If you are writing an expository or analytical text, you will want to avoid using narrative flow. First, don’t put details in time order; instead, choose some other logical order, such as order of importance. Second, don’t use time-order signal words or transitions of chronological order. Finally, don’t refer to specific sections of a creative work.
Example:
Incorrect:
In the first paragraph of Kotter’s study of 15 successful general managers, he found that they tended to have concentrated their efforts in one industry and in one company. In the end of his article he concluded that general management was not general, and that the particular expertise acquired by concentrating on a narrow range of business issues is helpful in building a power base and in becoming successful.
Correct:
In Kotter’s study of 15 successful general managers, he found that they tended to have concentrated their efforts in one industry and in one company. He concluded that general management was not general, and that the particular expertise acquired by concentrating on a narrow range of business issues is helpful in building a power base and in becoming successful.
(Source: “Keys to Success: 6 Traits the Most Successful People Have in Common,” by Eric Barker, Time.com)
It is true that in some academic assignments, you may be asked to analyze or critique a writer’s or a speaker’s style or rhetorical structure. In such assignments, you may be examining how to structure a good (or bad) argument. There, it makes sense to point out your observations about the order and flow of information and words.
However, if your assignment is to present an argument and support it with sources, or to summarize the information in another source, then the order in which you encountered the details is irrelevant. In fact, you are making a mistake if you commit to presenting the details in the same order as the original author. Instead, you must consider the flow that makes sense for your own logic and your audience.
Links:
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