Why use a story structure?

Plus: 18 writing templates to try

People remember information better when stories are organized according to well-known structures. (Mandler and Johnson 1977; Kintsch, Mandel and Kozminsky in 1977; Mandler 1978; Stein 1976; and Thorndyke 1977)

The reason: People have mental frameworks — aka schemata — that they’ve built through experience and instruction. These mental frameworks provide a skeletal structure for organizing information as they read. (Anderson, 1977; Rumelhart, 1975)

“Comprehension and composition bear a reciprocal relation to each other.”

— Robert C. Calfee, Ph.D, professor of Education and Psychology at Stanford University

The more familiar the writer’s framework, the easier it is for readers to place new information into their own schematas. Otherwise, information just comes across as a list of facts, which people can only recall through rote memorization.

That’s why researchers Robert C. Calfee and R. Curley set out to create a taxonomy, or classification, of the most well-known story structures. Here’s what they learned along the way.

Common story structures

Bonnie J.F. Meyer suggests using one of these five structures for the major points in your piece:

Bonnie J.F. Meyer’s topical plans
What	How	Example
Antecedent and consequence	Show cause and effect, if … then.	A bylined editorial may use this approach.
Comparison	Present two or more opposing viewpoints.	Political speeches often use this approach.
Description	Develop the topic by describing its component parts, such as attributes, specifications or settings.	Newspaper articles, for instance, explain who, what, when, where, why and how.
Response	Organize by remark and reply, question and answer or problem and solution.	Case studies focus on the problem and solution.
Time-order	Relate events or ideas chronologically.	Company profiles often use this approach.

Bonnie Armbruster, Ph.D., professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, lists these common structures:

• Simple list: List items or ideas where the order of presentation is not significant.
• Compare/contrast: Describe similarities or differences between two or more things.
• Temporal sequence: Show the passage of time.
• Cause and effect: Organize by reason and result.
• Problem/solution: Cite the problem and the solution.

Draw a narrative line

Armbruster also offers these elements for a narrative story:

• Goals
• Actions
• Outcomes

In 1975, cognitive psychologist David Rumelhart developed this formula for a simple narrative:

• A story = a setting (It was a dark and stormy night) + 1 or more episodes
• An episode = an event (Boy meets girl) + 1 or more responses
  • A response includes:
    • A plan (He decided to call her).
    • An action (He picked up the phone.)
    • A consequence (And she came running.)

All the story structures that are fit to print?

Based on their survey of story structures, Calfee and Curley developed this taxonomy.

Calfee & Curley’s taxonomy of story structures
Description	Definition	Elaborate on the meaning of a term.
	Classification	Relate groups of objects, events or ideas according to a principle or similarity.
	Comparison & Contrast	Highlight similarities or differences among two or more entities.
Illustration	Analogy	Compare two things or activities to help explain one of them.
	Example	Illustrate with a sample or outstanding incidence.
Sequence	Process	Show the steps toward a result.
	Cause & effect	Show the sequence of events in a causal chain.
	Narration	Tell a story.
Argument	Deductive	Reach a conclusion from generalities to particulars.
	Inductive	Reach a conclusion from particulars to generalities.
	Persuasive	Present ideas in the most convincing manner.
	Evidence	Support your claim with concrete facts.
Functional	Introduction	Open with a statement to introduce the position and maybe also the structure.
	Transition	Emphasize relations among ideas or changes in theme.
	Conclusion	Review thematic material; tie together lines of thought.
	Summary	Write a brief statement of the main points.
Explanation	Listing	List items or ideas where the order of presentation is not significant.
	Instructions	Outline step-by-step how-to’s.

Which of these story structures can you use to make your next piece easier to read, understand and remember?

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Sources: Robert C. Calfee, and R. Curley “Structures of prose in content areas,” In Understanding reading comprehension, ed. J. Flood. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1984, pp. 161-180

Bonnie J. F. Meyer, “Reading Research and the Composition Teacher: The Importance of Plans, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 33, No. 1 (February 1982), pp. 37-49

Bonnie B. Armbruster, “The problem of inconsiderate text,” in Comprehension instruction, ed. G. Duffey. New York: Longmann, 1984, pp. 202-217