In an order of importance paragraph, the supporting details are listed in ascending or declining order of importance. In other words, the writer arranges the details from least to most significant or vice versa.

Topic sentence and conclusion are not included in the ordering. For emphasis, ascending order of importance is most successful when the strongest point is placed towards the conclusion of the paragraph. This strategy utilises a point-strengthening building effect. Descending order is most effective when the writer wishes to attract the reader’s attention by presenting the most important information first.