Organizing information activity

The pdf document about the World Trade Centers uses many of the patterns of organization when delivering its message to the audience. After skimming a over the article it is clear to me that chronological order, importance of events, and cause and effect description was used.

The document describes the actions of September 11. During the description in chapter 1.2, the document describes the morning first and works its way through a chronological order of events that happened during the day. Chronological ordering is necessary in this case to give the reader a feel for what really happened. It allows the reader to take himself back and relive the events that happened that morning.

Second, the document ordering of the event is placed in the importance of events format. This can be determined by looking at the timeline to the left of the document. The document begins by giving an introduction that provides the background information about September 11. The background information is most important because without it, the rest of the document will seem confusing and pointless. The background information gives purpose to the rest of the document. In chapter 1.4 the document shifts from background information to the response of the engineering community. The document shifts from the response information to an overview of the building codes. The response keeps the document flowing in an understandable manner because people will want to know how others reacted to the events on September 11. As the document works its way to the end, the very least information is placed at the end. The report organization and references are placed at the end because they have no importance to the actual material within the document. They do not provide the reader with any additional information about the events of September 11.

Finally, the document uses a cause and effect pattern. The cause is placed at the beginning of the document in chapter 1.1-1.3. These chapters describe what happened on September 11. Following these chapters is the effects that took place because of the cause. Chapter 1.4 gives the engineering communities’ response to the cause which is described in the introductory chapters.