Thin supported films of cylinder-forming block copolymers, containing a single layer of microdomains (Figure top), ordinarily exhibit a highly defective texture with no long-range order (lower left). Shearing, these 30 nm thick films aligns the cylinders, eliminates all orientational defects, and greatly reduces the density of translational defects (lower right), enhancing the utility of these films as lithographic templates. See also front cover.