The elements of business writing - Rule 10. Organize your material logically.

Rule 10. Organize your material logically.
If you are unsure as to how your reader thinks about the subject, choose an organizational structure that logically fits the material.
In some situations you may not know what he or she wants to read about first. Maybe you aren't familiar with the audience you'll be writing for and can't get good information about it.
Or perhaps you must write a single document appealing to multiple audiences-and so you can't really make the piece as reader-specific as you'd like.
How, then, do you organize your writing? In general, it's best to stick with standard formats. A laboratory report, for example, has an abstract, a table of contents, a summary, an introduction, a main body (theory, apparatus and procedures,results, and discussions), conclusions and recommendations, nomenclature, references, and appendices.
A business plan might include these sections: executive summary, company overview, description of the product or service, market analysis, marketing and sales plans, funds required and funding uses, financial data, and appendices.
Some other common formats include the following:
Order of location: An article on the planets of the solar system might begin with Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, and end with Pluto, the planet farthest away. If you're writing a memo on the status of the company's plants, you might organize it by state or region.
Alphabetical order: A logical way to arrange a vitamin catalog (A, B, B1, and so on) or a directory of company employees is alphabetically.
Chronological order: This format presents the facts in the order in which they happened. History books are written this way. So are many case histories, feature stories, annual reports, corporate biographies, and minutes of major meetings.
Problem/solution: Another format appropriate to case histories and many types of reports is the problem/solution format, which begins with "Here's what the problem was" and ends with "Here's how we solved it, and here are the results we achieved."
Inverted pyramid: This is the newspaper style of news reporting in which the lead paragraph summarizes the story, giving the reader the who, what, when, where, why, and how; the paragraphs following present the key facts in order of decreasing importance. You can use this format in journal articles, company newsletters, press releases, memos, letters, and reports.
Deductive order: Start with a generalization-a theme you want to support or a point you want to make-then support it with as many facts and observations as possible. Scientists use this format in research papers that begin with the main thesis or finding and then state the supporting evidence. Sales managers and copywriters use it in preparing persuasive sales letters. This organizational scheme works well when you are writing to promote a preconceived notion or idea and you need to gain the support of others by presenting facts and logical reasons why your proposition makes sense.
Inductive order: Begin with specific instances and examples and then lead the reader to the idea or general principle the evidence supports or suggests. An excellent way to write articles for the trade press.
List: Simply list in one-two-three fashion the key points you want to cover. A memo to your boss might be entitled "Ten Recommendations on Immediately Reducing the Operating Expenses of the Composite Materials Research Program" if your boss told you her main concern was budget overruns.
A bulletin sent to customers might bear the headline "Seven Ways to Use Your Ajax Widget-Washer More Effectively."
Priority sequence: Rank recommendations, problems, concerns, issues, or other items from the most important to the least important-an ideal format for writing a letter or memo recommending a series of steps or actions.。