Why use alphabetical order

Alliteration Hyperbole Metaphor Irony. View all reading worksheets. View all writing worksheets. Dramatic Irony Cacophony Anaphora Setting. View all literature worksheets. View all literary device worksheets. View all Women's History worksheets. View all American Revolution worksheets. View all US History worksheets. View all Ancient History worksheets. View all World History worksheets. View all Famous War worksheets. View all famous figure worksheets.

View all President worksheets. View all author worksheets. View all musician worksheets. View all inventor worksheets. View all athlete worksheets. View all civil rights worksheets. View all natural wonders worksheets. View all landmark worksheets. View all US state worksheets. Anything ever written in a book, everything ever known, could be compressed, he believed, into a card system: one nugget of knowledge per index card, all filed in alphabetical order, whence any information about anything, anyone, anywhere, at any time, could be retrieved.

Otlet began modestly in the s, creating a bibliography of sociological literature. By he had full members, and by the outbreak of the First World War another 1, people annually were approaching the Institute for information. The Second World War saw utopian dreams wane, to be replaced by pragmatism. In Germany in , the government ordered the seizure of any books from across occupied Europe that might contribute to the stock of the projected library of the Nazi Hohe Schule, or University of the Third Reich.

For in the preceding half century, alphabetical systems had spread everywhere. Even when the great medieval encyclopedists were aware of alphabetical order, they had frequently disdained it.

The difference was that those pages were not permanently bound into their covers as regular books were, but manufactured as a loose-leaf system and held in place with pins in the binding that opened with a special key. It might well be that alphabetical order, even in a perpetually updated reference work, had by become invisible because it was so routine and so ordinary, just as it had in that other beacon of alphabetical order, the telephone directory, or phone book. Street guides , and later post office directories, precursors to phone books, had appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries in many cities.

These publications listed the names, occupations, and addresses of residents and businesses, arranged in alphabetical order or, occasionally, in street order that was itself organized alphabetically within districts.

Even so, most of these early directories had included prominent analphabetical components: for instance, they were prefaced by registers of government officials, magistrates, aldermen, or other civic leaders or institutions, almost all of whom were listed hierarchically or chronologically. The first telephones were sold in pairs, the owner of one of a pair able to communicate only with the owner of the other.

Customers therefore had no need for directories. A good enough purpose that we spend our time on it, instead of something else? That year I did some research and discovered that yes, it is important that students learn and practice how to alphabetize.

And not just for the sake of putting words in ABC order. Probably not. But, it definitely has its purpose. Now really, I already knew what I found out about alphabetizing. There are so many ways that we use alphabetical order throughout our day. Start out simple! When you are introducing alphabetizing to your students you want to start out simple. Teach your students how to use the first letter of a word to alphabetize.