Learning how to write an outline is a lot like learning how to navigate from the cold northeast to sunny Florida. Map it out well, and you’ll never get lost. You could even work out a little site seeing and still make it to your destination without your nerves getting in a knot.
Some people are born with an amazing sense of direction. I don’t know about you, but I tend to take after my dad on this one. (see previous post). I know where I am, and I know where I’m going. It’s the stuff in between that gets me confused.
This is where a lot of writers go wrong too. They know how to address their argument and they know what their logical conclusion is to be, but when it comes to taking their readers from start to finish, forget about it.
But the truth is, if you know where to begin and where you want to go, you’ve won half the battle.
Write that down!
I’ll use this “How to Write an Outline” discussion as an example to show you what I mean . . .
First, I considered my goal. I want to show you how to write an outline. That’s obvious.
Now where’s my starting point?
If I knew you and had a feel for how much you already understood about outline writing, I could start from where your knowledge leaves off. But I don’t know you, so I have to assume that you may not know anything at all about how to make an outline, thus my logical starting point would be . . .
1. The purpose of writing an outline.
This way I’m sure you’ll understand the reasoning behind using an outline. Let’s call it the Fundamentals of Outline Usage for lack of a better term.
So there’s the starting point. Now where do I want to take you?
How about . . .
4. Advanced Outline Writing
Kind of a general phrase, but it tells me that I want you to know how you can use an outline for mapping out even the most technical presentation. If I present my argument well to this final point, you should know how to write an outline well enough that you won’t have to go anywhere else for further training.
A noble goal indeed!
