Academic Writer

academic writer: organization: main body: chronological

Chronological
Text can be structured chronologically (in order of time). This is particularly useful if you choose an historical perspective. It is also be useful if you need to detail the exact sequence of events in a report.
EXAMPLE 1 Historical perspective

In 1933 the Polish representative at the League of Nations caused an uproar by declaring: ‘A minimum of rights must be guaranteed to every human being, whatever his race, religion or mother tongue…’ (quoted in, Cassese, 1990)
This transcending of racial, religious and cultural boundaries was such a radical idea that it was totally rejected by the other nations present. Change could not occur while there was so much investment in the values and attitudes which supported the colonial structures of European empires and the racial discrimination of America.
But change did come, and in 1948 the United Nations endorsed such a Declaration of Human Rights. In 1967 in Australia Aborigines received full citizenship and the right to vote. In 1992 an Earth Summit on the world's environmental problems recognised that First World polluters should pay for the development of sustainable technology in the Third World, that survival of the planet depends on the acceptance of the interdependence of nations. In 1994 Australia began the process of recognising First Nation land rights and acknowledging the legal fiction of an uninhabited land. In South Africa apartheid is being dismantled. Between 1933 and today the shift in values and attitudes has been enormous.

EXAMPLE 2 Historical perspective Note specific dates do not have to be used ('Around the mid-1800s'). Also, in this example the first reference depends on your knowledge of (American) history. The writer assumes that you know when 'colonial times' were!

Maximizing Instruction Through Cooperative Learning
The late scholar Ernest Boyer divided the history of U.S. higher education into three distinct yet overlapping phases. The first of these phases dates back to colonial times when educators considered teaching to be a sacred calling, on par with the ministry. In most cases their mission was to prepare students to become civic or religious leaders, and consequently, they assumed responsibility for students’ intellectual, moral, and spiritual development.
Around the mid-1800s, perceptions about higher education’s purpose changed. The growing nation needed service-oriented patriots to manage efficient factories, improve agricultural productivity, and serve in government, and so it turned to its universities to produce both them and the practical knowledge that would shape its future. This attitude change ushered in the second phase of higher education wherein professors juggled teaching with conducting applied research in a variety of areas such as agriculture, manufacturing, and civics.
By the early 1900s, however, higher education’s mission had been redefined a third time. In this phase universities sought to fuel human progress by advancing pure knowledge. Educators focused on pursuing such knowledge through basic research rather than on training students. Teaching had become the poor cousin, and most academicians believed that anyone who knew enough about a field to have acquired a doctorate in it could teach it.

 

Academic Writer 2000