Making a Writing Plan

Part of making a writing plan is learning how to craft an outline. This is really the start of the project plan, and there are keys to outlining successfully. To start, your text needs to include a beginning or introduction, middle or arguments, and ending or conclusion. So, arrange your plan accordingly. This will help you arrange your thoughts and information, identify what your project will explore, and how you will say it.

Use the Outline Worksheet provided in the Resources to walk you through these topics:

Crafting an Outline

In the beginning or introduction, include the following:

• Your topic.
• The purpose of the paper.
• The aspects or issues you will be exploring in the paper.
• The who, what, when, where, why, and how of your paper.

Next, in the middle or the argument section, include the following:

• The purpose of exploring the aspect.
• How the aspect relates to the larger topic
• The who, what, when, where, why, and how of the aspect.

You may also want to include quotes, facts, or statistics that you discovered in your research. Lastly, conclude by doing the following:

• Restate your topic and the purpose of the paper.
• Include a summation from each aspect argument section.

Don’t worry if you don’t feel like the conclusion is super-strong. You will get there.

Making a Writing Plan

Make some notes on how you write currently. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What is your process? How do you start writing?
• What methods do you use for completing the text?
• How do you revise?
• How do you edit?

Then, review the Writing a Course Paper module from Unit 2 Studies (provided in this unit’s study as well). What is the process, as explained in the presentation? What are the suggestions for how to start writing? What are the suggestions related to the revision and editing processes, and completing the text?

Scoring Criteria

1. Identify purpose of paper.
2. Summarize arguments.
3. Provide conclusion.