Breaking Down Passage Organization

In trying to understand the author’s perspective, you will sometimes be asked about how the passage is organized. Many times, the

simplest way to find the answer is to note how the opening sentence in a passage or paragraph relates to the rest of the passage. How does the author’s main idea get developed and broken down into supporting ideas and statements?

As you go through the answer choices for these organization problems, quiz yourself on each answer choice.

Example:

Question: Which of the following best describes the organization of the author’s discussion of this topic?

A. He provides an example – Ask yourself, is there an example in the question? Don’t work exclusively from your memory. Make sure you can go back and actually find the example in the passage.

B. He makes a comparison – Ask yourself, is there a comparison in the question? Again, go back to the passage and actually find the comparison being made and verify that it exists.

C. He makes an acknowledgement – Ask yourself, where is the acknowledgement made and to whom?

D. He discusses a theory – Ask yourself, which theory is being discussed?

E. He praises the research – Ask yourself, where is the praise mentioned?

After each of these initial questions, remember that it is not enough for them simply to be true, they have to answer the question. Simply because the author provided an example, doesn’t make choice A correct. The example provided may have been to support a

comparison that he was making and the comparison may be the main method of organization, which in this case would make answer choice B correct. So always read all the answer choices and only choose the one that is the best, not just the first one you read that is factually correct.