Chronological Description

Stages of Chronological Structure

Fig. 1 - The phases of the moon represent the stages of a chronological description.

Chronological descriptions can be organized by time—as you saw in the example about your hypothetical day—date, or as a series of steps in a process.

The chronological structure of an event by date is written much the same way as if it were written by time. This is a helpful way to describe historical events.

This example moves through the events of World War I in chronological order according to dates of significance. It would be much more difficult to understand this summary of the events if it was laid out other than chronologically.

You can also use a chronological structure to explain the process of something. Think about a manual or instruction booklet you’ve read; if it was a good manual, it explained how to build the dresser (or whatever it was) by using transition words like first and next as it went through the process steps.

Chronological Transition Words

Transition words are those you use to transition from one piece of a chronological structure to the next. These words signal a transition from one step to the next. Look for these transition words that signal a transition through time:

• After

• Next

• Currently

• Later

• Then

• Before

• Now

Look for these transition words that signal a movement through a sequence of some sort:

• First, second, third, etc.

• Next

• Then

• Finally

A transition isn’t always summed up in a single word, but these are common transition words you’re likely to see—or use—in a chronological description.

Chronological Description in Writing with Examples

The way you organize your writing is as important to the meaning as the content itself. If you don’t order your writing in a way that makes sense to the audience, then they’re likely to become confused and lose interest.

Chronological descriptions are often used in expository writing.

Chronological descriptions help the audience understand something by exposing a chain of events. Three of the most common types of expository writing that benefit from chronological descriptions are:

• Describing the history of a topic

• Narrating a story

• Explaining how to do something

You can use chronological description to explain information in all of these situations.

Chronological Description: History

Telling the history of something is perhaps the most natural place to use chronological description. It begins with the inception or beginning of something, then moves through its different phases, and ends with either the present time or a particular event that caused it to conclude.

This historical description of Oscar Wilde's life takes significant events one-by-one, going through time from beginning to end. Notice there is no emphasis on the order of importance—or what was the most significant thing that happened to him.

Chronological Description: Narrative

Narration is essentially story-telling, and how could anyone tell a story without the use of chronological description? It would be much, much more difficult.

Narration depends on chronological order because it often seeks to mirror real-life experiences—which, as previously discussed, follow a chronological pattern.

This example is a quote from Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (1951).

The chronology is subtly expressed in the first line of this quote. Because the story follows only a few days of the man’s life, Hemingway expresses the movement of time by describing where the sun is in the sky.

Chronology will not always be expressed in obvious terms such as first, next, and last. Notice Hemingway doesn’t say, “Next, the boy took the old army blanket off the bed, then spread it over the back of the chair.” Keep an eye out for subtle references to chronological descriptions, especially in creative narratives.

Fig. 2 - A natural process shows how chronological description moves from first to last.

Chronological Description: Process

Chronological descriptions are naturally used to describe processes because a process by nature has a clear beginning, middle, and end. It is important to walk through a process in chronological order to see your audience through to the finished product.

You might notice a chronological structure in essay prompts or assignments on an exam.

This is a clear breakdown of the expectation for the assignment. Because it was explained with chronological description, the student knows exactly how to proceed with the assignment and in which order.

Chronological Order in a Paragraph

It is possible to craft an entire essay around a chronological description or simply use it as a tool to address a larger topic. Whatever the aim, you can use chronological structures to your advantage, one paragraph at a time.

If you are writing a descriptive essay structured in chronological order, you should assemble your essay with each body paragraph taking one piece of the chronology at a time. This structures your essay in a way that clearly lays out the movement of time or steps.

Your paragraphs could take the subject by date or time or by the structure of the thing you’re examining (line-by-line of a poem, for example). Remember to use helpful transition words to signal your movement through time or the process.

A basic outline for body paragraphs using chronological description looks like this:

Body paragraph 1 (one step or piece of the event)

• Topic sentence

  • Detail

  • Example

  • Discussion of larger context

Body paragraph 2 (next step or piece of the event)

• Topic sentence

  • Detail

  • Example

  • Discussion of larger context

Body paragraph 3 (next step or piece of the event)

• Topic sentence

  • Detail

  • Example

  • Discussion of larger context

Don’t simply state the order of events in a descriptive essay that uses chronological order; you should try to illustrate connections between what is happening and whatever your main idea is for the essay. You can do this by discussing what is happening in the larger context with each new step in the chronology.