Examine all your categories and look for common themes. ![]() Individual pieces of information that at first seemed important can begin to appear irrelevant when grouped into a general category. Do any seem repetitive? Do any go together? "McCain's expenditure on ads" and "Bush's expenditure on ads," while not exactly repetitive, could easily combine into a more general category like "Candidates' expenditures on ads." Also, keep an eye out for categories that no longer seem to relate to your argument. Your goal is to reduce your notes to no more than a page of category listings. Ask yourself, "If I were to file this in a database, what would I file it under?" If, using the example of the Republican Primary, you wrote down an observation about John McCain's views on health care, you might list it under the general category of "Health care policy." As you go through your notes, try to reuse categories whenever possible. The first step is to look over each individual piece of information that you've written and assign it to a general category. To do this, you have to group your notes into categories and then arrange these categories in a logical order. Your goal is to rearrange your ideas, notes, and quotes-the raw material of your essay-into an order that best supports your argument, not the arguments you've read in other people's works. Most likely, your ideas are still in the order in which they occurred to you your notes and possible quotes probably still adhere to the chronology of the sources you've examined. ![]() At this point, your notes probably lack much coherent order. Let's say you are writing about the 1999 Republican Primary and you want to prove that each candidate's financial resources were the most important element in the race. From your analysis and close readings of primary and/or secondary sources you should have notes, ideas, and possible quotes to cite as evidence. A good outline will also save you time in the revision process, reducing the possibility that your ideas will need to be rearranged once you've written them.īefore you can begin outlining, you need to have a sense of what you will argue in the essay. Making a detailed outline before you begin writing is a good way to make sure your ideas come across in a clear and logical order. ![]() Trying to devise a structure for your essay can be one of the most difficult parts of the writing process.
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