The next level of text that needs to be considered in our writing is the informational or organisational level. We have a range of preferences for the way that we organise our texts in English

a) Given vs new information

When representing the knowledge of academic meaning systems we have a tendency to prefer particular ways of organising this knowledge. The way we construct our knowledge is culturally specific. "Academic meaning systems, in particular, have been shaped by the special culture of literacy over several millennia. They are the world's most influential meaning systems. In English speaking cultures, their history has much to do with the development in Britain of a rather exclusive culture of literacy which later spread to newly British-founded or -colonized parts of the world" (Corson 1997:672).

At the level of individual sentences we frequently arrange information in such a way that given or already known information precedes new information and what is new in the previous sentence is given or old information in the next sentence and itself precedes further new information.

Old/given information

• world knowledge (what we all know by living in the world)
• discipline knowledge (what we know from our field of study)
• discourse knowledge (what we learn in the course of reading a text)

There is no requirement that the land be occupied by one native group only. A number of groups could each have title, comprising the right to shared use of land in accordance with traditional usage

When lawyers interpret legislation they do so against a background of a series of presumptions. In this context a presumption may be regarded as a prima facie assumption as to legislative intent.

When the Family Court of Australia was established, for instance, it was envisaged that the jurisdiction of the Local Courts would be phased out. However, their jurisdiction has been and continues to be, increased in the area of family law

It is reported of one English judge of the 19^th century that he prided himself on delivering occasionally what he termed as a "strong judgement". He described a strong judgement as one which led to a result at which no lay person could have arrived merely by the use of ordinary reasoning.

In 1973, a taxi on a high speed motorway in New South Wales collided with some cows which had strayed from a farmer's open paddock beside the road. Two members of the New South Wales Court of Appeal decided that the longstanding rule which conferred immunity on the landowner had no application to a modern motorway, and so the farmer was liable for the damage to the taxi.

We might change these patterns when we want to change the focus of our writing or introduce a new topic.

1. world knowledge (what we all know by living in the world) the weather, the law, the world, the sun, the moon
2. Previously mentioned: discipline knowledge (what we know from our learning area) Dolly, the cloned sheep?, the Australian stock exchange
3. Previously mentioned: discourse knowledge (what we learn in the course of reading a text) a picture ..... the picture
4. Instructional: Remove lid before opening, place in saucepan
5. Inferential: (a house) ... the roof, the garden, eg:
   

We also have a tendency to introduce a concept in general terms first and then provide more specific detail about it.

Adams and Brownsworld provide an example of the way in which different values influence judicial decision making in the realm of contract law. (general statement) They note that judges may adopt a range of positions between two contractual ideologies, market-individualism and consumer-welfarism. (more detail - varying positions) The market-individualisam approach envisages the function of contract as being to facilitate and establish the ground rules for exchange. This approach requires that contract rules be clear, to ensure that parties are held to their bargains, to accommodate commercial practice, to promote freedom or contract and to impose minimal restraints on contractors. (more detail on one of these positions)

The importance of interpretations being persuasive makes the question of who constitutes the legal interpretative community crucial. (general statement) Possible contenders for inclusion are parliament, judges, barristers and solicitors, legal academics, law students, litigants and potential litigants. (detailed information)

The readability of text is enhanced when like information is grouped into clusters rather than scattered here and there.

Many submissions described the culture of the courtroom as masculine and formal and alienating for many women. Most judges, prosecutors, lawyers and court officials are men. Room lay out is formal and intimidating. Many women find waiting areas and conference areas in courts inadequate. While this affects all clients of the courts, it has particular implications for women who have suffered violence. They may be forced to wait in the presence of the perpetrator or to discuss sensitive matters in crowded public areas. Courts also have many legal formalities and rituals, such as the wearing of wigs and gowns. While these are matters that affect all people coming to court, it was suggested that they have traditional and patriarchal connotations which subtly deter many women.

c) Chronological order

• requires time clauses/phrases/tense/adverbs of time
• narratives are a non-academic of chronological ordering

• in millennia, centuries, decades, years in disciplines like history and geography,
• in months, weeks, days, hours in disciplines like education and
• in minutes, seconds, centiseconds and even nanoseconds in the sciences.

d) Logical ordering (ethnocentric label)

Such a mono-cultural construction of knowledge can exclude students from other cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

• taxonomies and classifications of the world do not necessarily apply across cultures
• main topic/headings, sub-topics/sub-headings are explicit examples of 'logical' ordering in text

In the western academic tradition we divide our knowledge into classifications. Part of developing our understanding of a particular field of study is learning the relevant classifications of knowledge in that area. Every discipline has its classifications. Students need to able to recognise these taxonomies to understand the concepts of their discipline, but the authors of academic texts often create new taxonomies to describe their research findings or to develop explanatory models or theories. Sometimes these taxonomies are deeply embedded in the text, especially if the writer assumes that the reader does not require reminding of them. The content knowledge of different disciplines involves a knowledge of underlying taxonomies unique to the discipline (Halliday 1989). Scientific taxonomies are familiar to those working in the specific areas and not necessarily familiar to those outside, eg:

• Botany has taxonomies of plant species and
• Zoology has taxonomies of animal species.

• respiratory diseases,
• cardio-vascular diseases, and
• infectious diseases.

• Indo-European
• Austronesian, and
• Pama-Nyungan

• Slavic languages,
• Romance languages,
• Latin languages, and
• Melanesian languages, etc.

Each taxonomy contains linear paths which must be followed in writing when describing the relationships between higher and lower elements in the taxonomy.

When we write however, we need to reflect the same relationships between elements of the classification as in such diagrams. When these relationships are not clearly stated in a text, the reader is unable to construct a framework for explaining the knowledge provided. The most straight forward way of doing this is with numbered text:

All these frameworks accommodate a hierarchical classification of knowledge which is typical of western academic thought.

At other times we express knowledge in terms of linear-temporal sequences expressed with adverbs and adverbial phrases of time:

Alternatively, the text itself needs to reflect the higher and lower order categories than make up the classification. This requires particular strategies for separating and relating the categories of a classification within a text:

The High Court of Australia (1) is at the top of both (2) the federal and (3) state court systems but people do not have an automatic right to use these courts. Appeals on federal matters from state courts (3) usually go to the Full Court of the Federal Court (2) and then to the High Court (1)