Composing the Paper
Outlining
The Next Step
So your desk is overflowing with sheets of diagrams, definitions, lists, and cassette tapes (sort of). It's time to assemble your thoughts, decide what is most important, and identify information gaps.
One way to do this is by use of an outline: a general plan of the material to be presented in your paper. Example of a simple outline:
- Intro
- State Socrates' argument
- Offer my objection
- Consider a possible reply by Socrates.
- Offer a counter-reply.
You can also use a sketch to do this, by writing out larger chunks (clusters of sentences or paragraphs) to expand upon your smaller clusters and phrases. This is the foundation for your draft, blocks you can later thread together with further ideas and transitions.
Steps in Writing an Outline
- Do your research: gather the brainstormed ideas and come up with a tentative thesis statement.
- Determine the paper's audience and purpose.
- Think of your audience as someone intelligent but not as knowledgeable in this field
- In a philosophy paper, your objective most often is to inform and persuade
- Select an outline type. Some possibilities are:
- Topic outline (the headings are given in single words or brief phrases)
- Sentence outline (the headings are expressed in complete sentences)
- Select a structure for your outline. Some possibilities are:
- Chronological arrangement
- Spatial arrangement (ranking of arguments)
- General to specific
- Write the main categories (and subcategories, etc)
- Be sure to identify:
- What issues and questions do you plan to cover in each part of your paper?
- What works and parts of works do you intend to discuss in each part of the paper (not set in stone, but at least initial plan)
- What some of the arguments may be, or what will need to be discussed/argued
- A tentative bibliography of primary (original texts) and secondary sources (materials providing interpretations, analyses, explanations, critiques, restatements or descriptions of primary sources)
Helpful and Contributing Links
- http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/brainstorming.html
- http://trc.ucdavis.edu/bajaffee/NEM150/Course%20Content/brainstorming.htm
- http://www.albany.edu/eas/170/outline.htm
- http://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Outline
Remember, the planning process is the most versatile; you can always change your ideas, arguments, or even thesis along the way, as long as you can SUPPORT them with relevant arguments and sources. Your paper depends on it! A good outline enhances the organization and coherence of your paper. The outline can help you organize your material, stay focused, be clear, discover connections between pieces of information that you weren't aware of, make you aware of material that is not really relevant to the purposes of your paper, help you fill in gaps, etc. A bit of planning now will save you a lot of stress and cramming later!