Alphabetical
order is one of the first methods of organizing nonfiction material
that children encounter.
I'm sure you have come across children's books in which collections
of facts on a topic are organized alphabetically by a key word in
each item. Such "dictionary books" are a kiddie lit staple.
Writers decide on the pattern first and then add information that
fits the pattern. If a writer decides to write about animals using
an alphabetical organization, the only criteria for including information
is the first letter of the animal's name.
An alpha-order arrangement has some drawbacks for writers, as I
found when I used it in my pamphlet The A,B,C's of Best Practices
in Teaching Writing.
A writer has to come up with 26 points, which is hard enough,
and then force them into the alphabetical format. It is easier to
do when the topic is animals (yak and zebra are so
convenient) than when the topic is the national debt or molecular
anatomy.
Alphabetical order strings get their greatest use as
memory
aids for speakers and writers. If you have to teach public speaking,
you may want to show students how to use letters of the alphabet
to help them recall the points they want to make.
Public speakers often use acrostics, which are a form of
alphabetic string, to help the audience remember more than a few
key points. In an acrostic, the first letters of the key words might
spell smile, for example, if the sage on the stage is a motivational
speaker or a dentist.
You can help students remember a list of procedures by making a
checklist that uses an acrostic, if the acrostic spells a common
word.
Alphabetical
order is the first of four common types of strings that I discuss
in this series on nonfiction organizational patterns other than
the essay format. The others are numerical,
spatial and chronological
strings.
For information about essay format, see the essay
writing thread.
