Organization and Structure
What you must be able to do
Describe how the passage is built: the job of each paragraph, the order of moves, and where the author's own position surfaces. Structure questions ask about architecture, not content.
Concepts to master
- Paragraph function tags. Label each paragraph in three to five words as you read: introduces puzzle, states dominant view, presents counterevidence, qualifies thesis. The correct answer must fit the tags.
- Common architectures. (a) received view → problems → revision; (b) phenomenon → competing explanations → adjudication; (c) thesis → illustration → concession; (d) chronological development of a concept; (e) problem → proposed solutions → limitations.
- Pivot points. Locate the sentence where the passage turns; it usually carries the author's evaluation.
- Level distinction. A choice describing a paragraph's topic is weaker than one describing its role in the argument.
Traps
The summary-instead-of-function answer, the choice that accurately describes one paragraph but ignores the rest, and the label that overstates conflict ("compares and contrasts two theories" when the passage actually develops one theory and dismisses another in a clause).
Rule of thumb and worked example
After tagging, predict the shape of the answer in a phrase such as "sets up a standard view, then shows an anomaly, then offers a fix." Then find the choice that matches the shape.
Example: a passage describes a standard assumption, presents three findings that resist it, and ends by proposing a narrower version of the assumption. The best structural description is "a prevailing view is tested against evidence and then reformulated," not "two competing views are compared" - the first view is not defended by anyone in the passage.