FUNCTION INFORMATION STRUCTURES
TO DO                                  Steps or Space
TO INFORM                        Space, Time, Hierarchy, Topics
TO TEACH/LEARN             Steps, Hierarchy, Matrix, Decisions
TO CHOOSE/JUDGE          Hierarchy, Matrix, Decisions
TO ARCHIVE                      Time, Topics, Hierarchy
TO SELL                              Time, Topics, Decisions

Steps -
Organize information according to what should be done first, second, and so on.
Example: Giving instruction or describing experiments

Space -
Ordering principle for tours and other orderly descriptions
The spatially organized version provides economy of expression and helps listeners or readers picture the things clearly.
Example:  Layout of an appartment or house

Time - 
Basic organizer of narrative discourse.
The basic pattern in temporal discourse is:
T(1)—- T(2)—- T(3)—- T(4) —- T(n).
Example: Dates in History

Hierarchy -
referred to as a tree because it organizes information from the top (most general and/or most central) to the bottom (most specific and/or most easily deleted).
Example : Newspaper or outline

Topics -
Group like information together but do not give guidelines for a sequence to use in presenting the grouped information.
Example: Interview

Matrix -
Helps us use complex relationships among the facts we must manage.
Example: The lawyers matrix

Alternative/Decisions -
Divide the information according to the answers to logical decisions about it.
Guides a person to one set of activities or another.
Example: Tax form