The Hourglass

The image of an hourglass is useful to communicate

• movement from the beginning to the end of a text
• the shift in level of generality through the text, from the general to the specific and back to the general

Here is the hourglass model applied to an investigative report.

The hourglass model is a useful and reader-friendly way of structuring of a report.

Go to Argumentation to see how the model combines with the deductive and inductive triangles.

The hourglass model shows how:

• the writer takes the reader into the study, from the broader issues to the specific hypotheses under examination
• the writer takes the reader back out, through
  • the immediate comment on findings of the study
  • the relationships to previous work
  • to the applications and wider implications of that work:
    • recommendation of a decision in a business context
    • recommendation for future research in an academic context

In both cases, there should be reference to:

• future action,
• what remains to be done or to be studied

The Hourglass and the organization of essays and investigative reports

The essay: exam and term essays

In an exam:

• you have only a few minutes to prepare and to make an outline for your essay
• you only have time to work on a single draft

You can develop the skills to handle exam essays when you prepare term essays.

A term essay - whether for philosophy, religion, sociology or political science, follows the basic structure: Introduction, Body and Conclusion. This does not mean that you should not use these as headings in your essay.

TASK: Here is an example of how to organise your argumentative structure, set within the hourglass framework.

Can you see how the functions shift in level of generality?

[Introduction]: Position statement, establishing the problem

• or controversial issue under study
  or your own view/argument
• A summary of the issues
• Definition of key terminology
• Quotation and paraphrase of sources to build the controversial nature of the subject (optional)

[Body]: Including: Background to establish a past/present relationship (or in Introduction)

• A thesis to establish your position
• Arguments in defense of one side
• Analysis of the issues, pro and con
• Evidence from your reading, including quotations as appropriate

[Conclusion]:

• Re-establishment of thesis, clarifying a position which has evolved logically from your analysis and discussion of the issues

The investigative report and the mirror image

Investigative reports and essays both begin with a review of largely secondary sources.

But an investigative report goes on to feature original, empirical (or inductive) research.

An investigative or research report can be based on:

• the standard procedural format, or
• a more customized mix of procedures and topic

Here is the hourglass model applied to an investigative report.

TASK
Notice how the sequence of functions in the Discussion section mirror those in the Introduction, appearing in reverse order (1-2-3-4 mirrored in 4-3-2-1).

Q. What do you think is the explanation for this mirror sequence in the Discussion?

The Hourglass and the Text as narrative

The hourglass model can be used for the structure of any text.

The role of narrative in texts - telling a story

Scholars such as Thompson (1990) and Bruner (1990) believe that the way we interest each other in our texts is dominated by the timeless traditions of story-telling.

Texts have a beginning, a middle & an end

Texts take us on a journey and arrive at a destination. A more functional breakdown might suggest that they:

• pose a problem
• proceed towards a solution and conclusions
• raise questions
• arrive at answers (or more questions)

Sample Narrative Analysis, using the Hourglass Model

Radway (in Thompson, 1990: 390) analyses the stages in the plot of a romantic novel. She asked readers of novels about their expectations of a typical plot in a novel and found certain patterns in their responses.

Her respondents felt it was important to have each clue or element in the plot resolved by the writer before the end of the book.

Here are the stages she identifies, based on her reader feedback:

• Initial situation: setting up the tension
• Intervention: an intervention which provokes and explains a transformation
• Resolution: final transformation of the initial situation, resolving the tension

Radway’s model shows how each complication is resolved, each knot untied, each thread brought together before the conclusion.

Look again at the Hourglass diagrams of the term essay and investigative report to see the parallels in structure and development between the different text types.

Radway’s model, with the hourglass superimposed