The orientational ordering of nine classes of liquid crystals, namely 4-n-alkyl-413 cyanobiphenyls (nCB), 4-n-alkoxy-4-cyanobiphenyls (nOCB), 4-n-alkoxybenzilidene-4-nalkylanilines (nO.m), 4-cyanophenyl 4-alkylbenzoates (nCPB), 4-n-alkylphenyl 4-n-alkoxycinnamates (Cin-n-m), esters of alpha-chloro carboxylic acids and 4-n-alkyl-4-hydroxybiphenyls (An, Bn and Cn), 4,4-di-n-alkyldiphenyldiacetylenes (PTTP), 4-n-alkylphenyl 4-n-alkoxybenzoates (nOm), and 4-n-alkoxyphenyl 4-n-alkoxybenzoates (nOm), have been investigated by the use of 13C NMR. The order parameters of the phenyl rings were determined by using a 2D 13C NMR technique known as separated local field (SLF) spectroscopy in combination with variable angle spinning (VAS). The order parameters obtained were then correlated with their corresponding anisotropic 1D C chemical shifts in their nematic and smectic phases to give a linear relationship in each case. The parameters obtained in the linear correlations provide a convenient way to obtain the order parameters from direct measurement of the 13C chemical shifts for other homologous members of these classes of liquid crystal.