2.14 Step 9: Move Your Outline Into A Computer
An outline in a word processing document is another scaffold.
| Table 2-2I. The scaffolding steps covered so far in Chapter 2. | |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Generate broad topics: Write each topic on the blank side of an index card |
| Step 2 | Organize and evaluate topics: Manipulate index cards into a plausible order |
| Step 3 | Enhance existing topic cards: Convert broad topics into finer detailed subtopics and write each subtopic on its own index card |
| Step 4 | Convert subtopic cards into paragraph topic cards: Each index card represents a paragraph?s topic |
| Step 5 | Organize your paragraph topics |
| Step 6 | Write a topic sentence for each paragraph topic: Write it on the reverse side of a paragraph topic?s index card |
| Step 7 | Write a concluding sentence for each paragraph topic: Write it on the reverse side of a paragraph topic?s index card |
| Step 8 | Notate and deck your index cards |
| Step 9 | Move your scaffold ? your outline ? into a word processor |
After Step 8, you have created a rich structure in the form of Figure 2-5. You have created a set of paragraph topic cards and have created the topic sentence and concluding sentence for each paragraph. You now need to convert your index card structure into another form: an outline in a word processing document.
Step 9 (Table 2-2I) creates your outline. You open your word processor and type the information from your index cards. You take the first index card from your deck and look at the side which holds the topic sentence and the concluding sentence. You type the two sentences into the same paragraph in your word processing document. If you have additional notes between the sentences, then you type them into the middle of the paragraph in the same format they have on the card. For instance, if you have a couple of point form reminders, then you type them in as incomplete sentences between the paragraph’s topic sentence and concluding sentence.
You create an outline ‘paragraph’ for every index card in your deck. When you have finished typing, you possess a rich outline for your manuscript. Converting the outline into a draft requires you to add supporting sentences to each paragraph in your outline. But you add supporting sentences after you complete Step 9.
Importantly, Step 9 produces an outline while avoiding the blank page. I often find myself astounded at how many words I already have in my document when I finish Step 9. By putting effort into outlining a manuscript, while easing my effort by using a scaffold, my writing task now seems much less intimidating.
My outline’s detail also makes writing seem easier after Step 9. I have created a narrative structure, I have represented the structure as a chain of paragraph topics, and I have created the two most important sentences for each paragraph. To convert my outline into a first draft, I only need to add supporting sentences to each paragraph.
My outline simplifies my adding supporting sentences because I have already created topic and concluding sentences. Supporting sentences provide data for, or elaborate, a paragraph’s topic. The topic and concluding sentences already express each topic. I usually find having the two most important sentences in hand makes writing my supporting sentences straightforward.
When I add my supporting sentences, and therefore have converted my outline into a first draft, I still have hard work to do. Good writing requires me to repeatedly revise a document, simplifying and improving each sentence again and again. Ruby Wiebe believes “writing better is a never-ending possibility” (Wiebe, 2016, p. 23). A later chapter in the current book suggests additional scaffolds to aid revising a manuscript.
