Organization is an important key to writing. It holds it all together. Here are some things to keep in mind.

• stories should have a beginning, middle, and end
• instructions should go in order from first to last
• an effect should come after a cause
• use your best reason last when trying to convince someone

Part of all this is deciding what you are trying to write. Are you writing a narrative story? Are you writing an argument to try to persuade someone to your opinion? Are you trying to teach someone how to do something? Are you trying to explain the outcome of an experiment or event?

When organizing your writing, know what type of writing you are doing, choose an organizational strategy, and then put it together with transition words such as first, lastly, and now.

Try to figure out the best organization for the topics below. Click on your choice. If it turns green, you are correct! If it’s red, keep trying.