“I thought it would be a good idea to write about structure, and how people, when they write just go on and on. The idea came to me when I was on my way to work. There’s just no structure. I really dislike reading stuff that goes back and forth. The other day, I received an email which I could make no sense of. You know, what people do is just pour out everything in their heads, and expect you to figure it all out. This email had to do with changes in travel policies. It is so difficult to figure it out – you can literally see people’s stray thoughts, side diversions and unconnected ideas all together. Over a coffee break, I found out that all of us had understood it differently. So, as I was saying, I was surrounded by fumes (exhaust fumes, not coffee) and I thought it would be a good idea to write on why people need to structure their writing better”

The first task of a writer is to structure the piece of communication. Structure involves the following elements: a) A clear statement of the central core message and b) The presentation of ideas in a logically grouped and coherent manner that ‘backs-up’ or supports the central message. A pyramid of ideas with the central message on top and the support points below is the appropriate structure for all communication.

Once the structure is derived, the writer has choices in terms of how he/she presents the structure to the reader. This involves decisions on a) the path to take through the pyramid (whether top-down with the main message first, or bottom-up with the main message at the end), b) the sequence in which ideas are presented and c) which elements of detail need to be kept in, and which ones can be left out, without losing impact.

The central message of this article, for instance, is why a clear structure is critical to good writing, and why it is the writer’s responsibility to ensure that the structure is evident. In terms of sequence, I have chosen to state it right at the top (see the heading), as well as in the middle after a preamble (right here).

Why Structure Matters?

To understand this, look at it from a reader’s viewpoint. As readers, our minimum expectations from a piece of writing are:

• Ease of understanding: None of us has time. We’d like to get the point (and support points), as quickly as possible and with minimum of effort on our side.
• Clarity / Lack of ambiguity: We want to be reassured that the message as we understand it, is the same as the writer intended, and the same that anyone reading would understand. We don’t want to be put in a position where there are differences in understanding across people, writer and readers.

The Onus is on the Writer

For a message to be derived from a mass of writing, someone has to perform the task of structuring. An unstructured piece doesn’t mean the piece doesn’t get structured. It only means that the responsibility of structuring the piece has been transferred from the writer to readers. This creates adverse consequences for readers:

• Ease of understanding: Impacted significantly, as now readers bear the burden of sorting out the mass of thoughts pouring out of the writer’s mind to figure out the main message. Further, passages without a structure tend to be longer – they ramble, because the writer has not consciously applied his / her mind to what is essential, and what is not. The longer the passage, the more the effort required.
• Clarity / Lack of ambiguity: Naturally, if different readers are going to structure it on their own, they may not necessarily arrive at the same structure. Each reader will take away what he / she thinks was the central point in the mass of points. In effect, they will be second guessing what the writer intended.

Therefore if a writer wants to deliver a clear message that no two people will interpret differently, and if the writer wants readers to ‘get it’ with least effort, the writer has to bear the responsibility for structuring.

Finally, other ‘good writing’ characteristics such as style, beauty and imagery in language and selection of the most appropriate words / phrases are actually optional add-ons. Nice if we can have it, but not essential. A piece of writing, well structured but perhaps not very refined or polished in usage of the English language is still acceptable – the basic point and argument will be understood by readers; but the converse is not true. A poorly structured piece with great language remains a poor piece of writing – rather like a lavishly made Bollywood film, all style and no storyline.