Inductive structure: characteristics of this way of organizing a text.

A summary of the characteristics of the inductive structure, widely used when structuring texts.

When it comes to expressing information, there are a number of structures to choose from, depending on the author's objective.

One of these possibilities is known as inductive structure.. We will analyze in detail what this modality consists of, what its characteristics are, how it differs from other possible models, and we will even see some examples with which we can better understand this information.

What is an inductive structure?

When we talk about inductive structure, we are referring to the way of ordering a series of data, i.e. information, throughout a discourse, story or text. This form of structuring is based on induction, a concept that we must adequately define in this introduction in order to better understand the subject at hand.

Induction, or inductive reasoning, is a way of reasoning in which a series of premises are first analyzed to try to reach a conclusion that, although a series of premises are first analyzed in an attempt to reach a conclusion which, although it is based on the first premises, does not offer absolute certainty about its veracity. about its veracity. That is to say, we know that such a conclusion is true for all the premises analyzed, but we cannot be sure that it is applicable to those we do not know.

Another way of describing induction, which is the basis of the inductive structure, as we have already seen, would be that reasoning which starts from the most particular, that is, from concrete and known cases, to try to arrive at general considerations for all cases. As we have said, we can only be convinced that these considerations apply to known cases, but not to the rest.

In order to illustrate this issue with an example, we can think of the discovery of a new species of animal, let's say, a rodent. Researchers studying this new species could observe a series of premises, related to the hair color of each specimen found, which could be brown in all cases. Through induction, they could conclude that all members of that species would be brown.

This reasoning is inductive, since the conclusion reached is valid with absolute certainty. the conclusion reached is valid with absolute certainty only for the known cases (the premises), i.e., for the specimens of that species.that is, for the specimens that have been studied. But the researchers could not guarantee that a new specimen of such a rodent would suddenly be found whose fur was a different color, e.g., white. This will help us to understand the implications of the inductive structure later on.

In that case, the conclusion would no longer be valid and we would have to reach a different one, for example, that members of that species have either brown or white fur. As before, this conclusion would still be valid for the known premises, so that, if a new one were introduced, such as that specimens with black fur have been observed, once again, a new conclusion would have to be established, updated according to the known data: the fur of this animal can be brown, white or black.

Characteristics of the inductive structure

In the introduction we have been able to observe an example of induction that will help us to understand the characteristics of the inductive structure. In this case, it is a matter of applying this form of reasoning to the structure of a text..

In the following, we will compile some of the fundamental features of this style of writing, the main characteristics by which we can identify a text with an inductive structure.

1. Premises first, conclusion last

As we observed in the previous example, there is a basic feature in induction that carries over to the inductive structure. It is none other than the order of the elements that will be needed in the text in order to convey the message that the writer intends to convey to the readers.

In this sense, it will be essential for the author to begin by establishing the whole series of premises on which the reasoning will be based.. In this part of the text, the writer must make clear all the data that will be needed, since an inductive structure requires that all this information be located at the beginning of the text.

After listing all those specific cases, examples or data that are known about the subject that the author is analyzing, you can move on to the next point, which is the collection of information that has been appearing in the specific examples, in order to synthesize the data and reach the final step.

The last step of the inductive structure is none other than that of the conclusion. At this point, the author of the text will expose what is concluded from all the cases studied in the previous points. It is essential to remember that this conclusion, being based on inductive reasoning, is true for the examples studied, but we cannot guarantee that it is true for those we do not know.

Therefore, this conclusion will have the category of certainty as regards the cases from which it has been established, but the author cannot venture to extend it to other examples or situations, at least not with the absolute certainty that it would continue to be fulfilled as observed.

Should new data be found, the conclusion reached in such a paper should be updated by means of a new text taking into account the finding made, in order to maintain its validity.in order to maintain its validity.

2. Dialogue between the writer and the reader

In contrast to other texts, the inductive structure gives rise to an active participation of the reader, establishing a kind of dialogue with the data that the author gradually offers throughout the text. throughout the text. Logically, it is also possible to read in a passive way, but in order to properly understand the reasoning that is being carried out, it is convenient to pay attention, with an awake mind.

Only in this way will we, as readers, be able to follow the path that the writer is marking out for us, thus understanding the information we are starting with and the reflections we must make to reach the final conclusions that are established, and which are applicable to the information that has been offered to us at the beginning.

If this process is followed, the reader who has before him a text with an inductive structure will be able to reach the conclusion at the end of the text, will be able to reach the conclusion at the same time as the writer, because he will have accompanied him indirectly throughout the reasoning.. Likewise, he will be able to realize if the author has made any mistake and has overlooked any detail that invalidates the conclusion he has reached.

In this way, reading becomes a participatory act, in which we can become researchers for a moment and put together the pieces of the puzzle to make a judgment that is appropriate to the information initially gathered.

3. Funnel structure, from disorder to order

Another characteristic of texts with an inductive structure is precisely the funnel system in which they present the information. Under this prism, we could observe that at the beginning of the text would be the wide part of the funnel, the most disorganized part, consisting of all the information, apparently unconnected..

It is at the beginning of the text where all the premises are placed, as we have already seen. Each one of them will provide a series of data, but at this point it may not be too obvious what is the relationship that could be established between all of them. For this, it is necessary to continue advancing through the inductive reasoning, or what is the same, the funnel, from its widest part to the thinnest part.

Halfway along the way, we would find the second point, in which all the data have been arranged in order to establish the relationships between them.The second point is where all the data have been sorted in order to be able to establish the relationships between them. At this point we would be in the middle of the funnel, and the initial disorder would begin to turn into order, but it would still be too early to reach the final result.

To do so, we must continue advancing along the path of the inductive structure, and therefore reach the narrowest part of the funnel, which represents the end of the path. It is there that at last a synthesis of all the disordered information has been made, the corresponding relations have been established and therefore, the author or researcher is in a position to establish a conclusion or conclusions on the subject studied.

We observe, therefore, how the funnel serves as a simile to understand how it is possible to establish a reasoning from a series of particular cases and to be able to extract the generalities that are hidden behind all the data obtained, obtaining the conclusion that applies to all of them, although we do not know if it does so on the examples that we do not know.