The Simple Trick Called Outlining

 Organization is key in essay writing. When writer’s thoughts are logical and his arguments are focused, readers can easily understand the topic. If you are someone who finds difficulty in organizing your essay writings because you have too many ideas to share, have gathered too much information, and do not possess the skill in effectively arranging thoughts, the best thing to do is learn the simple trick called outlining.

The problem of most people is that whenever they are composing term papers for example, they write as ideas come to their heads, making their papers sound as if they are conversing. Nonetheless, thinking done as one speaks is dissimilar from thinking needed in writing. The former is free-flowing and spontaneous while the latter requires organization and systematic arrangement. Here is where an outline becomes handy. It enables you to manage your thoughts in an orderly manner, which makes your readers understand better the points you are trying to make. Moreover, an outline gives you a guide whether you are still within the scope of your topic or you are already navigating away from the subject matter. An outline further strengthens your thesis statement as you will be certain that you are addressing the topic specifically and logically. 

Here are tips on how to create an outline:

1. Start by reading and understanding the question or topic you need to write a paper about. If you have doubts about it, ask your professor to clarify it. You should not begin writing unless you are certain that you know what your professor is asking from you.
2. Research by reading written materials related to the topic. These could include notes from class, readings from online libraries, or materials taken from credible Web sites. These will allow you to widen your knowledge on the topic so that you can create a good breakdown of ideas you want to write.
3. Know which direction you wish to take and formulate your thesis statement. Think deep and hard your answer to the question prompt or your stand on the topic.
4. Decide on the elements, parts, or subtopics you want to include in your paper. Enumerate these by numbering them. Depending on the kind of paper you are composing, you could either put as part #1 the thesis statement or the introduction.
5. Determine the subtopics you wish to discuss and put them under #2, #3, and so on. These will be the body paragraphs. In writing these, always refer back to your thesis so that your subtopics will relate to the main idea.
6. Finally, put in the last part the conclusion.

When you follow these, you are likely to come up with an organized essay. If you do this in all your writing assignments, you will find it easier to compose any kind of paper. When you do outlining frequently, you may not need to write your outline in paper because you can do mental outlines that saves you a lot of time.

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