Organization

Occasionally, organization of existing thoughts or perspectives helps to clarify the flow of discussion (e.g., identifying that there are really only two lines of thinking in the dialog despite numerous comments in seemingly different directions). Frequently it is possible to take two quite different pieces of information and show that theya re a part of one larger picture (see first example). Sometimes reassembling data in different ways reveals deeper meaning (see second example).

Examples

"When I reviewed Units 3-5 (Forests and Deforestation), 3-6 (Land Use Issues), and 3-7 (Desertification), I found that all relate to landscape management. In all cases, individuals (large numbers) and/or corporations are primarily responsible. Another common thread is that lack of effective or informed or enforced government policy usually allows this to happen. This supports the statement in 3-11 (Sustainable Development) that good government is a key to sustainability."

"The tables given in the unit summary broke down human population by country and showed fertility rates for each country. I was interested in the impact of religion on fertility rates, so I combined data from six predominantly Roman Catholic countries (identified from the website http..), and compared with data from six Muslim countries and six nations having no dominant religion, and I found that ..."