Do you outline? Some writers I know can’t live without outlining, while some restrict its use to larger, more complex writing tasks. I belong with the former group, as outlining has proven to be an indispensable task (as much as my English writing software, actually) when it comes to helping me work in a fast and organized manner.
The type of outline you produce will generally depend on many factors, including:
- how long the target piece is
- how much flexibility you require during the writing process
- how much time you can allot to doing the outline
There are only two general types of outlines – a rough one or a formal one. I personally prefer the “rough” variety, as it requires less effort to put together. For longer, more complicated pieces, though, it’s tough to get by without going the more formal route.
Rough Outlines
In this type of outline, the goal is to list down major supporting ideas in the order that you want to develop them. The aim is to have functional guideposts that you can follow while putting the actual piece together, rather than trying to draw them from memory. Most of the time, they take a format of a bulleted or numbered list.
Formal Outlines
The more formal kind of outlines, on the other hand, tend to offer more detail. Rather than a guide as to where ideas should be presented, they include actual supporting arguments, allowing them to replace most of your research notes during the writing process. They tend to look more complex in presentation, often using nested lists to facilitate the amount of details included.
Tags: Outlines, outlining, two kinds of outlines
