Building Blocks for Writing: the Outline as a Writing Tool

In the article "If You Can Think, You Can Write" I talked about learning to write well by being willing to write poorly, and practicing your writing with topics you know well. Before you start to write paragraphs and pages, you will have decided on your topic and who will read it, then listed your ideas and put similar ideas together. Is this level of organization really necessary? If you want to write about how to help a child with homework or (if you are a student) how to avoid homework, why not just start writing? You can - as long as you don't want anyone to enjoy reading your words.

You may be able to take your list of similar ideas and start forming paragraphs. If this is too daunting you can add flesh to the idea list and develop - dare I say it? - an outline. The word outline conjures memories of strict English teachers and word processing software that does not let you indent the way you want. Because of these negative connotations, you may want to think of a synonym, such as the framework of your ideas or the building blocks for your writing. What you are doing is planning what you will write.

The key to decide what to say first is to determine what your readers need to know before they can continue reading. Some factors to consider are:

-- Do you need to state the purpose of the piece at the beginning? This is common in memo and report writing. If you are writing a how-to article, the title may state the purpose.

-- Does the material need to be in chronological order? That might be important if you write a vendor to explain what went wrong in the ordering and shipping process.

-- Will your reader understand why something is important if they don't have background information? If they won't, put that first.

-- Should the most important piece of information go first, or should you lead up to that? This is a judgment call. If you are writing for a busy reader, it may make sense to put the most important information first, just as a good newspaper article would.

-- How will piece end? You will not know when you have finished writing if you don't know what constitutes 'being done.' The ending may be a two-sentence summary of the entire piece. In a business memo, it will be the persuasive paragraph that encourages a reader to change a behavior or act on your recommendation.

You're Ready to Start Writing

If you can answer the above questions and are comfortable with how you have organized your ideas you are ready to start putting your thoughts on paper.

The paragraph is the mechanism for grouping sentences together so the piece deals with similar topics in the same parts of the article. If you are writing a report, it may be divided into major sections, but within those sections the paragraphs should each contain a well-developed idea. Paragraphs may introduce a new point, or may continue building an existing idea.

It can be hard to transition from one idea to the next. If you are writing a newspaper article or report, you have the advantage of subtitles and they announce the new topic. If you have trouble with transitions, write about each topic separately and then read what you have written from the perspective of how the ideas flow together.

Don't worry yet about the exact wording for your ending. Make sure you have made all your points. If your piece is a persuasive one, your ending will suggest what you think the readers should do - vote for Abraham Lincoln, buy bell-bottomed jeans. If your piece is informational, you may end with the most or least important piece of information (depending on how you structured the article). You may choose to summarize the most important two pieces of information.

Stop writing when you are comfortable, and put away the article to read later. It would be helpful if you can wait until the next day, but if you can't, walk down the hall or get a drink of water - something to help you get some distance from what you just wrote.

When you reread this draft do not be too tough on yourself. This first draft goes for content over form, so look for whether you think your writing makes the points you want to make. For more on putting your article in good form, see my articl on "Clear Writing Makes REading Easier."