To assist the reader, organize your thinking into a pyramid shape before starting to write.When preparing a document, most people have a pretty good idea of what they intend to write about but no specific plan for what to say or how to phrase it. Usually, they simply begin writing, hoping the structure will emerge on its own from their stream of consciousness. This results in a jumbled narrative, leaving the reader to sort out the mess.The mind prefers order to disorder, and even imposes imagined order on random data it encounters.
Consider for instance the ancient Greeks, who imagined animal shapes in the stars rather than seeing them as mere random dots.Similarly, it has been shown that when reading, people automatically attempt to organize information in any written document into a certain form, namely a top-down pyramid shape, where conclusions are supported by justifications and arguments, much like a pyramid is supported by its cornerstones.It is easiest for a reader to digest information if it comes presorted into a logical pyramid shape.Consider the following statements: “The seats were cold. Budweiser limited edition collector stein series circuit. I almost got into a fight. Italy didn’t play well. That really was an awful football match.” This “story” is poorly structured, since the actual main statement is withheld until the very end.A top-down pyramid structure means that the document first introduces a summary statement and then the reasoning behind it.
Minto Pyramid Principle Summary
The above narrative would have been much easier to understand if structured in such a way: “That really was an awful football match: the seats were cold, I almost got into a fight and Italy did not play well.”To assist the reader, organize your thinking into a pyramid shape before starting to write.