You’re pursuing a particular purpose — for example, to inform your readers about an emerging style of music, to evaluate a travel destination, or to argue against new local regulations. So far, you’ve met expectations and even built them up, so that your readers are coming along with you gladly. Don’t frustrate them now. Keep moving forward.

If you’re relating something chronological, it’s logical to use a chronological organizing pattern. If you’ve provided a map early in your document, you can simply refer back to it. When referring to a map, you don’t have to say anything as obvious as “The third point to be made is  .  .  .” Instead, you might simply connect one point to the next with transition words or a connecting sentence. If you’ve kept readers clued in about what you’re doing, you won’t need to keep telling them. They’re already expecting you to do as you said.

You can also use your readers’ expectations to show them how you’re moving forward. If, for instance, you’re developing a pro/con argument, readers are expecting you to make a claim, present evidence to support the claim, present evidence against it, and so on. Simply by following this standard sequence, you’ll maintain your readers’ momentum.

Be wary of cramming material in somewhere just because you can’t think of a better place to put it. This can stop your readers from moving forward. If you think you might be doing this, ask whether your readers will need to know the information to understand your main point. If the answer is “no,” consider leaving it out. If it’s necessary but seems to be slowing down your readers, study your outline to determine whether it might fit better somewhere else.