Numerical or number order
Easy to grasp, but not limited in use

Number order is easy for students to understand. You won’t have to teach a unit on it so your eighth graders get it.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many times when most writers need to arrange information by the numbers.

Numbers may be ID tags

In some cases, the 1, 2, 3... is just a way to identify items and those numbers don't tell anything about the relationships between the items.

For example, an article on "14 Great Valentine Get-Aways" probably won't attempt to evaluate and rank the items. The article is just a number string.

Or numbers may be the story

Often, however, the numbers do reveal something about the relationships between individual entries.

If a magazine runs a story on "The Top 10 Towns for Tuba Tooters," you can guess that No. 1 ranks as the best place to live and work if you are a tuba player. That's a true numerical list.

Business reports and technical publications often use numerical order lists. For example, a company might rank its products in terms of their profitability.

When writers use such numbered lists, they are usually one paragraph or section of a paper or report. Numerical order does not lend itself to organizing an entire document.

There are three other types of organizational strings besides number order strings. They are alphabetical strings, spatial strings, and chronological strings. A more detailed graphic is on page about logical order.