I have to submit my home exam digitally in Two days. I am fucked. Truly.

[QuintessentiallyQS]

I cant structure it.

It is 2000 words only, and it is like "write the history in Britain in 2000 words", it is so vast, and I have to narrow it down so much.

It is organisational theory. The shift from Bureacracy as per Weber and Mintzberg, to flat structure. What caused it, and what effects did it have.

My mind is everywhere, and I cant piece it together. I have managed to get it down to 3200 words, but I need to structure it properly.
It is all just a bit here and there.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

You can do it.

Can you sit down with someone who knows nothing about it, start explaining to them verbally, and stop to note down every time they say 'wait ... what?' Sometimes that helps. You're probably far too close to it to see the structure, so you need some outside perspective.

If you've no-one in RL to sit with, try to imagine you're on a radio programme explaining it briefly.

[MrsMaturin]

So it's written it just needs rewriting to be succinct and structured? Ok well that's better than having nothing on paper at all.

You certainly CAN do this.

How is it broken down at the moment? In sections or as an essay?
You need to be brutal in your editing and cut out all extra words, rephrase long sentences etc.

Do you have to supply the word count or can we get by with say 2200 words and slightly altered line spacing to get more on each page (ahem)

[MrsMaturin]

Also I have bugger all idea what you're on about subject wise but if I was writing the History of Britain in 2000 words I suspect it would have a linear structure with minor chunky paragraph about say the Civil War followed by smaller paragraph dealing with Monmouth rebellion, glorious revolution, increasing consititional monarchy, George 1, George 2 and then chunker paragraph dealing with George 3 followed by little paragraph on regency, railways, napoleon and nelson followed by whacker on Victoria. So it's all in there but some bits are going to have to be very brief and you just show you know it's there whilst you get all analysis wise on a few aspects.

[QuintessentiallyQS]

I tried to do it with my sister over the phone, but she had wine, so not helpful.

Exam guidelines says Time new roman 12pt, line distance 1.5.

[creamteas]

If you were my student this is what I would ask you:

What is the main conclusion you want the reader to get? (if a twitter user, think 140 for this!)

What are the 3 main areas that lead you to this conclusion?

What are the components of these main areas?

How do these 3 main ideas link together?

If you can work this out, you have a workable structure

Intro
Main area 1 (discussing components)
link to
Main area 2 (discussing components)
link to
Main area 3 (discussing components)
Conclusion

Yes, it is basic, but it works!

[QuintessentiallyQS]

Currently it is just paragraphs relating to this and that of all the different aspects.

But, it cant be a linear structure.

It is like the subject matter is 2 fold. One the one hand cause and effect, and on the other pros and cons.

But the cause and effect part can be divided in two, each with sub sections.

SO where do I discuss the pros and cons? They are not polar opposites either.

[QuintessentiallyQS]

It is like this:

What lead to organizations moving away from a bureacratic structure to a flatter structure? And how is this represented in organisations today.

On the one hand, flexibility in terms of loser structures, outsourcing and off shoring, temporary contracts, part time workers and freelancers.
Then a vertical slimming down on management levels from hierarchy to flatter structure, and horizontal slimming down of product portfolio and a focus on core competence.

I need to discuss how all this came about, mentioning women in the workplace, power, leadership, movement from manual labour to a highly educated workforce

Then: Pros and cons.

All in 2000 words

[Llareggub]

Ooh interesting!

[MsPickle]

Word auto summarise might help. It highlights sections and has really helped me see text I'm too close to more clearly. What to chop and what to keep.

[MsPickle]

office.microsoft.com/en-gb/word-help/automatically-summarize-a-document-HA010255206.aspx

[QuintessentiallyQS]

Ah thanks. I am not writing my exam in English though.

[nameequality]

Have you ever tried free mind it's a free mind mapping software. You can put ideas/words into it and the drag and drop them to another branch off the map.

It's great for organising ideas/making connections.

[SwedishEdith]

Could you do bureaucratic - reasons for moving away from that (socio economic factors etc)
Discuss pros and cons of that system
Then what led to flatter system - socio economic changes etc
Then pros and cons of that
Conclusion

So just rearranging what you've put already? Would that work?

[MsPickle]

If you're using a version of word in the language you're using it should still work?

[QuintessentiallyQS]

I need to look into that MrsPickle..

[BobbyGentry]

The last episode of horrible histories sums it up nicely :)

[ShoeWhore]

OP how about going through and writing a phrase to represent each paragraph/section you have already written? This will maybe help you step back from it a little and give you an overview of what's there. Decide whether it's all presented in the right order or needs rearranging. I would then think about giving each heading/phrase an allocation of the total word count according to how important you think it is.

If you used subheadings in Word you could expand and collapse them - do you know how to do this?

[ShoeWhore]

Doesn't look like Word 2010 has the AutoSummary feature - 2007 does.