porch. You have a vague idea where you want to go, but even if you stop and ask directions, they're vague and indirect, relying on specific landmarks you've seen a dozen times.

The thesis is the destination. It gives you an idea of where you're going and how to get there when reading or writing an essay. But topic sentences are the distinct, more specific directions letting you know the precise path to take. The thesis may be the address, but the topic sentences are the finer indicators of when to turn and which way to go. Just as the thesis tells you what the essay is about, topic sentences tell you what the paragraph is about.

This means an essay can be subdivided from the thesis into more specific subtopics, each one explained in its own paragraph. The same principle even applies to sentence structures: a sentence has a single, specific idea it’s trying to convey. Any less and it’s an incomplete sentence; more than one and it’s a run on sentence. The same applies to paragraphs and essays; an essay with a split thesis is basically a run on sentence.

Topic sentences generally appear at the beginning of a paragraph. Not necessarily the first sentence, but odds are it will be close. By placing a distinct topic sentence at the start of a paragraph, it gives readers a lens through which to interpret the paragraph. Like I said above: it gives direction and creates expectations. When those expectations aren’t met, we run into breakdowns in organization, essays and paragraphs that say more than they should, and that means tangents. Topic sentences that do not directly support the thesis are defined as tangents. Keeping track of one's thesis and topic sentences is a good way to make sure an essay is not diverting and the sentences stay on topic.

Lining up theses, topic sentences, and paragraphs makes composing an essay manageable because, with them, you can worry about an essay in sections and paragraphs rather than as a whole. Once you can identify the purpose of a paragraph in the bigger scheme of the essay (with, of course, a topic sentence), it makes it easier to focus on the individual sentences. Each sentence plays an integral role in developing the thesis of the essay, but tying one sentence to dozens or hundreds to the thesis is intimidating, especially when they need to fit in the flow of the rest of the essay. Instead, line up the topic sentences with the thesis, and the individual sentences with the topic sentences of their respective paragraphs.

Clear topic sentences are an important way to make the otherwise daunting task of writing an essay manageable: it makes it easier to keep track of what goes where, which helps with organization and revision. With topic sentences, you can create better outlines, manage organization, and eliminate tangents. Most of all, though, it helps you go from writing long essays to writing manageable paragraphs, each with a distinct topic.

Get a new doorman: Transitions and Transition Statements

On the Organization Overview page, when I listed transitions I stated it is “an issue with which I have mixed feelings.” This is because I understand and hope to teach that transitions are an essential part of writing. However, in my experience, transitions aren't what gets taught; it's transition statements. These are two very different concepts.

I tutored a student once who claimed to have a problem with those quaint little statements that sit at the end of paragraphs like doormen prepared to mark the move from one locale to another. The student recognized the need for cohesion in his writing, for that elusive “flow.” After a few minutes looking at his essay, it became clear that he understood his topic, was articulate, and had a firm grasp on the issue he was writing about. It’s just the doormen closing each paragraph were locking the door rather than opening it. Each transition was painfully abrupt, stalled the writing, and made every paragraph feel like an introduction rather than a continuation. It was bizarre that a good writer like this would have such a unique and individualized problem.

I proposed an experiment: we read through the second to last sentence of every paragraph and the first sentence of the next paragraph. We skipped the transitions. it worked beautifully. The essay was improved ten times at least.

The problem wasn't that he had bad transitions, it was that he had forced transition statements. He explained he had been taught to use token transition statements, and while that's fine for beginning writers, it ends up doing more harm than good for mature writers.

The red line is a tangent.

I see transition statements as a device to force otherwise tangential pieces into an essay. Pardon the geometry, but a tangent is a line that intersects with a circle at only one point. So, in writing, a tangent is when the essay suddenly starts talking about something that is related but irrelevant to the piece as a whole. It's a portion that just doesn't fit with the rest of the piece. “Transition statements” make it easy to go into a tangent and then force it back on track. It's a bad practice.

Therefore, forced transition statements (or weak transitions) are a symptom of two interrelated issues: the first is poor organization. The second is a weak thesis.

The thesis is the main point or argument and organization is how that point is delivered and presented. A well organized essay will flow from paragraph to paragraph, i.e. from topic to topic. A well organized essay will designate each paragraph with a specific topic directly related to the thesis. Anything related to a different topic goes in a different paragraph. Paragraphs that deal with similar information go before or after one another. And, here's where transitions come in: paragraphs with related topics will transition easier into one another. Strong transitions should be a natural by-product of adhering to the thesis and careful organization.

Transitions bring topics together much more than they bring paragraphs together, and a statement alone isn't enough to do it. It's more a matter of how the essay as a whole develops ideas as it progresses from introduction to conclusion: each paragraph should prepare the reader for the paragraph that follows it.

Unfortunately for me, this makes transitions a much harder topic to briefly address. There isn’t a set list of acceptable sentence structures and forms that can be interchangeably used to solve a problem. Good transitions show strong writing, strong organization, and a strong understanding of the subject matter: you haven’t put an arbitrary doorman down who may or may not do his job properly. You want a doorman who knows the building, the people, the clientele, and the situation. Someone who will let people know that all is well and you are welcome in the building.