essay sequence of events

Sequence of Events in a Story: How to Order Scenes That Build Suspense

by Joslyn Chase | 0 comments

Have you ever felt cheated when reading a book? Like the author held back information that would have enhanced your reading experience? Or neglected to include all the relevant details that would have allowed you to solve the mystery? Did the sequence of events in the story feel . . . off?

Think about this:

What if J.K. Rowling neglected to have Hagrid tell Harry about his parents’ deaths until the end of The Sorcerer’s Stone?

What if the writers of Die Hard had let Hans Gruber discover Holly was John McClane’s wife right up front?

What if Suzanne Collins had forgotten to alert readers to a rule change allowing tributes from the same district to win as a team in The Hunger Games?

Leaving out these vital pieces of information—or putting them in the wrong place—would have robbed these stories of a full measure of suspense, dulling the impact of their final scenes.

As a writer, you never want readers to feel cheated or disappointed by your book. But how can you make sure you include all the relevant pieces of the puzzle, in the correct order, to sustain suspense and satisfy your reader?

The Sequence of Events in a Story Makes a Difference

The chronological order of events in a story is not always the best way to deliver the information to the reader. I remember reading passages in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily in a college literature course. I felt struck by the way Faulkner moved his narrative around in time, creating a complex, multi-dimensional reading experience.

Faulkner was a master, and worthy of study, though I’d be leery about trying to imitate the advanced technique he used in A Rose for Emily . He began his narrative at the penultimate moment of the story—Emily’s funeral—and then used flashbacks, jumping back and forth in time, letting his viewpoint character relate the series of events until the final, revealing scene.

My main takeaway from this was that writers are unstuck in time, able to move around and present the events of a story to the reader in various ways. I became fascinated by the subject.

Since then, I’ve studied and experimented with various methods for delivering information to the reader.

In this article, I’ll share ways you can develop your own techniques for making sure your reader gets all the pieces of the puzzle, in optimal order, to achieve the effect you desire.

The Reader as an Active Participant

Readers get the most satisfaction from reading a story when they are engaged as active participants. Many factors go into making this happen.

One of the most critical components is information flow—when a writer delivers everything the reader needs to know, in a timely fashion.

Given the right information, at the right time, readers should be able to follow the rising action, gauge significance, and predict possible outcomes, letting them interact with story events and characters in a real way. This is important, whether you're telling a joke, restyling a fairy tale, or writing a complex novel.

An effective flow of information allows readers to forget they’re reading, and just be inside the story. Because everything they need is delivered just as they need it, nothing boots them out of the fictive experience.

It’s imperative to establish depth, characterizing scene and setting from inside your viewpoint character’s head , rather than describing from an external perspective. Also, make sure you engage your reader’s emotions with a main character they can support and something crucial at stake.

You might think of these steps like fastening the seatbelt that straps readers in and prepares them for the twists and turns ahead.

Let’s take a look at how sequencing events in a story will allow you to engage the three modalities that entertain readers and move the story forward.

Before A Sequence Comes a Scene

Before we get into the sequence of events in a story, however, it's worth taking a pause to review what a scene is. In order for story structures to work, writers need to learn the craft of writing a scene.

Once they can do this, they strengthen their skill of sequencing scenes in order to form acts, or other units of story.

A logical sequence will engage the reader, and this endeavor works even better when each scene holds a reader's attention with equal interest.

In this video, you can learn more about what makes a great scene and how to write your own.

Suspense, Surprise, and Curiosity

How a writer orders the events in a scene can determine a reader's response to the story.

There are three main responses a reader could feel: suspense , surprise , or curiosity . Let’s examine this by changing around the order of the following four events in a scene:

• Darren cuts the brake line on Flora’s car.
• Flora leaves the house and climbs into her car.
• Flora starts the car and steers it down the mountain pass.
• Flora’s car jumps the guard rail and she crashes to her death.

Suspense depends upon providing something for the reader to worry about and delaying the outcome, giving them time to agonize and anticipate. So, one way you might order events to foster suspense is to go right down the list, events one to four.

As readers, we see Darren tamper with the brake line and we feel Flora’s peril as she leaves the house and gets into the car, unaware of what awaits her. As she starts down the mountain pass, our worry and anticipation grow. What will happen? Will she find a way to stop the car from careening over a cliff? Right up until the moment the car plummets over the edge, we wonder if she’ll throw herself clear or stop the car somehow.

If you’re going for surprise , however, a better presentation would start with the second event.

We see Flora leave the house and drive down the mountain. We’re surprised when the car picks up speed, veering out of control, and Flora discovers the brakes don’t work.

Depending on how long you give Flora to wrestle with the car, we either don’t have time to prepare for the shock as Flora sails over the cliff, or we get a little buildup of suspense as we hope she finds a way to save herself. Either way, the story situation resolves when the information in the first event is revealed to the reader.

On the other hand, you could leverage curiosity by starting with the fourth event.

We see Flora’s car crash and explode into a fiery ball. We ask why did this happen? Was it an accident or murder? Who is responsible? How did they accomplish it? A reader's curiosity rises and carries them forward while suspense blossoms as the answers—revealed in events one, two, and three—are delayed.

It’s a good idea to incorporate a few surprises into your story, and to use curiosity to perk questions in your reader. But suspense makes the best mainstay. The anticipation of danger is more emotionally involving than the danger itself.

Sudden violence electrifies but can’t sustain an emotional effect and diminishes with repetition and duration. Curiosity will waver, if it's not backed up by suspense. These three modalities together make a great team, but let suspense be the primary driving force in your story.

Whichever you choose as your main modality for handling each scene, suspense will play into it as readers receive information and use it to formulate predictions about what will happen next.

Don’t Withhold Important Information

Lisa Cron’s book Wired for Story, is structured on a Myth/Reality basis. Here’s one of the Myths she puts forth:

Withholding information for the Big Reveal is what keeps readers hooked.

And here’s the Reality: 

Withholding information very often robs the story of what really hooks readers.

She follows up by warning, “If we don’t know there’s intrigue afoot, then there is no intrigue afoot.”

To get a better idea of what this means, let’s try an experiment.

First, I’ll sketch out a scene where I’ve withheld some information, thinking to better surprise my reader with it later:

Gerald visits a used car dealership and checks out several models. He chooses an old Mustang, but the slick dealer tries to interest him in a Corvette. Finally, the reluctant dealer lets Gerald take the wheel of the Mustang as they go out for a test drive. Gerald is not impressed. The car makes a knocking sound and rides lower on the chassis than it should. He thinks about taking a second look—popping the hood, checking out the trunk—but decides it’s not worth his time.

The piece of information I kept from the reader is that the dealer has kidnapped a woman and has her gagged and bound in the trunk of the Mustang. He's ready to transport her when his workday ends.

By withholding that information until the end of the scene, I could get a decent cliffhanger with a surprise effect. I could have the dealer wait until Gerald leaves and then open the trunk to show the frightened woman inside. Not bad.

But, I think I can get more mileage out of it—and more suspense—by letting the reader know about the victim beforehand.

That way, every nuance during the sales talk, every bump on the test drive, and that moment when Gerald thinks about opening up the trunk are rife with suspense, leading the reader to anticipate possible outcomes.

The Standard Murder Mystery

As writers, we get to choose which events to include, and how to order them. In a standard murder mystery, the main events might unfold like this:

• Something happens to give the murderer a motive
• Murderer makes a plan and obtains a weapon
• Murderer kills the victim
• Someone discovers the body
• The detective arrives on the scene and starts gathering clues
• The detective interprets clues and expands his investigation
• The detective solves the crime

Writers can present events in that order, but it’s often more interesting to mix them up. Choosing to reveal the origin of the motive toward the end of the story will build suspense and keep the reader guessing about the “why” of the crime.

It’s intriguing how past events have devastating, far-reaching effects, and the anticipation of discovering that precipitating event grips readers.

Two Exercises to Study Sequence of Events in a Story

Let's look at two exercises that will help you understand more about how to order events in a story to achieve the effect you want.

One of the exercises—the study of chronology versus presentation—examines the overall big picture.

The other exercise—dealing with the flow of details —focuses on the micro view .

1. Chronology Columns Exercise

One way to determine the roots of a crime and study how events are ordered to create suspense and maximum dramatic effect, is to use a Chronology Columns exercise. This will help you understand how authors presented events to their readers in the stories you admire.

• Start by creating a worksheet with two columns. This will serve as a kind of graphic organizer.
• Enter events into the left-hand column as the author presented them in the story. In the right-hand column, order events as they really happened.
• Last, study the interplay between the two columns.

As an example, let’s do a basic Chronology Column exercise for the movie Flight Plan.

I chose Flight Plan because the events in the story appear so unconnected and perplexing, yet when you understand the impetus behind them, the inexplicable makes sense. It's interesting to see how that is accomplished.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!

Flight Plan  Case Study Exercise One: Chronology Columns

Here is a graphic that shows the sequence of events in the story  Flight Plan— the order in which they were presented to the viewer, versus the order in which they actually happened.

The death of Kyle's husband made no sense to her. She hadn't seen signs that indicated he might take his own life. While in that bereaved and baffled state, her daughter is taken from her as well, further battering her, emotionally.

Viewers, along with Kyle, try to figure out what's really going on, based upon the information that comes to light. That delivery of clues leads us down a path to thinking Kyle must be delusional. But when she breathes on the window and sees her daughter's heart, we know we must search for answers in a new direction.

The big reveal comes when Carson rips out the lining of the coffin, exposing the bombs. That starts a rapid piecing together of events that takes us on a breathtaking ride to the finish line.

Do you see how the writers arranged events to capitalize on suspense? They used all three modalities—surprise when Julia disappears, curiosity when we wonder what happened to her, and suspense as the layers unfold and the outcome is delayed.

Do you see how you might order the events in your story to achieve a similar effect? Take some time to study stories you found captivating, retell them, analyze them with this exercise, to see how the author presented events versus their chronological order.

2. Micro View of Details Exercise

We’ve examined the big picture of how events were laid out in the movie Flight Plan. But there’s more to effective information flow than the order of operations. Within each event, each scene, you need to be constantly shepherding the story elements, delivering relevant information and raising new questions to give readers what they need to actively participate in the story.

As an exercise, try watching the opening of a movie and detailing the sequence of events to see what you learn from it. I’ve done this with Die Hard, Back to The Future, The Sixth Sense, Raiders of The Lost Ark, The Terminator, and Flight Plan. ​​​​

To show what I mean, let’s walk through the opening scenes of Flight Plan to see how it gives viewers what they need in order to predict and anticipate outcomes.

Flight Plan  Case Study Exercise Two: Micro View of Details

The movie opens with Kyle Pratt sitting alone on a Berlin metro platform. Her frozen stance and the look on her face tell us she’s terrified, wrestling with some great trauma. Curiosity grabs us as we begin to wonder what it is.

Her husband arrives, and she takes his hand, but the distant point of view and camera angles make it feel weird. We suspect all is not as it seems and wonder what’s going on.

She arrives, alone again, at the morgue. The director escorts her to an open coffin, and we see her husband’s body laid out. We understand he was killed in a fall when the director apologizes, explaining there had been some damage to his head. He instructs Kyle to enter an electronic code, sealing the casket for transport, and we know she'll be accompanying his body back home.

As Kyle leaves the morgue, she is again joined by her husband, and we understand that he appears only in her imagination, helping her to cope with losing him and being alone in a foreign country during this time of distress. We wonder about the circumstances of his death and what will happen next.

They walk home together, and she asks him if they can sit in the courtyard. As she clears snow from the bench, blackbirds fly and she looks up to the roof. We imagine that’s where he fell to his death.

In the apartment, she lies in bed with her young daughter, soothing and reassuring her, closing the drapes against strangers who might intrude. We feel her maternal instinct to love and protect.

The apartment is bare, everything packed into boxes. There is a bleak, bereft feeling. Kyle takes some pills. We understand they’re some kind of prescription to help her through. We get a glimpse of her employee badge and know she works for Elgin Aircraft.

As the scenes unfold, little things reveal important bits of information and raise questions so we’ll continue watching to find more bits of information. Delivering those bits on the right timeline and in the right order is what keeps us absorbed in the story.

You can do the same thing with your story, using these two exercises—the Chronology Columns and the Micro View of Details—to help you study and structure events to create the effect you want. Or troubleshoot a scene that isn’t working. Or simply learn from the masters.

More Ways Than One

Suspense works best when you set up multiple possibilities for your character. The reader needs to be able to identify more than one potential outcome, ideally at least one positive and one negative. Worry increases when the negative outcome seems the more likely, especially as you raise the stakes, increasing the odds against your hero.

Readers are hardwired to predict what’s going to happen in a story, and they revise their theories as the story progresses. As writers, we have the power to disclose information in a way that will guide their predictions in a particular direction.

We can make it look like the undesired outcome is more liable to happen. At the same time, we make it difficult to imagine how the desired outcome could ever be achieved. We do this by the way we deliver information, using foreshadowing and well-planted setups so that the eventual outcome feels natural and logical.

In future articles, we’ll take a closer look at how to use foreshadowing, clues, red herrings, and other devices to enhance story sequence and direct the reader’s attention where we want it.

Suspense, the Renewable Resource

There is an emotional factor in anticipating an outcome—either dread or excitement. That’s what makes it possible for us to read, watch, or listen to the retelling of a story more than once and again enjoy it. The elements of suspense are still at work, sparking the emotions of anticipation, because the reader is an active participant.

Whether you're working on a short story, a novel, or anything in between, when you build your writer’s toolbox by studying and practicing the common core of skills you’ve learned from this series of articles, you become empowered to create great stories packed with suspense. Something that will thrill readers and keep them coming back for more.

I encourage you to try the two exercises I outlined in this article: Chronology Columns and Micro View of Details .

Not only will you learn a lot, but you’ll be training your writer’s brain to deliver information to your reader in effective ways, honing your sequencing skills.

Be sure to bookmark this page and stay tuned! The next article is all about cliffhangers—you don’t want to miss it!

Do you use the sequence of events in a story to engage a specific emotion in the reader? How do you do this?  Let us know in the comments .

Let’s focus on the sequencing activities in your opening. Using the story idea and character you’ve developed for the book you’re writing in conjunction with this series, think about the micro flow of details you’re supplying readers from the beginning.

Are you anticipating your reader’s needs? What details must they have at this point in the story to keep them turning pages? What should you tell them to raise questions now and promise answers down the road?

Read aloud. It helps you come at your own work from a reader's perspective.

Spend fifteen minutes writing this opening.

When you're done, examine the opening and revise as necessary to provide a clear and compelling flow of information. When you are finished, if you want to, you may post your work in the Pro Practice Workshop .

Don’t forget to give your fellow writers some feedback and encouragement!

Joslyn Chase

Any day where she can send readers to the edge of their seats, prickling with suspense and chewing their fingernails to the nub, is a good day for Joslyn. Pick up her latest thriller, Steadman's Blind , an explosive read that will keep you turning pages to the end. No Rest: 14 Tales of Chilling Suspense , Joslyn's latest collection of short suspense, is available for free at joslynchase.com .

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9.3 Organizing Your Writing

Learning objectives.

• Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused.
• Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay.
• Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay.
• Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay.

The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis.

This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs:

• Chronological order
• Order of importance
• Spatial order

When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them.

A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research.

Chronological Order

In Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes:

• To explain the history of an event or a topic
• To tell a story or relate an experience
• To explain how to do or to make something
• To explain the steps in a process

Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing , which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first , second , then , after that , later , and finally . These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first , then , next , and so on.

Writing at Work

At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped.

Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing.

Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes:

• Writing essays containing heavy research
• Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating
• Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books

When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem).

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first , second , then , and finally .

Order of Importance

Recall from Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” that order of importance is best used for the following purposes:

• Persuading and convincing
• Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance
• Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading.

For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly , almost as importantly , just as importantly , and finally .

During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal.

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance.

Spatial Order

As stated in Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” , spatial order is best used for the following purposes:

• Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it
• Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound)
• Writing a descriptive essay

Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point.

Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot.

Attached to my bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up most of the wall, which is the color of lavender.

The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together.

The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order:

• Just to the left or just to the right
• On the left or on the right
• Across from
• A little further down
• To the south, to the east, and so on
• A few yards away
• Turning left or turning right

On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Key Takeaways

• The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement.
• A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts.
• Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.
• Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process.
• Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance.
• Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Story Sequence

The ability to recall and retell the sequence of events in a text helps students identify main narrative components, understand text structure, and summarize — all key components of comprehension. 

Key Information

When to use this strategy, appropriate group size, what is story sequence.

Story sequence is the order in which events take place in a narrative. In simplest terms, sequencing a story means identifying the main narrative components — the beginning, middle, and end—as a first step towards retelling the events of the story in logical order. Story sequencing is also a precursor for more sophisticated ways of understanding narrative text structure, such as determining cause and effect, which students will need to access more complex text. Sequencing is also an important component of problem-solving across subjects.

Why teach story sequence?

• The ability to sequence events in a text is a key comprehension strategy, especially for narrative texts.
• It enables retelling, which in turn enables summarizing.
• It promotes self-monitoring and rereading.
• The ability to place events or steps in logical order is invaluable across the curriculum, whether it’s identifying the steps for solving a math problem or the series of events that led to a turning point in history.

How to teach story sequence

Story sequencing is often introduced and practiced in the context of a whole-class read-aloud. You might choose to teach a standalone sequencing lesson or to include sequencing as part of a longer lesson leading to oral or written retelling of the story.

Read-aloud texts that work well for introducing story sequencing have straightforward narrative arcs and clear sequences of events. Sequencing can also help students make sense of more complex narrative structures, such as stories that are written out of chronological order or that include parallel accounts of the same events from more than one point of view.

There are many ways to structure a sequencing lesson, from creating an anchor chart with student input to having the students participate actively by “holding the pen” or coming to the front of the class to reorder movable pictures or sentence strips.

Watch a demonstration (grades K-1)

The teacher explains that asking students to retell stories both orally and in writing helps them structure their retells with a beginning, middle, and an end. The teacher works with students who have difficulty writing independently by having them sound out the words and at times, writes them in for students as needed. (Balanced Literacy Diet: Putting Research into Practice in the Clas sroom)

Watch a  lesson (whole class, grade 2)

The teacher reviews sequencing with the class and guides the students through identifying the beginning, middle, and end of a whole-class read-aloud of How the Grinch Stole Christmas while creating an anchor chart. The lesson uses pair conversations to build student engagement and accountability. 

Watch a lesson (independent work, grades K-1)

Starting with a read-aloud of The Snowy Day , the teacher introduces the students to a sequencing activity they will be doing independently in which they fill in previously introduced sequencing words and match pictures representing events in the story to the sequencing words. (Watch from 8:09)

Collect resources

Story maps provide one way to help students organize the events from a story. 

• Beginning-middle-end template
• Story sequence template
• Chain of events template

Transition or signal words that indicate a sequence (first, second, last) can help structure a sequencing lesson. 

Sequence sticks, story chains, story retelling ropes (opens in a new window) , and story sequence crafts all help students practice ordering events within a story. See these resources for ideas:

• Sequencing lesson ideas (opens in a new window)
• Sequencing activities (opens in a new window)

Differentiate instruction

For second language learners, students of varying reading skill, and younger learners.

• Scaffolding instruction by providing prompts for each section of the story map you are using. For example, in the “Beginning” box of your map, write in prompts such as: Who is the story about? Where does the story happen?
• Varying the complexity of story maps and sequencing words used. Some students may benefit from the very simple beginning-middle-end format. More complex sequences, such as first-next-then-last, can be used with students who are ready.
• Using wordless books. There are many wordless books that can be used for sequencing with younger students and with English language learners or students with limited English proficiency. For younger students, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola, which humorously details a woman making pancakes from scratch, or the wordless adventures by Mark Newgarden about a small dog named Bow-Wow (e.g., Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug ) are good options. Books by Barbara Lehmann and David Weisner are helpful for older or more sophisticated students practicing sequencing.
• Using books in translation for picture sequencing activities. Providing English-learners with a copy of the text in their first language allows them to participate in sequencing and demonstrate their understanding of the concept and the content.
• Modeling sequencing with a smaller group of students using a familiar book with a very clear narrative structure to help students understand each story component.

Extend the learning

Students can use sequencing words and charts to help them write summaries of texts they have read or heard. They can also use sequencing as a pre-writing technique for planning their own writing or use a sequencing word anchor chart as a writing tool.

Most math curricula include worksheets on ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc). You can support students’ sequencing ability by encouraging the use of vocabulary words such as “What bead goes first? Then which bead? Which bead is third?” Encouraging students to write out the steps for solving addition and subtraction problems that include regrouping is an excellent way to have them think through the steps in a logical order.

Scientific inquiry also develops sequencing skills. In order to study or observe changes in something, students must follow along and record, in sequential order, what they notice. Students can document their observations by writing or drawing.

Social Studies

Timelines are a great way to teach sequence in social studies. Students may enjoy making a timeline of their own lives, including important milestones such as when they learned to walk or talk or when they first wrote their name or rode a bike. Once students understand the process of charting important milestones on a timeline, topics from the social studies curricula can be used. Try this printable timeline template .

Other ideas for sequencing

• Arts and crafts activities. Quilt-making and other arts and craft activities may reinforce the idea of sequencing and also introduce math concepts (measurement, addition & subtraction and basic computation, etc). Alex Henderson’s Kids Start Quilting with Alex Anderson: 7 Fun & Easy Projects Quilts for Kids by Kids , Tips for Quilting with Children provides easy instructions for adults quilting with children.
• Cooking. Cookbooks for children can reinforce math concepts (measurement, etc) and sequencing while making connections to students’ reading. The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Classic Stories by Barbara Walker presents recipes for foods mentioned in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
• Everyday activities. Create a sequence page for a simple activity around the house or at school. Fold a blank piece of paper into squares. Start with 4 large squares. For older students, create more squares. Ask kids to draw the steps they know in the order in which the steps occur. For example, draw each step it takes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or to brush their teeth.

See the research that supports this strategy

Moss, B. (2005). Making a case and a place for effective content area literacy instruction in the elementary grades. Reading Teacher , 59, 46-55.

Children’s books to use with this strategy

While you’re on the beach, you can count from 1 to 10 by feet — combining numbers of feet and then multiplying them all the way to 100, which is ten crabs … or 100 snails if you really count slowly! Colorful, bug-eyed, cartoon-like critters further enliven this jaunty approach to numbers.

One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab: A Counting by Feet Book

Quilts, a truly American art form, are used to illustrate each state in the order in which it was admitted into the United States. Short essays written by state librarians provide the story, background, and information about each quilt and state, and are reflected in the handsome, unique, and colorful illustrations.

Quilt of States: Piecing America Together

Soonie’s great grandmother was only seven-years-old when sold to the big plantation. A quilt that showed the way to freedom and chronicled the family’s history connects the generations, and continues to do so. Idealized illustrations and the poetic text provide an unusual family story.

When a tsunami orphans a young hippopotamus, a group of concerned Malidi (on the east coast of Kenya) villagers figure out how to capture the 600 pound baby thus beginning his new life in an animal sanctuary with a new and unlikely companion — a 130 year old tortoise named Mzee. Full color photographs and straightforward text are used in this inspiring, appealing and true story told first by a young girl and her father.

Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship

Rosie, a hen, takes a walk — oblivious to the fox that is following her. Rosie unwittingly leads the hungry fox from one disaster to the next until she returns safely home. The simple text notes only Rosie’s trip around the farm, making the strong line and bright colors of the illustration all the more striking and very funny.

Rosie’s Walk

The United States is a big place which holds many children and their families. Maps and what they show are introduced by a girl who begins with a drawing of her room in her home. The house is then placed on a street, in a town, etc. until we see the U.S. as part of the world. This accessible book may help children understand their place on the map — and in the census.

Me on the Map

Benny’s Pennies

Great Migrations: Whales

Marianthe’s Story: Painted Words and Spoken Memories

Nabeel’s New Pants

An American child initially has trouble communicating with her Palestinian grandmother. Families, family stories, immigration, and communication are among the possible build-outs related to this book.

Sitti’s Secrets

A quilt started by the author’s great grandmother is passed on through the generations to chronicle and recall the family’s history.

The Keeping Quilt

The Penny Pot

Who Sank the Boat?

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Time transition words to give sequential information in time order

When describing a sequence of events, time transition words will help you order things chronologically. Without these time order words it can be difficult for your reader or listener to logically follow what you’re saying. They also help make your English more interesting!

Transition words , also known as discourse markers, are expressions we use in everyday speech and writing, as well as in more formal contexts like essays, articles, papers and presentations.

Whatever the situation, these sequencing transition words are essential for talking about the order in which things happened (or will happen).

Time transition words for order and sequence

We’re going to cover more than 100 time order transition words here! They are grouped logically according to which part of a sequence or what point in time they describe. We have included example sentences to show how they can be used, too.

Once you have found what you need here, you might enjoy some idioms about time as well.

Transition words to begin a sequence

It makes sense to begin with some transition words for the first event in a sequence. Some of these can also be used to commence an argument, discussion, or story.

• To begin with
• First of all
• In the beginning
• Let’s begin with

“ First of all , I’d like to address the matter of the parking permits.” “ Let’s begin with a look at our quarterly sales report.” “ Initially they wanted to buy a brand new car, but then they decided to purchase second-hand.” “ Once there was a princess who lived in a castle.”

Another time transition word which sounds like it should belong in this list is ‘in the first place’. This phrase actually means ‘before’, and is generally used to talk about something that should have happened earlier, but didn’t.

“We should have listened to her in the first place !” “Why didn’t you tell me this in the first place ?”

Continuing a sequence of events

After you have introduced the first point in a sequence or argument, you can continue chronologically with one of these transition words:

• After (this/that)
• Subsequently
• Following (this/that)
• Second, third, fourth, etc.
• Secondly, thirdly, fourthly, etc.

“They were happy playing in the garden until it began raining.” “ After this meeting, let’s continue the discussion over lunch.” “I need to pop to the shops this morning. Afterwards , I’ll tidy the house.”

A note on numerical transition words

Although numerical transition words (first, second, third, fourth, etc.) can, in theory, be continued indefinitely, in reality we rarely go beyond ‘third’ when speaking or writing.

If you list more than three points out loud when speaking, it might make it hard for your listener to follow along. And in writing, it would be more common to use a numbered bullet list for 4+ items, rather than writing a sequence of events or points using ordinal numbers.

The question often arises as to whether you should use ‘first, second, third’ or ‘firstly, secondly, thirdly’. Some style guides recommend using ‘first’ to begin a list, regardless of how you continue. If you are writing in a formal context then you should check whether there is a particular rule for you to follow.

In general, however, either format is acceptable as long as you are consistent. For example, you shouldn’t combine ‘first, secondly, third’.

Time order words to end a sequence

When you reach the last point on a list, the last event in a sequence, or the end of a presentation, you can use one of these to show you are concluding:

• Last of all
• In conclusion

These should only be used to end a list or sequence containing more than two points. It’s not strictly necessary to end with one of these transition words; you could end with ‘then’ or ‘after’, for example. However, these ending words will help make it clear that you have reached your final point.

“ In the end , we decided to go on vacation to Costa Rica.” “ Last of all , I’d like to toast the happy couple.” “ To wrap up , let’s break out into small groups and share what we’ve learned today.”

Check out some more transition words for concluding here.

Examples of sequential transition words

Here are some examples of these start, middle and end transition words for chronological order, in situations where you may often need them.

To outline a presentation, speech or report

“ Firstly , we’ll look at the results of the research conducted,  then  we’ll examine the impact this is likely to have on the community.  Finally , I will present a list of suggested actions.  At the end  there will be a chance for you to ask questions.”

To go through a list of numbered points

“ First , we’re going to visit the castle.  Second , we’ll stop at a monastery.  Third , we’ll have lunch at a local restaurant, and  last of all  we’ll spend a couple of hours at the beach.”

To give an account of something that’s happened

“I arrived in the office as usual, and  first of all  I switched on my computer.  After that , I went to the kitchen to make myself a coffee.  Next  I checked the mail, and when I returned to my office I saw that the safe was open and all the money was gone.”

Do you think that’s all there is to know about time transition words? We’re only just getting started! Next, let’s look at some sequencing transition words to talk about different points in time.

Time order words: past, present, future

In the past (ending before now).

The following time transition words can be used to talk about something that began in the past and finished before the current time, or which ended/will end before the next thing in the series.

• In the past

“ In the past he was living homeless, but now he has made a good life for himself.” “ Before rolling out the dough, be sure to dust the worktop with flour.” “ Prior to becoming a teacher, I worked in a bank.”

You may also want to use some idioms to talk about the past .

What about something that began in the past but is still applicable at the present time, or as the next thing in the series begins? Try one of these:

• Until now (past: until then)
• Up to this point (past: up to that point)
• Up to the present time

“ So far I’m enjoying my job, but I have only been here for 2 weeks.” “At age 36 he decided to travel the world. Until then , he had been working in a factory.”

Present time

You might want to emphasize that you are referring to the current moment in time using one of these time words:

• At the moment
• At this time
• At this point
• At this point in time
• At the present time

“ At this point in time I’ve decided to focus on my family rather than looking for work.” “She said she isn’t hungry at the moment .”

Using any of these suggests that the situation may change soon and the current state is only temporary.

See some idioms about the present time , or learn some phrases to describe change .

In the future

Here are some phrases you can use to talk about something starting at the current time and extending into the future:

• From now on (past: from then on)
• From this point forward (past: from that point forward)
• From today (past: from that day)
• Going forward

“I had a bit of a health scare last month. From now on I’m going to exercise every day.” “ From that day forward , he decided to dedicate his life to helping others.” “ In future , we should be more careful about the clients we take on.”

And yes, there are idioms about the future too!

Concurrent events

What if you need to talk about two things happening at the same time? The following time order transition words show that one thing takes place at the same time as another:

• Concurrently
• At the same time
• In the meantime

“He fell asleep during the movie.” “Please could you investigate the drop in traffic to our website? In the meantime , I’ll speak to our Sales team.” “I don’t know how you can work while you’re listening to that music!”

How soon will it happen?

Next, we have some transition words and phrases, most of which are adverbial, to add a sense of timing to an action. Will it happen very soon or not for a while?

These are listed more or less in order from the soonest to the furthest away. However, many of them have a similar meaning so there is not a strict distinction between every one.

• Straightaway
• Immediately
• This instant (past: that instant)
• Without delay
• Shortly (a confusing adverb that doesn’t relate to distance)
• After a while
• By the time
• In due time
• In due course
• Sooner or later
• At long last

“I’ll take care of that without delay .” “They took a stroll through the woods and after a while came across a mysterious shack.” “ At long last we found the campsite, but it was already dark.”

See also: Confusing adverbs and A while vs awhile

Showing surprise at the timing of an occurrence

• All of a sudden
• All at once
• Out of the blue
• No sooner … than …

“ No sooner had he passed his driving test than he wrecked his car.” “I had a phone call from an old school friend out of the blue .”

Time transition words to describe frequency

Finally, you might want to say how often something occurs. Again, these are listed roughly in order from most to least frequent.

• All the time
• Occasionally
• Now and again
• Now and then
• From time to time
• Once in a while
• Hardly ever
• Not anymore

“I like to get my hair cut regularly .” “I often eat out but I hardly ever cook a meal from scratch.” “She visits her grandparents from time to time .” “I don’t go out after 10pm anymore .”

You can learn about the difference between sometimes and sometime here, if you’re unsure. We also have an article about the difference between anymore and any more .

Note that ‘all the time’ is usually not taken literally to mean ‘constantly’. Instead, it means ‘very often’.

“I go past that shop all the time but I have never been inside.” “My mum phones me all the time , it’s so annoying!”

And that’s all we have to say about time transition words! If you’d like to discover some more transition words to use in written or spoken English, check out these other articles:

Transition words for addition Transition words for cause and effect Transition words to compare and contrast Transition words for similarities Transition words for giving examples

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• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Use Chronology

I. What is Chronology?

Chronology is the arrangement of events by time. In literature, most authors write their story as a sequence of events—when you use this method, arranging events in the order in which they occurred in time, it’s called putting them in “chronological order.” Sticking with a chronological timeline is the easiest way for audiences to follow what happens and is generally the best way to show cause and effect. But, some authors may be more risky with a story’s chronology, sharing events out of order—for example, they may start the story at the end and work backwards, jump back and forth in time, and so on!

Specifically, chronology is the science of ordering of events by time, is closely related to timekeeping itself, and is important across almost every discipline of study. In literature and writing, a chronology means a timeline of events or a history; for example, A Chronology of  Candle-making would give a timeline of candle-making’s history from its first appearance up until today. You can find chronologies of just about everything! Its study dates back to ancient times and is obviously still incredibly important today!

II. Example of Chronology

The clearest and simplest way to show chronology is with a timeline. For instance, a chronology of your day would start when you wake up, and end when you go to bed. Here is an example:

• 8:30am: Woke up
• 8:45am: Showered, brushed teeth
• 9:15am: Ate breakfast
• 9:30am: Drove to work
• 11:00am: Meeting with boss
• 1:00pm: Had lunch at the deli
• 3:00pm: Grabbed a coffee with a colleague
• 6:00pm: Left work, drove to supermarket
• 6:20pm: Bought groceries for dinner
• 7:00pm: Cooked dinner
• 8:00pm: Finished dinner, washed the dishes
• 8:30pm: Had dessert on the couch while watching TV
• 11:00pm: Brushed teeth, got in bed to read
• 12:00pm: Asleep in bed!

As you can see, this timeline shares the events of the day in chronological order. It is easy to follow since it relays things exactly in the order that they happened.

III. Types of Chronology

Chronology is pretty straightforward because it relies completely on time. So, there aren’t any real “types” of chronology, but it can be shared in different ways and narrative styles .

a. Linear Narrative (Normal Chronology)

The linear (i.e. in a line) telling of a story as a sequence of events as they happened in time.

b. Reverse Chronology

The telling of a story from the end to the beginning, sharing events in the reverse order from which they occurred in time.

c. Nonlinear Narrative

The nonlinear (i.e. not in line) telling of a story as a series of separate events told out of chronological order

IV. Importance of Chronology

The importance of chronology across all aspects of life is immeasurable, and literature is no different! How else would we readers ever know how and when things happened, and how could we understand a story’s chain of cause and effect? When events are shared out of order and without a context for time, it is very difficult to see their significance, or to even understand what happened.

For instance, imagine you are telling a story about a nerdy, not very athletic boy who becomes the star player on his school’s baseball team. If you started your story showing him as a kid being bad at baseball, but then suddenly he is on a team hitting home runs, the audience wouldn’t understand how it happened. Instead, you should show the transition he makes over time, perhaps with a montage like this:

• First, he might start practicing by playing fetch with his dog in his backyard and by bouncing the ball off his bedroom wall.
• Then you could show him secretly spending his allowance to go to the batting cages.
• You could show the seasons changing as he gets better and better, missing parties and hanging out with friends to practice baseball.
• Then one day, as Spring approaches and tryouts arrives, he finally decides to go out for the team, and makes it.

By exhibiting how he improves and changes over time, you can show the audience just how the young player became so great. By portraying the player’s path from start to finish, you show cause and effect—in this case, you’d be supporting the idea of “practice makes perfect.” So, as you can see, without chronology, telling this story would be quite difficult!

I would love to see an example of this, or a little more elaboration on how difficult it is to understand an effect when you don’t know the cause. Perhaps cause and effect can be broken down a little further (in regards to storylines) – for example chronology shows us the reasons behind character motives, circumstances, or helps us understand a setting (historical, present, or futuristic) and the actions or events that are relevant. Also, perhaps we can see an example where the story line is out of order and therefore confusing (until the chronology is revealed that is)? It may have to be a 2-part example to show the confusing part and then the actual explanation.

V. Examples of Chronology in Popular Culture

In the family film UP, chronology helps us learn a lot about the protagonist Carl. The movie opens with a montage of his life with his true love Ellie. It begins when they are young and first get married, showing all of the trials and tribulations that keep them from going on the adventure they always dreamed of:

At the end of the montage, we are sad to learn that Ellie died before they ever got to go on their great adventure together. We now know that losing Ellie was the cause of his loneliness, and his grumpy demeanor is the effect. This chronological story of their time paints a beautiful picture for us, and really helps us understand who Carl is. If we didn’t get this timeline, it would be hard to see why Carl is the way he is, or to know why he wants to head to Paradise Falls with his house full of memories.

The film Memento is well known for its unique, complicated way of sharing the chronology of the main character Lenny’s life. Rather than start from the beginning, as most stories do, Memento “begins” at the end and works its way backwards through the events that led to his situation. But, Lenny suffers from short term memory loss, and his memory resets every few minutes. Here is the opening scene:

The film begins with the moments that follow a murder, shown in reverse, and will work backwards from here. Memento’s use of reverse chronology leaves the audience in a constant state of confusion, like Lenny himself. Even when we think we know what is going on in one scene, the scene that follows often tells us otherwise as it works backwards in time.

VI. Examples of Chronology in Literature

In the fiction series Diary of a Wimpy Kid , everything the audience knows is from what they read in the diary of middle schooler Greg. The diary starts at the beginning of the school year, and Greg makes an entry every day. Here are a few lines from a couple of different diary entries:

Monday I guess Mom was pretty proud of herself for making me write in that journal last year, because now she went out and bought me another one. But remember how I said if some jerk caught me carrying a book with “diary” on the cover they were gonna get the wrong idea? Well, that’s exactly what happened today. Tuesday When I got to school today, everybody was acting all strange around me, and at first I didn’t know WHAT was up. Then I remembered: I still had the Cheese Touch from last year.

Greg’s diary is a chronology of his life. It is a timeline of everything that happens to him day by day, and he tells us about past events, too. With each new book in the series you get to witness the details of his life as they happen, in chronological order, and learn more about his past through the memories he records.

Sometimes authors write things out in an actual timeline, similar to a diary. In author Mary Ruefle’s short piece of creative nonfiction called “My Search Amongst the Birds,” she records her thoughts over several months, creating a chronology of her experience feeding the birds at her home. Here’s a selection of the work:

• Aug 19 It took the little birds—are they wrens?—about a week to find the seeds.
• Aug 23 One day a pigeon joined them, he was larger and seemed “superior,” the wrens seemed “respectful,” as if they were deferring to him.

(later) I saw a bird in the bushes near Dairy Queen. It looked thin to me.

• Aug 26 They come for breakfast and they come for dinner. WHERE DO THEY GO FOR LUNCH?
• Aug 28 Bought a pair of opera glasses to facilitate my search among the birds.
• Aug 29 I replace the little golden seeds, for I have run out of them, with black oiled sunflower seeds, which everyone knows are superior and preferred by all birds. I do this in the middle of the night so as to “surprise” the birds in the morning. But in the morning they don’t act “surprised” at all, they act as if nothing’s changed. But then again, they may be “acting.”

(later) They ARE acting—the wrens don’t like the new seed, they are ignoring it! Do they KNOW how much work it took to lug that bag up the stairs?

VII. Related terms

A flashback is when a story temporarily jumps backward to a previous moment in the past. It’s used to give the audience insight about characters or other relevant details in a story without having to disrupt the normal flow of events in chronological order.

• Flash-forward

A flash-forward is just like a flashback, but going forward—the story temporarily jumps to a specific moment in the future. Like a flashback, it doesn’t disrupt the way the story is being told, but still lets writers give a peak at what will happen later.

VIII. Conclusion

It’s easy to see why chronology is such a major part of literature—just about everything we understand relies on time, and that includes storytelling and writing across all genres . In writing, establishing a chronology for your topic or story is a great starting point, and a crucial part of the big picture!

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
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Sequence of Events Examples

• DESCRIPTION Sequence of Events Examples
• SOURCE Photos.com / PHOTOS.com>> / Getty Images Plus
• PERMISSION Used under license

Identifying the sequence of events in a story means you can pinpoint its beginning, its middle, and its end. Once you can identify each of these core components, you can retell the story in the order in which it occurred. Sequencing is a key component in reading comprehension . It also allows readers to synthesize information and order it accordingly.

Below, we'll examine sequence of events examples. We'll follow the order of a story , sometimes chronologically, sometimes not. The next time you read, you'll enjoy being able to pinpoint the manner in which the story unfolds.

Sequence of Events in Short Stories

Let's begin with two abbreviated tales. After each story, we'll pause to discuss their sequence of events.

'Til the Sun Melted Into the Stars

As Stella pulled up to the old, abandoned house, she felt her heartbeat heavy in her chest. The parents she never knew lived out the entirety of their lives here. There was a glass-fronted solarium to the right where she imagined they sat and played cards every evening. At the thought of that, her mind drifted back to her own childhood. There were no glass solariums in her house growing up. No, indeed. She and five other children were perpetually crammed into three bunk beds in her foster parents' home. Every night, they didn't play cards. They pushed through a long list of chores that needed to be completed before the parents arrived home from work at seven. If they weren't, everyone knew to scatter and hide. Life continued in this perpetual maze of chores and fear until Stella hit her 18th birthday. She immediately took a job as a waitress and found a room for rent in town. When she wasn't waitressing, she was writing. Eventually, the magazine Writers' Haven picked up one of her stories, allowing life to shift in yet another direction. This time, the shift brought wonderful change. With the heat following her submission to Writers' Haven, she felt brave enough to start the hunt for an agent. In the ultimate act of fate, one of her query letters fell upon Nora Robb's desk. A few months later, her debut novel, A Life Without Love, hit the scene with a bang. Stella had stories upon stories piled up in her tiny room in town. One bestseller after another bestseller afforded Stella the opportunity to relax in a first class seat aboard Delta Airlines and drive out to San Diego to figure out why her birth parents never loved her. Turns out, the address her investigator gave her led to the old abandoned house she stood before now. The house was empty, her parents were gone, and her soul remained hollow. Why did they send her away? Why did they never come and find her? As she stood on the broken sidewalk, staring up at the soot-covered exterior, she thought it might be time to accept her life as it is. Sure, she didn't grow up playing gin rummy on a Friday night under the stars. But, she stood beside the ocean today. And, come tomorrow, she could go anywhere and do anything. Perhaps that was enough. As she turned from the decaying ruins of her parents' life, she decided not to look back but, rather, hop on her little red Vespa and drive up the coastal rode 'til the sun melted into the stars.

Let's examine the sequence of events in this short story. In the first paragraph, we're met by a woman named Stella who must be an adult. Because, as she stares at the house, her mind drifts back to an arduous childhood filled with "chores and fear."

Following the sequence, we drift back into her childhood. Then, we see she hits 18 and continues to grow and mature as she waitresses during the evening and writes during the day. Her hard work pays off because all those hours at the keyboard lead to her publication in Writers' Haven. From there, she goes on to publish a succession of bestselling novels and finally travels, as a grown woman, to uncover her roots.

Notice that a sequence of events doesn't have to follow a straight line. In this short story , we didn't follow a pattern of birth, childhood, adulthood. Rather, we went from adulthood to childhood, and back to adulthood again. In some instances, following someone's daydream is a nice way to spice up an otherwise linear sequence of events.

Now, let's take a look at a story that follows a simpler, chronological order.

Before the Sky Faded to Black

Malcolm was born into privilege. Loch Ness Castle was far from shabby. Set deep in the Highlands, it featured fireplaces tall enough for three grown Scotsmen to stand in. Their cook, Mrs. FitzMorris, never put anything less than a full spread on their dining room table come evening. As a boy, Malcolm played with his siblings in the pasture, rode horses 'til he was forced to come in for the night, and read books by the fire until his nanny pushed him up the stairs to bed. But, when he was called to battle, life began to take a very different shape. Malcolm and his kinsmen slept in tents with nothing better than a rock for a pillow. They had to hunt for their meals and cook it themselves by the fire. He couldn't remember the last time he bathed like a civilized man, in a tub filled by his servants. On the morning of April 17, 1746, as he stepped onto the battlefield at Culloden Moor, all the fineries of life faded away. What difference did it make if he ate his meals off a silver platter or a piece of bark? As he stared death square in the eye, Malcolm finally understood life doesn't consist of silver spoons or cloth-covered tents. Rather, it consists of the people we love along the way. It's shaped by the people we give our lives for on the battlefield. As the Redcoats closed in on him, he watched his fellow soldiers drop, one after another. Inhaling deeply, he charged the battlefield, knowing it was only a matter of time before the sky faded to black.

Did you notice the difference in this sequence of events? We meet a boy who plays in the pasture and reads books until his nanny pushes him upstairs to bed. When he is old enough to join the army, he goes off to battle and lives a life that stands in stark contrast to everything he'd known until then.

As he stares down death, he reflects on his life. It wasn't about silver platters and castle grounds. It was about the men and women you meet along the way and the friendships you forge. We can surmise the story ended with his death, taking us through a linear sequence of events from childhood to death.

Sequence of Events in Literature

How about some of our favorite stories growing up? Can you pick one of your favorites and recall the sequence of events in those tales? Let's consider a couple.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

This is one of the most popular children's tales. Following the sequence of events, we're first met with a girl named Goldilocks . In fact, the opening line of the fairy tale is, "Once upon a time, there was a girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a house."

Then, we follow her through the sequence of events upon entering the house. First, she eats three bowls of porridge sitting on the table. Then, she tests out three different chairs to see which one was most comfortable. After that escapade, she goes upstairs to lie down in each of the three beds.

Sure enough, three bears come home and express horror over the fact that someone's been eating their porridge and sitting in their chairs. When they make their way upstairs and find her lying in Baby Bear's bed, Goldilocks screams, "Help!" and runs out of the room, never to return again. This narrative is very linear, which is easier for younger audiences to follow and understand.

Let's advance to a young adult novel that hit the New York Times bestseller list within a month of its publication. In Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, we meet a girl named Bella who is moving to Washington to live with her father. The first day in her new school is quite trying as she is shy. During that time, she meets a boy named Edward who is offstandish and rude.

Later, after that difficult encounter, she is standing in the parking lot when she nearly gets run over by a classmate. With lightning speed, Edward races over to protect Bella from the car that is plummeting her way. Bella questions his lightning fast speed, only to find out he is a vampire.

The two begin a relationship which is filled with tumult, given that she's a human and he's a vampire. As they progress through a series of death-defying adventures from a rival family of vampires, Bella develops a desire to be turned into a vampire herself but Edward refuses. In the closing scene, we watch them dance under the moonlight, solidifying their love. Bella has not turned yet, but there's more to be uncovered as the sequence of events continues in the second book of the series, New Moon.

How to Identify the Sequence of Events

One way to identify the sequence of events is to keep your eye out for time order words . These include words like "first," "then," "following that," and more. Especially if it's a short story, the author might use these signal words to indicate the progression of a story from beginning to end.

In lieu of a search for sequence words, you can ask yourself what has to happen for something else to happen. Remember our highlander on the field? He has to reach a certain age before he can be called off to war. So, we travel with him through childhood until his untimely death on the battlefield.

The same goes for Bella and Edward. Something has to happen to shift them from their awkward encounter to a blossoming romance. Her near-death experience is the trigger that sets things in motion.

Sequence of Events Worksheet

Using the downloadable worksheet below, write your own story following a logical sequence of events. Teachers can print out the PDF and distribute it among their students.

Sequence events examples

Standard plot structure.

Every story, short or long, must follow the elements of a plot . If you follow the roadmap below, you'll also be able to pinpoint the sequence of events. The elements of a plot are as follows:

• Introduction - This is the start of the story where we meet the main characters.
• Rising Action - The rising action allows us to watch the series of events unfold. Usually, one event is piling onto another to create the climax. But, within the rising action, conflict must arise to cause the action to rise.
• Climax - Here, the action comes to a peak. This moment will stir up the most emotion in the reader.
• Falling Action - This is where things start to wind down, following the outcome of the climax, and the story takes a less chaotic progression forward.
• Resolution - In the resolution, the story comes to a close, usually with either a tragic or happy ending.

Sail Through the Sequence

Every time you pinpoint the sequence of events in a story, you're building your reading comprehension skills. Being able to synthesize a story and retell it is a wonderful skill. Best of all, the more you read, the more you'll be able to sit down and craft your own tale.

If that's something you have in mind, enjoy Get Creative: How to Write a Short Story . It'll help you take the ideas floating around in your head and insert them into an exciting sequence of events. We wish you tremendous success as you take your readers on meaningful journeys!

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6.2: The Structure of a Narrative Essay

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• Amber Kinonen, Jennifer McCann, Todd McCann, & Erica Mead
• Bay College Library

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Major narrative events are most often conveyed in chronological order, the order in which events unfold from first to last. Stories typically have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and these events are typically organized by time. Certain transitional words and phrases aid in keeping the reader oriented in the sequencing of a story. Some of these phrases are listed in Table 6.1.

The following are the other basic components of a narrative:

• Plot. The events as they unfold in sequence.
• Characters. The people who inhabit the story and move it forward. Typically, there are minor characters and main characters. The minor characters generally play supporting roles to the main character, or the protagonist.
• Conflict. The primary problem or obstacle that unfolds in the plot that the protagonist must solve or overcome by the end of the narrative. The way in which the protagonist resolves the conflict of the plot results in the theme of the narrative.
• Theme. The ultimate message the narrative is trying to express; it can be either explicit or implicit

writing at work

When interviewing candidates for jobs, employers often ask about conflicts or problems a potential employee has had to overcome. They are asking for a compelling personal narrative. To prepare for this question in a job interview, write out a scenario using the narrative mode structure. This will allow you to troubleshoot rough spots, as well as better understand your own personal history. Both processes will make your story better and your self-presentation better, too.

Organizational Strategies for Using Chronological Order in Writing

ThoughtCo / Ran Zheng

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

The word chronological comes from two Greek words. "Chronos" means time. "Logikos" means reason or order. That is what chronological order is all about. It arranges information according to time.

In composition  and speech , chronological order is a method of organization in which actions or events are presented as they occur or occurred in time and can also be called time or linear order.

Narratives and process analysis essays commonly rely on chronological order. Morton Miller points out in his 1980 book "Reading and Writing Short Essay" that the "natural order of events — beginning, middle, and end — is narration 's simplest and most-used arrangement."

From " Camping Out " by Ernest Hemingway to "The Story of an Eyewitness: The San Francisco Earthquake" by Jack London , famous authors and student essayists alike have utilized the chronological order form to convey the impact a series of events had on the author's life. Also common in informative speeches because of the simplicity of telling a story as it happened, chronological order differs from other organizational styles in that it is fixed according to the timeframe of events which happened.

How Tos and Who-Done-Its

Because time order is essential in things like "How-To" presentations and murder mysteries alike, chronological order is the preferred method for informative speakers. Take for example wanting to explain to a friend how to bake a cake. You could choose another method to explain the process, but putting the steps in order of timing is a much easier method for your audience to follow — and successfully bake the cake.

Similarly, a detective or officer presenting a murder or theft case to his or her team of police would want to retrace the known events of the crime as they occurred rather than bouncing around the case — though the detective may decide to go in reverse chronological order from the act of the crime itself to the earlier detail of the crime scene, allowing the team of sleuths to piece together what data is missing (i.e., what happened between midnight and 12:05 am) as well as determine the likely cause-effect play-by-play that led to the crime in the first place.

In both of these cases, the speaker presents the earliest known important event or occurrence to happen and proceed to detail the following events, in order. The cake maker will, therefore, start with "decide which cake you want to make" followed by "determine and purchase ingredients" while the policeman will start with the crime itself, or the later escape of the criminal, and work backward in time to discover and determine the criminal's motive.

The Narrative Form

The simplest way to tell a story is from the beginning, proceeding in time-sequential order throughout the character's life. Though this may not always be the way a narrative speaker or writer tells the story, it is the most common organizational process used in the narrative form .

As a result, most stories about mankind can be told as simply as "a person was born, he did X, Y, and Z, and then he died" wherein the X, Y, and Z are the sequential events that impacted and affected that person's story after he was born but before he passed away. As X.J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron put it in the seventh edition of "The Bedford Reader," a chronological order is "an excellent sequence to follow unless you can see some special advantage in violating it."

Interestingly, memoirs and personal narrative essays often deviate from chronological order because this type of writing hinges more upon overarching themes throughout the subject's life rather than the full breadth of his or her experience. That is to say that autobiographical work, largely due to its dependence on memory and recall, relies not on the sequence of events in one's life but the important events that affected one's personality and mentality, searching for cause and effect relationships to define what made them human.

A memoir writer might, therefore, start with a scene where he or she is confronting a fear of heights at age 20, but then flash back to several instances in his or her childhood like falling off a tall horse at five or losing a loved one in a plane crash to infer to the reader the cause of this fear.

When to Use Chronological Order

Good writing relies on precision and compelling storytelling to entertain and inform audiences, so it's important for writers to determine the best method of organization when attempting to explain an event or project.

John McPhee's article " Structure " describes a tension between chronology and theme that can help hopeful writers determine the best organizational method for their piece. He posits that chronology typically wins out because "themes prove inconvenient" due to the sparsity of occurrences that relate thematically. A writer is much better served by the chronological order of events, including flashbacks and flash-forwards, in terms of structure and control. 

Still, McPhee also states that "there's nothing wrong with a chronological structure," and certainly nothing to suggest it's a lesser form than thematic structure. In fact, even as long ago as Babylonian times, "most pieces were written that way, and nearly all pieces are written that way now."

• Spatial Order in Composition
• Definition and Examples of Climactic Order in Composition and Speech
• Definition and Examples of Narratives in Writing
• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
• What Is a Literature Review?
• The Difference Between an Article and an Essay
• Using Flashback in Writing
• Organizational Metaphor
• Definition and Examples of Humorous Essays
• Cause and Effect in Composition
• Politeness Strategies in English Grammar
• Afterward or Afterword: How to Choose the Right Word
• Pragmatic Competence
• Heuristics in Rhetoric and Composition
• Interlanguage Definition and Examples
• surface structure (generative grammar)

Hi, and welcome to this video about sequence!

When we read a story or an essay, it’s important to understand when an event happened in relation to other events. Writers will often use sequence words to show the order of events taking place. A few examples of sequence words include first , then , and next .

Word Sequence Examples

Let’s look at a sentence that includes some sequence words:

First, she went to the store. Then, he went home.

Here, we see two sequence words. The word first shows us that the trip to the store occurred before he went home. The word then also serves as a sequence word, because it confirms that he went home after she went to the store.

Let’s look at another example:

Before she went to the store, she made breakfast for her little sister.

In this example, we don’t have any numerical sequence words to help us figure out the order, so we have to rely on context to identify the sequence word used here. The word before is the sequence word in this sentence because it tells us when she made breakfast.

Sometimes sequence words can be a little more obscure, so using context clues is vital to determining the order in which something happened.

It wasn’t until he got paid that he was able to buy the birthday present and finally leave for the party.

Until is our first sequence word; it tells us that because “he got paid” that something was able to occur afterwards. That something was buying a birthday present. The word finally is our second sequence word. It shows us that after “he got paid” and after “he was able to buy the birthday present”, he eventually left for the party. Because of these sequence words, we know the order in which everything happened.

Now let’s try one last example:

She left to walk the dog but not without making sure the oven was off in advance.

This sentence is another example of how context can help determine the chronological sequence of events. Here, the sequence phrase in advance is at the end of the sentence. It tells us that the action it refers to, “making sure the oven was off,” happened prior to something else, which, in this case, was leaving to “walk the dog.”

As you can see, sequence words are useful and necessary tools to help organize thoughts and relate the chronological order of a story or series of events in a clear way.

Here’s a quick practice problem before we go:

Which of the following is an example of a sequence word?

The Luddites did not oppose technology but sought fair wages for skilled work.

These are words that tell you when something did or will happen.

Thanks for watching, and happy studying!

• Writer, Kit Kittelstad Staff. n.d. “Time Order Words List.”

Sequence Text Structure PDF

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How to Write a Sequence Essay

Sequence Essay: What Is It and How to Write It Effectively

Types of sequencing in writing, sequence essay example, we can help with sequence essays.

EssaysLab.com has been operating in the academic writing marketplace for over five years now, and we have met countless students who constantly struggle to improve their written work and get better results. This is not surprising since a lot of students are just not familiar with the different genres of writing and the various formatting styles they are expected to use. Sequence essays are just one of the many types of writing there is. And if you are not familiar with this type of writing and how it should be approached, then you are not very likely to get high grades for your assignment. For this reason, we highly recommend you acquaint yourself with the basic principles of writing a sequence essay and apply your newly-acquired knowledge to creating a great paper.    

You can hardly be blamed for not understanding every type of essay. Every student nowadays is very busy. There is no doubt that various coursework, exams, and other scholarly commitments create a great deal of responsibility and some students just cannot cope with everything. As well as this, many students have to take care of families and/or there are obligations to relatives and friends. Every individual needs a certain amount of support and attention, making it impossible for students to always get the best results in their academic endeavors. With so much going on, an increasing number of students are achieving poor grades. They either miss deadlines or fail to meet the instructions given by their tutors or course supervisors. If you belong to this group of students, you need no longer worry. EssaysLab.com is on hand to help with your writing projects!

A sequence essay is a paper that is logical and comprehensible, and the events in it are usually described chronologically. The purpose of a sequence essay is to describe the events the way they happened and help the readers trace the cause-and-effect relationships between them. If you are not sure how to write a sequence essay for school or simply do not have time for this task, the experts from EssaysLab.com.com are ready to come to your rescue.

Consider the following aspects while working on your sequence essay:

• Know the topic. Before you start writing, check your understanding of the sequence of events. Let us say you want to write about the life of Nina Simone. First of all, do some research into her life, learn about the way she became a singer, make sure you know her albums and the order in which they were released, etc. This will help you establish credibility and convince the readers that you know what you are talking about.
• Prioritize. Once you have completed your research, you have to decide which information will be included into your paper. Naturally, you cannot write about everything you know because your essay will be disorganized and shallow. To avoid this, prioritize.
• Choose the order. Now it is time to choose the order in which the events will be described. This one is easy in sequence essays because they have to describe the events in a chronological order.
• Revise it and then proofread it. After you are done with writing, take a pause and then read the paper aloud. If something does not make sense or sounds wrong, revise it. The information must be clear or the readers will get confused.
• Use the outline. This rule applies to all essay types but reminding you about it will not hurt. A sequence essay must have an introduction, main body, and conclusion. For instance, if you are writing about the Bronte sisters, introduce them in the first paragraph of the essay. Describe their life in the following paragraphs. Tell about their life from their childhood to adulthood and discuss their contributions in sequence.
• Chronological Sequencing

The word chronological takes its origin from the Latin ‘chron’ and ‘logos’, which mean ‘time’ and ‘science’ accordingly. Chronological sequencing is most suitable for historical accounts because history is best described in the form of narrative writing. Similarly, use chronological writing when you are dealing with a directional process analysis or a paper that analyzes cause-and-effect relationships.

Because chronological writing is connected with time, the success of this paper also depends on the writer’s ability to use transitional statements and bridge the ideas. The effective use of chronological transitions makes it easier for the readers to trace the development of the events.

Sometimes writers choose chronological sequencing when it is inappropriate for the topic, thus making a big mistake. An essay should not be arranged chronologically just because you know that an essay is a process that happens over a certain period in time. For example, use the transition ‘Finally’ to announce the last point of the discussion only when it really occurs last in the story. If something is not ‘final’, choose another transition. If the essay describes a collection of events that could be presented in another reorder, then ‘Finally’ means ‘this is the last thing I want to describe in this essay’ rather than ‘This is the result of the process that has been described above’.

• Spatial Sequencing

Latin ‘spatium’ means ‘in space’. Therefore, spatial sequencing means presenting something according to their location. Spatial sequencing might also refer to the description of progressive movement. Some types of directional process analysis and certain kinds of descriptive writing become more effective when the writers arrange them using steps and details. Similar to chronological sequencing, the use of transitional words influences the quality of spatial sequencing. With the help of appropriate spatial transitions, a writer can coordinate locations and directions, put elements in juxtaposition, etc. For this reason, many of the transitional phrases used this way include prepositions.

Since topics that require spatial sequencing are less common than those involving other forms of sequencing, writers rarely face issues linked to special sequencing. At the same time, a ‘guided tour’ discussion is built on the intuitive use of spatial sequencing.

• Emphatic Sequencing

The adjective ‘emphatic’ is a derivative of ‘emphasis’, which originated form a Greek word that means ‘exhibit’. Emphasizing means creating a more powerful impression. Certain stories are simply made for emphatic sequencing and not for other sequence writing types. They include persuasions, cause-and-effect discussions, classifications / divisions, comparison-and-contrast, etc. A sequence essay that uses emphatic sequencing consists of a progressive series of the writer’s impressions about the subject.

Writing a sequence essay can be quite a challenge, and even the most experienced students find this to be the case. Essentially, with this type of assignment, you will need to choose a few objects, events, or concepts and develop these into a certain logical and sensible sequence. If, for instance, you choose pain as your topic, your task will be to develop a logical and rational sequence e.g. what pain means, the different ways patients perceive pain, how culture influences the perception of pain, what methods are most commonly used for managing pain in the nursing sector, and so on. While this is merely a random example, you should be able to clearly see the idea behind a sequence essay.     

The first thing you should do is draft a set of steps – or a sequence – which should be followed in the course of writing your essay. Furthermore, this sequence of steps will influence the research you do. They will enable you to build a complete picture of the topic you are writing about. They will help you see the type of information or data you need to collect to defend your thesis statement and how best to structure your work so that its order is logical. Essentially, your task is to build a legible and logically-written paper. It is possible you will also have to show your suggested sequence is the best one for the chosen topic. If any of this presents you with any difficulty, feel free to contact EssaysLab.com. We offer an excellent writing service and any of our professional writers will be delighted to assist you. Getting help from us is a great deal more reliable and better than, say, depending on free examples you find online since many of these are full of plagiarism.

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If or when you want a superior-quality writing service to help with a sequence essay, there are several factors to consider. To start with, what topic are you writing about? The second consideration is which elements of the topic you want covered in your essay. Finally, how exactly do you want your essay to look? If you do not know the answers to these questions, our expert writers will assist. Our company only employs the most competent and experienced writers, all of whom know how to write a great sequence essay. We understand what students need!

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Process description: how to write about a sequence of events.

Jerz > Writing > Technical >

This document describes how to write a process description  (or process analysis), a variation of the short report  designed to help a reader understand how a change takes place over time, through a series of stages.

You might use a process description to examine the photosynthesis of plants, the migration of animals, or the impeachment of presidents.

By contrast, the mechanism description focuses on an object in space (e.g. the physiology of a plant), and   instructions focus on actions the reader takes to make the process happen (e.g. how to care for a plant).

Parts of a Process Description

What follows is a general structure, which you should adapt to fit the specific needs of your writing task.

• Introduction
• Description
• Step-by-Step Description

1. Abstract

While the reader sees the abstract first, the author should expect to write it last.

We live in a tl;dr world. Summarize any professional document more than a few paragraphs long, for the benefit of a busy reader who may be reading hundreds of similar documents each day.

An abstract is a compressed summary that boils down the most important contents into a few sentences. (See “ Short Reports: Begin with the Conclusion .”)

An abstract is not a list of promises. Don’t think of it like a “stay tuned, we’ll tell you who won the big game and we’ll show you the best plays after these messages from our sponsor” teaser. Instead, an abstract actually gives the final scores, names the most valuable player, and breaks down the game-winning play.

In general, break the whole process up into smaller stages, and describe each stage in order. If the process is part of a continuing cycle (such as the evaporation and condensation of water), say so.

Caution : Students who are unfamiliar with the “process description” genre sometimes confuse it with  “helpful hints,” by which I mean a collection of many details that do not need to take place in any particular order.

2. Introduction

A good introduction is a concise paragraph that will accomplish two things:

• define the overall process in a single sentence.
• describe the document (you are describing the scope and purpose of the document you are writing; this is not the place to demonstrate your ability to introduce the field of knowledge you are about to draw on in order to help your reader understand the process)

Process Definition

Your introduction should be a concise paragraph that supplies a good sentence definition of the process.

Purpose and Scope of the Document

Like any technical document, it should also  state the scope and purpose of the paper.

3. Brief Description

As part of a brief paragraph (or, for a shorter document, possibly the same paragraph as the introduction), answer the question, “ How does it happen? ”

Provide any necessary context, such as

• Who or what performs the action each step?
• What local conditions or circumstances might affect each stage?
• How is each stage of the process significant to the overall process?

Give a concise overview of the process. This brief description should stand alone — that is, it should not refer to details, facts, or terms that aren’t explained within the summary.

You will probably have an easier time writing this section if you save it until you have written out the complete description. Conclude this section by breaking the process up into stages : “The principle stages of writing process are planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading.”

Your next section will work through each stage in turn.

4. Step-by-step Description

For each step in your description, write a miniature process description:

• define the step
• state its purpose (or function within the process)
• providing the necessary context , and
• include brief mechanism descriptions for any components that may be involved

This would probably be the longest section of your document.

Depending on the complexity of your process, you might divide up your process into sections, and treat each one as a separate subsection, concluding each subsection with a description of how this process fits in with the other subsections.

If you do break your process down into substages, before you launch into the details of any subsection, begin with a general introduction that orients your reader to all the major stages your document is going to cover.

A local table of contents can help readers skip to just the section they’re interested in.

A sentence definition is technical writing that specifies a thing by stating its category + what makes it unique in that category, with no extraneous details.

Name the parts and systems involved in those major processes, giving short sentence definitions of each major part, before you launch into the details. 

Because a process takes place over time, you should probably organize each subsection chronologically; however, if various components of a process happen at the same time, you might instead organize this section in some other way (such as starting at the top and moving down, or starting with what is most important and moving on to what is less important, or starting with what non-experts perceive with their senses and moving on to what experts can perceive with specialized equipment).

Work carefully from known information to unknown information.

Begin each section with a summary that identifies the topics to be covered in this section, and make sure you cover how those main topics relate to each other before you launch into the complex details about each section.

For instance, if you are writing about human anatomy, you should first establish the big-picture basics , such as the fact that the heart and lungs work together to circulate oxygen through the blood stream, before you go into specific details (such as what exactly happens on the cellular and molecular level in the alevoli where oxygen and carbon dioxide pass in opposite directions).

5. Conclusion

Without being excessively redundant, review the major steps in the process. Walk the reader through one complete cycle , emphasizing how the completion of each stage contributes to the final overall effect .

You might provide multiple different contrasting examples, or notable exceptions that don’t perfectly fit the process you just described.

—–

1997 — Handout created by Dennis G. Jerz, for the University of Toronto’s Engineering Writing 2003 — Updated version posted on jerz.setonhill.edu; modest tweaks over the years 03 Feb 2022 — After I noticed a spike in visits to this page, I freshened up the content, beefed up section 4, and added more cross-referencing links.

31 thoughts on “ Process Description: How to Write about a Sequence of Events ”

Hi Dr.Jerz. Didn’t see an email address on your about page so I’m just writing here to say “thank you” for your work thus far! I’m a university student in Jamaica currently trying to improve my academic writing for my final year (and beyond). Stumbled across your youtube playlist on critical thinking and then followed the link to your website. It’s been a great experience thus far and has totally changed how I viewed research.

Initially, I often had ideas and hypotheses around social and philosophical issues of my generation that I believed could go on to make me a great thought leader in the academic field, however, the requirements of evidence and contradictory views which research requires scared me; I developed a fear of losing ‘credit’ for my genius idea as I may: (1) fail to find support for such a Jamaica-focused idea; (2) encounter the same idea and lose the possibility (and joy) of being a creator, a ‘genius’ after investing so much time to read several papers. My ego desired to have the public speaking authority which I saw my professors exercise without any understanding of how they have developed and eared that level of credibility.

Your explanations have truly shown me that these research requirements exists to assist me in pursuing truth (rather than fame haha). I’ve come to accept that there were people here before me that have invested years into the topics that I am only recently discovering, and through their help I could : (i) strengthen my hypotheses; (ii) save time by not recreating the wheel; (iii) or identify areas (or gaps) that require further research.

The battle with the ego isn’t finished but has definitely improved. This has been enlightening so far and I will definitely be reviewing your notes regularly. The videos may be old but the knowledge is definitely timeless. Keep up the great work Dr. Jerz :)

Thank you very much for your kind words. I tell my students that their goal should be to demonstrate their ability to make original connections between published experts who disagree with each other. If they develop that skill early in their undergraduate career, then they’ll be prepared to do original work after they’ve gained the foundational knowledge and skills their professors in their major courses want them to learn. You are right that credibility and genuine authority come only with experience, and that they are not the same thing as fame and power. It sounds like you are well on your way to success, Chris!

Actually I’m trying to find an example to under stand the question

Describe a situation in which part of a process description might not be organized chronologically.

That sounds like a homework assignment. If you had made some effort, and asked what I think about your attempt, I might have given you an opinion. If you make no effort at all, and expect me to do all the work for you, I will probably go watch cat videos.

I appreciate to have your opinion

I didn’t create the assignment and I won’t be marking it for you, so I really don’t know what your instructor would consider to be a good example. But if you give me an example, I’m willing to offer my opinion about whether it meets the criteria you describe.

From ISO 9001 Quality Management System point of view, can you give examples or outline of this subject please?

That is a very specific question, that would require me to do some time-consuming work in order to offer a professional answer.

Whether Process description should be written in paragraphwise or in pointwise ?

There is no one correct answer. Can you ask an expert to recommend a particularly well-written process description to use as a model? Does that model use paragraphs or bullets? My students have generally been trained to write in paragraphs, because they are used to writing for teachers who want to teach them how to write paragraphs. I often encourage them to try out bullet points, but that doesn’t mean paragraphs are wrong.

when series of processes are numbered ,it is right to consider it as a process description?

Maybe. I could number a list of “10 ways to make a baby happy,” but that wouldn’t make each item on the list part of a single process.

introduction about acid rain . is that an a sequence of events ?

Yes, it is possible to write a process description about how acid rain is formed and how it impacts the environment. If you focus instead on the chemical composition of acid rain, or you present a debate about what the government and corporations should do about acid rain, or you write a poem about how mad you are about companies that contribute to acid rain, then no.

tnx man . your’e nice

how can you handle the problem of the use of illustration in the description process?

Clifford, if this is a job assignment or homework assignment, whoever assigned the task is your best resource. There is nothing special about the use of an illustration in a description process that does not also apply for using an illustration in any technical document. The general subject of using illustrations is not something I tried to tackle on this short page.

GREAT INFORMATION……AT LAST I HAVE A REPORT…

GREAT INFORMATION….AT LAST, I HAVE A REPORT FOR TECHNICAL WRITTING….

i want to know about the difference between process description, functional description and instruction.. anyone help me?

I could help more if I knew the context for the question, but instructions are a special kind of process description that emphasize what the reader needs to do to make the process happen. You could describe the process of how the body digests an apple, or how a NASA probe tests for life on Mars, or how tectonic plates form mountains and volcanoes, but those would be very different as instructions.

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/technical-writing/instructions-how-to-write-for-busy-grouchy-people/

A functional description describes how the parts of an object work together to do something useful. This handout on the mechanism description may help.

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/technical-writing/mechanism-description/

My handouts are just suggestions. If you have been asked to write a document for your workplace, ask someone to show you models of good documents to emulate. If this is for a class, then your instructor or the course textbook are your best resources.

Merhaba. ben türkiyeden bu siteye bakıyorum. fakat bir türlü bulamıyorum. benim paragraflarım var onlari ingilizceye çevirmem gerek ama çeviremiyorum. İngilizceyi daha yeni öğrenmeye başladım. Lütfen cevap verin. Please

Wonderful explaination， thanks！

yah your right!!!

can you give me an example paragraph of a mechanism description and process description?please… thank you so much!

This page does contain a brief example of a process description, as well as a link to a similar page on writing a mechanism description. Any technical writing textbook should contain more detail. Good luck!

mechanism operation and conceptual process are both process descriptions. how are they different? what is the outline that can be used as a guide? kindly answer.. thanks

What is the context for this question? If this is part of a classroom assignment, your instructor and your textbook would be the sources most likely to help your grade. If you are trying to solve.a problem for a client, the subject matter experts and other technical writers who have worked on this problem before will be a better resource.

what is the difference between operation description and mechanism description?

Those terms may have specialized meanings in some fields. In general, I would say a mechanism description describes a thing with many parts, and typically focuses on the relationship of those parts in space. An operation description would focus on time — what conditions are necessary before you start step one, how you know when you are ready to go onto step two, that sort of thing. Beyond that, the answer would depend on the context.

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75 Sequence Words: Overview, List & Examples

Get in line and follow the sequence.

Today, we’re unraveling the mystery behind sequence words.

Sequence words are tools in writing that guide the order of events, ideas, or steps, using terms like first, next, then, and finally. In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about these words, their types, uses, and examples to enhance your writing skills.

Scroll to the end for a free tool you can use to create teaching stories and worksheets with AI.

What Are Sequence Words?

Table of Contents

Ever read a story or an article and found yourself effortlessly moving from one idea to the next, like stepping on stones across a stream?

That smooth transition is often thanks to sequence words.

These words are like signposts on a hiking trail, guiding you along the path of the narrative or argument.

As a writer with years of experience, I’ve come to realize that sequence language is more than just parts of speech. They’re powerful tools that bring order and clarity to my writing.

Think of them as the glue that holds the different parts of your story or argument together.

How Are Sequence Words Used in Writing?

Sequence words are used in various ways:

• To Indicate Order : They help in listing steps or stages in a process. For example, when I write a recipe or explain how to build a birdhouse, sequence words like first, then, next, and finally make the instructions easy to follow.
• To Show Time : These words are great for narrating events. Words like before, after, during, and while help set the timeline, making the narrative more coherent.
• To Highlight Importance : Sometimes, I use sequence words like “most importantly” or “above all” to emphasize the key points of my argument or story.
• To Summarize : At the end of an article or story, words like “in conclusion” or “to sum up” signal that I am summarizing my main points.

10 Common Sequence Words (Use Them Right Away)

Here’s a chart showcasing 10 common sequence words and how they’re typically used in writing:

These kind of words are incredibly helpful in writing.

They create a clear, logical flow that guides readers through the text, making complex ideas or processes much easier to understand.

As someone who’s been weaving words for a while, I can vouch for the difference these little helpers make in crafting a coherent and engaging narrative.

Stay tuned for a comprehensive list of sequence words that I often use to add clarity and flow to my writing.

These words are simple yet impactful, and incorporating them into your writing can make a world of difference in how your readers perceive and understand your content.

Here is a great video about sequencing words:

Beginning Sequence Words

These words are perfect for starting a narrative, an explanation, or a process:

• To start with
• In the beginning
• Opening with
• At the outset
• Originating
• At the start
• To commence
• At the inception
• Before we begin

Middle Sequence Words

These words help in transitioning from one point to another in the middle of your writing:

• Subsequently
• Following this
• Consequently
• Simultaneously
• Additionally
• Furthermore
• Correspondingly
• In the meantime
• Concurrently

Ending Sequence Words

Use these words to conclude or sum up your writing:

• In conclusion
• Conclusively
• As a final point
• To conclude
• Wrapping up
• Ending with
• Last of all
• All things considered

Interruption Sequence Words

These words are useful for indicating interruptions or breaks in the flow of thought or action:

• Nonetheless
• Despite this
• On the other hand
• Alternatively
• On the contrary
• Interrupting
• In contrast
• Nevertheless
• Irrespective

Summary Sequence Words

These words are great for summarizing or giving an overview:

• To summarize
• Essentially
• To encapsulate
• Summarizing
• In a nutshell
• Collectively
• Comprehensively

Examples of Sequence Words in Sentences

It’s probably helpful to see some of these words in actual sentences.

Check out these examples below to see how to write, structure, and build sentences with sequence language:

• Firstly , we need to address the budget issue.
• Then , we will move on to the marketing plan.
• Next , consider the environmental impact of the project.
• Afterward , we gathered feedback from the participants.
• Subsequently , the company implemented the changes.
• Meanwhile , the other team started their research.
• Consequently , sales increased by 20%.
• Additionally , we offer free shipping on all orders.
• Moreover , our product is made from recycled materials.
• Furthermore , customer satisfaction has been consistently high.
• In conclusion , the experiment was a resounding success.
• To begin with , let’s review the meeting minutes from last week.
• Before , we had limited resources, but now the situation is different.
• Simultaneously , production and marketing teams should work together.
• Ultimately , our goal is to double our market share.
• Initially , the plan seemed feasible.
• However , we encountered several unexpected challenges.
• On the other hand , there are potential risks involved.
• In contrast , last year’s model had fewer features.
• As a result , we need to rethink our strategy.
• To illustrate , let’s look at a case study from last year.
• For instance , consider a situation where customer demand exceeds supply.
• Such as , products like smartphones and laptops require constant updates.
• Thereafter , the committee will review the submissions.
• Following this , we’ll have a brief Q&A session.
• In addition , we plan to expand into two new markets.
• Notably , this achievement has set a new industry standard.
• Equally important , we must maintain product quality.
• Besides , there are other factors to consider.
• Especially , when it comes to user privacy concerns.
• Lastly , I’d like to thank everyone for their hard work.
• At first , the task seemed daunting.
• Finally , after months of hard work, the product was launched.
• During , the seminar, several key points were discussed.
• While , we focus on growth, we cannot neglect sustainability.
• Until , we receive more data, we should not proceed.
• Unless , we get full support, the project might not succeed.
• Even though , challenges were numerous, the team persevered.
• Although , we faced setbacks, our progress was substantial.
• Despite , the tough competition, we managed to secure the deal.
• As soon as , the funds are available, we will begin the expansion.
• Once , the parameters are set, we can start the simulation.
• By the time , the meeting concluded, we had a solid plan.
• Whenever , a new issue arises, the team tackles it efficiently.
• Whereas , previous models were cumbersome, the new design is sleek.
• Since , we’ve switched vendors, our costs have gone down.
• So that , we can meet our targets, overtime will be necessary.
• Provided that , we stick to the budget, we can fund extra research.
• Lest , we forget, customer feedback is crucial to our success.
• Insofar as , the data is accurate, we can predict a positive outcome.

What are Sequence Hint Words? (With Examples)

Sequence hint words, often referred to as transitional or signal words, are vital tools in writing that indicate the order of events, steps, or ideas.

They help guide readers through the text, providing hints about what is coming next.

Or they might suggest how the pieces of information are connected.

You might already notice how closely sequence hint words are to standard sequence language. There is definitely some overlap.

Let’s explore some examples to see how they work in practice.

Examples of Sequence Hint Words

• First : “First, we gathered all the necessary ingredients for the recipe.”
• Next : “Next, we mixed the dry ingredients separately.”
• Then : “Then, we combined them with the wet ingredients.”
• Finally : “Finally, we put the mixture in the oven to bake.”
• Similarly : “Similarly, the second experiment yielded almost identical results.”
• However : “The process was efficient; however, the cost was prohibitive.”
• On the other hand : “On the other hand, the alternative method was more cost-effective.”
• Because : “Because it rained heavily, the event was postponed.”
• Therefore : “The machine malfunctioned, therefore production was halted.”
• As a result : “He studied hard, and as a result, he topped the class.”
• Furthermore : “The plan is practical. Furthermore, it is cost-effective.”
• In addition : “In addition to being talented, she is also very diligent.”
• Moreover : “The study is reliable, and moreover, it has been peer-reviewed.”
• For instance : “Many fruits contain antioxidants; for instance, blueberries are a great source.”
• Such as : “Several countries, such as France and Japan, have a rich culinary heritage.”
• To illustrate : “To illustrate the problem, consider the recent data breach incident.”
• In conclusion : “In conclusion, the findings support the initial hypothesis.”
• To summarize : “To summarize, three primary factors contributed to the outcome.”
• In summary : “In summary, the project was a success thanks to the team’s effort.”

FAQ Section: Sequence Writing

Let’s answer some of the most common questions asked about sequence writing, words, and phrases.

What Is a Sequence Text Pattern?

Sequence text pattern refers to a structural arrangement in writing where events, instructions, or ideas are presented in a logical order, typically chronological.

This pattern is essential in crafting narratives, process explanations, instructional writing, and historical accounts.

The use of sequence text pattern aids in guiding the reader through a series of steps or events, ensuring a clear understanding of the order in which things happen or should be done.

It’s particularly useful in making complex information more digestible.

And ensuring that the reader can follow the progression of thoughts or actions without confusion.

How Do You Know If a Text Is Sequence?

To determine if a text follows a sequence, look for specific indicators such as sequence words or phrases that signal the order of events or steps.

These can include terms like first, next, then, finally, or subsequently.

Sequence in text is also evident in the logical flow of the content, where each paragraph or section builds upon the previous one.

In instructional or process-oriented texts, the sequence is marked by a clear progression of steps or stages. Additionally, in narrative texts, a chronological order of events usually indicates a sequence structure.

What Is a Sequence Word Story?

A sequence word story is a narrative that heavily relies on sequence language to articulate the progression of events.

These stories are typically structured in a way that clearly indicates the order in which things occur, using words like first, afterward, then, and finally.

This type of storytelling is particularly common in children’s literature.

Why? Because the clear progression aids in understanding and retaining information.

It’s also used in adult literature to build suspense or guide the reader through complex scenarios. Sequence language in stories help in creating a coherent and engaging narrative flow.

What Is a Sequence Word Worksheet?

A sequence word worksheet is an educational tool designed to help learners understand and practice the use of sequence language in writing.

These worksheets typically contain exercises that require students to fill in blanks with appropriate sequence words, arrange sentences or paragraphs in logical order, or create their own sentences using sequence words.

They are commonly used in language arts and ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms.

The primary goal of these worksheets is to enhance students’ ability to organize their thoughts and communicate more effectively in both written and verbal forms.

What Are Some Tools to Help Learn Sequence Words?

Here are some tools that I like and that I think will help you:

Final Thoughts

Mastering sequence text, words, and phrases is like finding the secret map to clear and engaging writing.

Discover more writing insights and tips by exploring other articles on our site.

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• 3 Syllable Words (Ultimate List Of 400+ Words)
• 100 Dictation Word Ideas for Students and Kids
• 200 Nature Words To Build Your English Vocabulary
• How To Describe A Classroom In Writing (21 Tips + Examples)
• Is Jo a Scrabble Word? (Official Answer + 100 Alternatives)

Sequencing events in reading and writing

WHAT IS SEQUENCING? A DEFINITION.

Sequencing is an essential reading skill that students must develop if they are to fully understand all reading material. Luckily, sequencing comes naturally to most children as the concept of chronological order is reinforced from very early on through the practice of the routines of daily life.

From the very first days of kindergarten, children are taught the importance of doing things in order. Each daily task contains its own inherent sequence. From tying their shoelaces to getting ready for school, children understand the importance of performing tasks step-by-step.

The importance of a defined beginning, middle, and end is further emphasized from the first fairy tales students encounter through to the later classics of English literature. While it is clear our students have a sense of what sequence is right from the start, understanding how a sequence comes together, and developing the necessary skills to identify its component parts, is another matter, and it is this that will serve as the focus of this article.

WHY TEACH SEQUENCING?

Given its importance in our daily lives, it is no surprise that there are a myriad of reasons to teach sequencing skills to our students. Strong sequencing skills help students:

●     With their reading comprehension of a text, primarily narrative texts.

●     Understand the structure of a text and how it is put together.

●     Understand how texts are kept cohesive through the use of linking devices such as connectives and transitions.

●     Organize information and ideas in their own writing.

●     Develop problem-solving skills that are important in other curriculum areas too.

For our students, being able to identify the sequence of events in a piece of writing is essential for them to gain a clear understanding of what they are reading. A critical reading comprehension strategy, sequencing allows students to make sense of how events unfold in their reading. In turn, these reading skills will help students in their own writing. It will help them to construct a cohesive and logical flow to their writing that readers can follow easily.

There are many applications for good sequencing skills outside of the English classroom too. They are needed to effectively perform the steps of a science experiment in the correct order, for writing a set of instructions, to make sense of a historical series of events, and they are an essential aspect of problem-solving in mathematical computation.

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HOW TO IDENTIFY SEQUENCE WHEN READING OR VIEWING A TEXT.

• In its simplest terms, identifying a sequence in a text involves identifying the beginning, the middle, and the end.
• One of the easiest ways to recognize the order of events is to look out for the sequencing words or transitions that are used to connect the various parts of the text.
• Some of these words and phrases also act as signals to provide an indication of whether the event will be located in the beginning, in the middle, or toward the end of the text’s chronology.
• There are a wide variety of ‘signal words’ and the following represent just a few of the most common, as well as where they are most likely to occur.

SEQUENCING SIGNAL WORDS

●     Once upon a time / Once there was

●     In the beginning

●     First of all

●     Meanwhile

●     After that

●     Suddenly

●     In the end

●     Finally

●     After all

For more complex narratives and technical nonfiction genres that comprise more moving parts, other techniques need to be employed.

Use graphic organizers for sequencing

Graphic organizers are a great way to help students arrange their thoughts more efficiently in a range of areas – and sequencing is no exception. There are a number of different graphic organizers that lend themselves well to displaying sequences of events. Let’s take a look at two of the most suitable:

i. Timelines

The timeline is the most commonly used form of graphic organizer used for displaying events in chronological order. They can come in various forms, including vertical, horizontal, and illustrated. Students can get creative with timelines in a number of ways. For example, they can create parallel timelines whereby the main character’s timeline runs alongside a timeline depicting concurrent historical events. Or, they could create a map timeline that places the timeline onto a map depicting distance, place, and dates of events. Timelines are great for sequencing events in fiction and nonfiction genres alike.

ii. The Story Sequence Chart

This graphic organizer visually represents a set of stair steps. Students should write the story’s events on each step of the stairs in the order they occur, starting with the first event on the first step and with each event that follows written on the next step above. This is also a useful way for students to represent nonlinear narratives , such as in medias res. This organizer is a helpful means to unravel more complex chronologies. The finished chart helps the student to see each of the events in the story in the order that they occurred.

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SEQUENCING GAMES AND ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS.

There are a range of ways to encourage student awareness of the importance of sequencing for the comprehensive understanding of a text. Using the graphic organisers mentioned above is one such way of helping students to identify the main events of a text.

Here are a few more activities to help students get to grips with a sequence in their reading.

Order Out of Chaos

In this activity, divide the class up into smaller groups of three or four. Give each a copy of a short story (for differentiation purposes, you could assign groups based on ability here and give each a story according to their level). The short stories should be cut up into paragraphs (or individual sentences). In their groups, students reassemble the story according to how they think the chronology should be. If all groups use the same story, the class can then compare their choices at the end. If each group has a different story, they can read their story to the other groups at the end and explain the reasons for their decisions.

Telling It Like It Was

The preparation for this activity works well as a homework as it gives students time to rehearse. However, it also works well after any reading activity to assess a student’s understanding of the sequence of events and their overall comprehension of what they have read.

Have students retell the events of the story, article, poem etc in their own words. If the text was nonlinear in its chronological structure, have them relay what they read, but this time in a linear form. Obviously, you may need to allow them some preparation time in such instances. I find telling students they will have to retell a story before they read it is a powerful tool to get them focused on that reading – fear is a peerless motivator!

You can also further expand on this activity by having students rewrite what they have been reading. This will challenge them to consider the importance of sequencing, both from a reader’s point of view and from that of a writer.

Spot the Sequence

Sometimes it can be difficult to extract a coherent chronology of events or steps from a convoluted text. It may be, for example, that in a fictional work the narrative perspective shifts between different characters and time periods. A good solution to this is to utilize the timeline as described above. Here, students can often match events to dates or times and then reassemble them in chronological order on a timeline.

But, what about nonfiction then? Or when there are no dates available? For example, when a process is described rather than an event?

In such instances, it is good practice for students to use the following prompts to help identify the underlying sequence.

Encourage your students to ask themselves:

●     What happened first, second, third etc?

●     What happened before or after a specific event or step?

●     What happened in the end?

Encourage students to look for context clues to help them extract the sequence from the text if it seems somewhat vague initially. A good understanding of story structure will help them to identify the exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution and understand how these relate to the sequence. It will further help signpost the chronology, even when the story is told in a nonlinear way.

For nonfiction, in particular, the transition words/sequencing words outlined earlier in this article will often help immensely too.

SEQUENCING RECAP

The concepts that underlie sequence are normally not that difficult for students to grasp, as they experience an order to events constantly in their everyday life. In the context of reading comprehension skills, they will usually be specifically concerned with the time order of events, or the steps that are taken in a text. For our students to become strong, active readers they must clearly identify the order that things happen or are done in their reading. For full comprehension of the most complex reading material, lots of practice will be required.

To that end, support your students to ensure they are familiar with as many variations of the sequencing / transitioning words as possible. Encourage higher-level students to familiarise themselves with more sophisticated expressions of common phrases such as In the beginning like Initially or Primarily . The more context clues they can recognize too, the more efficiently they will perform this task.

There is no shortcut to the development of any of the key reading comprehension skills – and sequencing is no exception. First, students must understand what sequencing is. Then, they must understand how to identify it in a variety of text genres. After that, they must gain lots of experience through practice activities such as those outlined above. Finally, they will become confident, active readers capable of getting the most out of everything they read.

SEQUENCING VIDEO TUTORIAL

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO SEQUENCING

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How to teach Guided Reading: Teaching Strategies and Activities

Identifying the main idea of the story: A Guide for Students and Teachers

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A better sentence for a sequence of events [closed]

This is an extract from my personal 300 word writeup about a video . Can anyone suggest a smoother way to write my final paragraph? The first paragraph is just to add in more context but feel free to comment about it if you wish.

The video is believed to be targeted towards the conservative populace, which consists of mostly the older generation. This is evident in how the video connects them emotionally by revolving the plot around an old woman, a figure of authority. The use of a song that re-iterates “laughs” and “joy” in its lyrics and has a light-hearted tune, creates a long-awaited setting, for a marriage between a male and his significant other.

However, the mood took a 180 degree turn the moment the significant other was revealed to be a male, which followed after a tune of disappointment and shocked facial expressions of the supporting characters.

• sentence-structure

• 1 I edited the intro only, not the text of the "extract." I also added the [essay] tag, which is the closest appropriate tag I could find. Despite editing, I will say that I also voted to close the question as being off-topic. You're asking people to critique your work, which we don't allow here. It's okay to give examples but that's not what's happening here. –  Cyn Commented Feb 1, 2019 at 15:11

I think the main problem (for me) with the second paragraph is the abrupt change in tense. We were in the present:

The use of a song that re-iterates “laughs” and “joy” in its lyrics and has a light-hearted tune, creates a long-awaited setting, for a marriage between a male and his significant other.

but now we're into the past:

However, the mood took a 180 degree turn the moment the significant other was revealed to be a male, which followed after a tune of disappointment and shocked facial expressions of the supporting characters

Other than the tense issue, I don't think the second paragraph is all that bad. I don't much like "a tune of disappointment," but it's hard to come up with a better alternative (and one that doesn't imply that the music itself is of poor quality). I didn't personally detect much change in the music, but I'm not familiar with the conventions of Indian music. My solution was to replace "180 degree turn" with an expression that is itself musical:

However, there's a dramatic change in tone at the moment when, to the evident shock of the supporting characters, the significant other is revealed to be a male!

The reveal of the same sex partner is a surprise in the film, so I emphasise that by using an exclamation mark.

Other comments? I find your opening sentence rather cumbersome:

The video is believed to be targeted towards the conservative populace, which consists of mostly the older generation.

Believed by whom? Could you maybe just say this:

I believe the video is targeted at the conservative older generation.

Or just lose the "I believe" altogether.

Also, at the end of the first paragraph:

Is it really the setting that's long-awaited? I'd have thought it's the marriage:

The use of a song that re-iterates “laughs” and “joy” in its lyrics and has a light-hearted tune, creates the setting for a long-awaited marriage between a male and his significant other.

• Hi, thanks for the feedback on some of the sentences structure and tenses. I'm not a very good writer, and haven't been writing in a long time either, and moreover, the writeup was actually an assignment on a random video, and the full writeup is supposed to answer some self generated questions on Barrett's Taxonomy(if you're familiar with that framework). I'm not sure if I should post the full essay because one of the people here told me that "proofreading" is not supported here. If you are willing to go the extra mile, I would gladly post it here for a full review. –  Prashin Jeevaganth Commented Feb 1, 2019 at 11:35

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged essay sentence-structure or ask your own question .

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• What's the best format or way to generate a short-lived access token?
• Would two switches in parallel in the same box meet code?
• Multiplicity of the smallest non-zero Laplacian eigenvalue for tree graphs

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Sequences, Summaries, and Stories

Why sequencing.

We put stuff in order all the time. Chronological order, numerical order, alphabetical order. We use order of steps for driving directions, recipes, processes and routines. Sometimes performing a task using the correct order of steps is crucial to success. Sequencing aids us in carrying out tasks, but also in organization of information.

Understanding the order and sequence of events helps for process, helps for understanding cause and effect, story structure, identifying patterns, and also learning the development of events that lead up to other events. We need to be able to retell stories and extract the main ideas into a summary.

Sequencing Activities

Timelines for historical events are extremely helpful and shows a variety of factors: causal events, effects of major events, progression or evolution of a topic. You can read more about timelines in our Timeline layout article or in the helpful hints about Storyboard That as a Timeline Maker . Timelines are usually used for history or biographies, but don’t let that common use limit your creativity!

• Create a timeline for your current social studies or history unit.
• Make a visual schedule for a period of time, or a First Then Board for two or three events. Seeing the sequence of events in order visually can be very important for student comprehension.
• Challenge students to create simple or complex number or shape patterns . Use the slideshow feature to show the pattern as it grows.
• Practice sequence words with “How to…” Instructions . Students can show the order of steps for a procedure in a timeline or with the traditional layout. Have students make their own “How to” stories, or make a storyboard for them to unscramble!

Summarizing Activities

A large part of English Language Arts is understanding the plot arc of a story. Sometimes students get bogged down with subplots or details and have a hard time writing a concise summary or can't process all the information.

• Use the plot diagram to isolate events. The plot diagram is an excellent strategy for making sure students extract the most important parts of the story that drive the overarching plot.
• Sometimes novels can be quite long and it is difficult to keep track of everything that happens. The Chapter Recap is a great way to show the main events of a chapter or section by breaking up the story into smaller pieces. Make a cell of a Chapter Recap storyboard after reading each chapter. The storyboard will help students recall information from earlier in the book.
• Big ideas need to be summarized too! Create a storyboard that breaks up a big topic , like finding common denominators, into more manageable pieces.

Story Writing Activities

The order of events is crucial for planning a story. Make a storyboard to plan out a larger narrative, or create your own short story in the style of a comic. You can create visual stories for all kinds of things:

• original fictional narrative
• autobiographical narrative
• historical narrative
• hypothetical story to discuss/plan for a potential outcome or a role-playing scenario
• original take on a classic

Make Sequencing Worksheets!

If you're looking for another step or an alternative assignment, you can create a variety of different worksheets, including BME worksheets or plot diagram worksheets to use in your class! These worksheets can be customized and printed out for students to fill out with a pencil, or they can be completed in the Storyboard Creator like a digital worksheet. You can even create multiple versions for those students who might need a little extra help, and keep them on hand for future use! Find plenty of templates to work from or just start with a blank canvas.

Related Activities

Check out these sequencing activities from our guides on The One-Eyed Giant , Mr. Popper's Penguins , and Zlateh the Goat .

Frequently Asked Questions about Sequences, Summaries, and Stories

How does combining sequencing, summarizing, and storytelling activities enhance students' comprehension skills.

Combining sequencing, summarizing, and storytelling activities enhances students' comprehension skills in several ways. Firstly, sequencing activities help students to identify the order of events and better understand the plot of a story. Summarizing activities require students to distill complex information into a concise summary, helping them to identify the main ideas and important details. Storytelling activities provide an opportunity for students to express their understanding of a text in their own words, promoting deeper engagement and comprehension.

How can teachers use sequencing, summarizing, and storytelling activities to promote critical thinking skills?

Teachers can use these activities to challenge students to analyze information, make inferences, and draw conclusions. For example, students can sequence events from a story and then discuss the cause-and-effect relationships between them.

Can sequencing, summarizing, and storytelling activities be adapted for different learning styles?

Yes, teachers can adapt these activities for different learning styles by providing visual aids, graphic organizers, and opportunities for collaborative work. For example, students who prefer visual learning can benefit from using a storyboard to sequence events, while students who prefer auditory learning can benefit from discussing the story with their peers.

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Commissioner Christie’s Concurrence to Global Infrastructure Management-BlackRock Section 203 Order, EC24-58

Docket No. EC24-58-000

I concur in today’s order authorizing, under section 203 of the Federal Power Act, a transaction in which BlackRock Funding, Inc., a newly created subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. (BlackRock), will acquire all of the limited liability company interests in Global Infrastructure Management, LLC (Transaction). 

I have long been concerned with huge asset managers, like BlackRock, seeking to acquire interests in public utilities, especially in traditional load-serving entities (LSEs). [1]  The influence that large shareholders, BlackRock or otherwise, can potentially exert across the consumer-serving utility industry should not be underestimated.  Such horizontal shareholdings pose the threat of decreased innovation, reduced competition, and ultimately higher prices to consumers, as well as the prospect of chilling investment in exactly the new generation resources we need to meet increased demand for power and to enhance the reliability of the grid.  So this is an issue that deserves much greater scrutiny, as I have stated before. [2]  

For purposes of this Transaction, I concur because it is consistent with Commission precedent and policy and because BlackRock has previously received a section 203 blanket authorization. [3]    BlackRock, pursuant to its blanket authorization, already holds interests in many LSEs as well as independent power producers (IPPs).  And in this Transaction, the other shoe drops:  BlackRock now seeks to acquire interests in even more IPPs, primarily in California, a relevant market in which it already holds extensive interests pursuant to its blanket authorization.  Of course, IPPs present the threat of competition to the generation tied to these other holdings, along with the generation BlackRock itself seeks to build.  BlackRock is now firmly on both sides of the competition fence, as protestors here assert.

But, because of BlackRock’s blanket authorization, there is no further scrutiny.  Whether an entity with a blanket authorization is or will be on both sides of the fence should be front and center for serious scrutiny in any next steps taken on the Blanket Authorization Notice of Inquiry. You do not need a Ph.D. in economics to see the potential for anticompetitive conduct and outcomes when an investment entity like a huge asset manager seeks to own generation assets that will be — or should be — competitors.  Market power is an ever-present concern, and one rule I taught my law students is that any seller with market power will use it.  That’s not a moral judgment, just economic reality.   

And, as I have also expressed previously, and which merits reiteration here, public utilities are not typical for-profit, shareholder-owned companies: 

In particular, public utilities that provide electrical power to retail customers are usually holders of a state-granted monopoly franchise that comes with various public service obligations, such as providing reliable power service at rates that are just and reasonable.  So whether a public utility is owned by investors directly or through a holding company structure, it is absolutely essential for regulators to make sure that the interests of investors do not conflict with the public service obligations that a utility has.  And yes, there  is  a potential conflict.  That potential conflict requires heightened regulatory scrutiny when huge investment companies and asset managers, as well as large private equity funds, which individually and collectively direct literally trillions of dollars in capital, appear to be acting not as passive investors simply seeking the best risk-based returns for their own clients, but instead appear to be  actively  using their investment power to affect how the utility meets its own public service obligations. [4]

Not only does this potential conflict present problems from the consumer protection and reliability perspectives, but it also can produce structural changes to the very markets that the Commission regulates, leading the Commission to fix and tweak rates and practices under section 205, rather than preventing the concerning structural change from occurring in the first place.

More fundamentally, however, the concentration of horizontal shareholding in the entities regulated by the Commission causes less innovation, in a time where innovation is exactly what we need.  We need more investment in the generation units that enhance reliability and reduce consumer prices, not less.  Cross-ownership creates the threat of the exercise of market power.  Market power, even through concentrated horizontal shareholding, deters investment; it does not encourage it.  And importantly, truly effective regulation of transactions affecting public utilities does not result in a chilling of investment.  Investors will always seek an adequate return, which good utility regulation recognizes.  And it is the Commission’s responsibility, indeed all utility regulators’ responsibility, to make sure that such money is not being needlessly extracted from consumers’ pockets through exercises of market power or other forms of rent-seeking. 

For these reasons, I respectfully concur.

______________________________

Mark C. Christie

Commissioner

[1] BlackRock, Inc. , 179 FERC ¶ 61,049 (2022) (Christie, Comm’r, concurring), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/commissioner-christies-concurrence-blackrocks-authorization-buy-voting-securities ; see also Fed. Power Act Sec. 203 Blanket Authorizations for Inv. Cos. , Notice of Inquiry, 185 FERC ¶ 61,192 (2023) (Blanket Authorization Notice of Inquiry) (Christie, Comm’r, concurring) (Blanket Authorization NOI Concurrence), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/e-1-commissioner-christies-concurrence-federal-power-act-section-203-blanket .

[3] One must ask whether this Transaction is only possible because of BlackRock’s blanket authorization.

[4] Blanket Authorization NOI Concurrence at P 1.

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