Whether you are working on an academic paper, a blog post or a personal story for the college magazine; writing an outline is the first thing that you will have to do. Creating an outline is often overlooked as a necessary part of the writing process because outlines do not form a part of the final draft.
However, it is important to keep in mind that like everything, outlines do serve a purpose; arguably, theirs is the most critical one.
What Is the Purpose of Creating an Outline?
An outline, often known as the pre-drafting process, is the methodology of visualizing the prompt that you are working on. Creating an outline could involve (but not be limited to) the following factors:
- Brainstorming for ideas
- Structuring the arguments
- Arranging and Rearranging the topics and subtopics
- Setting a tone for the writing
- Compiling a list of Research Pages
- Everything that you do before you open a fresh page and start writing
After creating an outline, the writing process gets some direction, precision, and clarity. Moreover, it helps the writer visualize the final form of the document, which builds focus, clears irrelevant clutter and consequentially helps save them a lot of time. No matter, whether you will write it or assign this job to some custom writing services like Copycrafter.net, consistently prepared outline is a key to successful final paper draft.
1 Creating an Outline is The Essential First Step to Writing
Let’s picture the final draft of your project as a huge, multicolored wall that you have to create. If writing is the process of stacking the bricks on top of each other, then creating an outline would be the equivalent of gathering the bricks and preparing the cement.
Imagine the haphazard mess it would be if you were to make an entire wall without assembling the basic elements at the very beginning. Or if you keep going back to collect each brick over and over; outlining for a write-up is essentially the same thing.
When you create an outline, you are essentially compiling all the things that you would eventually need in one place, and that sounds pretty important.
2 Creating an Outline Helps You Visualize
After you have a list of all your main headings and subheadings, in short, bullet-points; you are able to better visualize the final form that all these ideas will take. It becomes easier to navigate a journey when you have a specific direction in mind.
Not only does this help you remain on track, it also brings in a lot of clarity in the writing process. Additionally, it makes it easier to filter out all the ideas that you get down the road as relevant or irrelevant.
3 Creating an Outline Channels Focused Ideas
As the writer begins to get a clearer idea of the direction of the final write-up, any new ideas that come to their mind are more targeted and focused towards the final form. If the document is academic and the outline process involves listing down the writer’s main arguments, then all the counter-arguments become clearer as well.
This enables the writer to nip any potential errors in the bud then and there, rather than after the writing process is half-way done, or finished.
4 Creating an Outline Helps You Stay Motivated
One of the many reasons behind the notorious writer’s block is perhaps skipping the process of structuring your drafts. Continuous writing can be an eyesore, and outlining provides a productive alternative to the mentally taxing process of writing.
Additionally, it performs the role of a schedule, helping you create deadlines and manage time. Having an outline in mind helps you stay on track and motivated as you always have an image in mind of how much content there is to be added to the structure that you have already made.
5 Creating an Outline Allows Room For Flexibility
It is much simpler to adjust and reorganize something in an outline than it is to do it half-way through. You can restructure your arguments, counter-argue your own self, fill up any gaps you see, review and readjust the entire direction of the write-up; all without adjusting the writing at all.
This not only ensures flexibility but it also saves time and reduces the overall mistakes.
