1.9 A Writing Scaffold

Topics before sentences.

How do I use index cards to scaffold my writing? Let me briefly sketch a method which I present in more detail in Chapter 2.

When I begin a writing project, I generate topics I need to communicate. I write each topic on its own index card; I move my topics from my memory to a display in my world. Then I manipulate my topics – I rearrange my cards – to seek a narrative structure. With the narrative structure taking shape, I insert cards representing sources to cite, quotes to use, figures to display, or tables to include into appropriate positions.

I enter into a feedback loop between my thinking and my index card positions. As I read and rearrange my topic cards, I ask what points I need to convey my topic to my reader. I use index cards to represent new subtopics which I add to my display. I continue to rearrange my index cards, seeking a satisfactory narrative structure, adding or removing index cards as required.

As my narrative takes shape, I begin to use index cards to represent more specific topics – each card represents a single topic to communicate with a single paragraph. I still rearrange my cards seeking the best order for my paragraph topics.

When I feel happy with my paragraph topic order, I finally start writing complete sentences. I take an index card – upon which I have written a paragraph topic – and turn the card over. At the top of the index card’s reverse side, I write the paragraph’s first sentence: the topic sentence states the paragraph’s topic. I write a topic sentence for each paragraph topic card in my display.

After writing topic sentences, I next write each paragraph’s concluding sentence. I write the sentence at the bottom of each index card’s reverse side. I relate each concluding sentence to the topic sentence on the same card, as well as to the topic sentence on the next card.

Once I have written a topic sentence and a concluding sentence on each paragraph’s index card, I move the sentences from my index cards to a word processing document. I create a document by typing each pair of sentences into its own paragraph in our word processing file. I may also add place holders for sources, quotes, figures, or titles for sections and subsections. Afterwards, I have a remarkably complete, well-structured outline in electronic form.

The method described above begins from fragmentary inspiration, which views writing as a back-and-forth conversation between what writer’s think and what writer’s write. Such feedback requires you to move some writing processes from your mind to your world. The method then adopts an even more embodied perspective. First, makes the outline process embodied by treating outlining as jotting short ideas onto index cards and conversing with the ideas by physically rearranging cards in a display. Second, the method reduces cognitive load by delaying composing – and evaluating – complete sentences until after you have discovered a strong narrative.

When I move my index cards from the physical world into a word processing document, I feel I haven’t yet started ‘writing’. My outline’s organization and length, produced by my index card manipulations, usually amazes me. Furthermore, I feel less intimidated by my remaining writing because I need only add a few sentences to each paragraph, sentences dictated by my existing topic/concluding sentences pairs. My index card scaffold performed most of the hard work for me in advance.

Bruce Springsteen sings in Jungleland “And the poets down here don’t write nothing at all/They just stand back and let it all be” (Springsteen, 1975). Springsteen’s poets don’t represent their world; they let their world represent itself. The scaffold which I detail in the next chapter makes me feel as if I have stood back and let my world write my manuscript for me. Chapter 2 describes how the scaffold makes academic writing easier. Later chapters introduce additional scaffolds to help academic writing.