Chapter 5 Plan and Outline Organize Your Ideas

“Why Is the Writer Writing?”: Establishing Purpose

The purpose is simply the reason you are writing. The purpose of a piece of writing answers the question “why?” For example, why write a play? To entertain a packed theatre. Why write instructions to the babysitter? To inform him of your schedule and rules. Why write a letter to your member of Parliament? To persuade her to address your community’s concerns. Why write in your diary? To explore your feelings and reflect on your experiences.

In your university courses, you will be writing for very specific purposes. In Chapter 3: What Is Academic Writing?, we introduced the two overarching purposes of academic essays. Take a moment to review that section before you move on.

While the overarching purposes of an undergraduate essay are to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and thinking and to give your instructor an opportunity to assess your knowledge and thinking, each particular writing assignment will have a more specific purpose that guides the development of the essay. In academic settings, the six most common purposes for writing are

• • to summarize
• • to explain
• • to analyze
• • to synthesize
• • to evaluate
• • to argue

Your instructors will ask you to complete assignments specifically designed to meet one of those purposes. Understanding the purpose for writing will guide you in writing your assignment and help you make important decisions about content, structure, and style.

In Part 4: Common Writing Assignments, you will further explore the importance of purpose in particular types of assignments.

“Who Is the Writer Writing To?”: Identifying Audience

Imagine you must give a presentation to a group of executives in an office. Weeks before the big day, you spend time creating and rehearsing the presentation. You must make important, careful decisions not only about the content but also about your delivery. Will the presentation require technology to project figures and charts? Should the presentation define important words, or will the executives already know the terms? Should you wear a suit? The answers to these questions will help you develop an appropriate relationship with your audience, making them more receptive to your message.

Now imagine you must explain the same business concepts from your presentation to a group of high school students. Those important questions you previously answered may now require different answers. The figures and charts may be too sophisticated, and the terms will certainly require definitions. You may even reconsider your clothing and go for a more casual look. Because the audience has shifted, your presentation and delivery will shift as well to create a new relationship with the new audience.

In these two situations, the audience—the people who will watch and listen to the presentation—plays a role in the development of the presentation. As you prepare the presentation, you visualize the audience to anticipate their expectations and reactions. What you imagine affects the information you choose to present and how you will present it. Then during the presentation, you meet the audience in person and discover immediately how well you perform.

Even in informal everyday writing activities, you identify your audience’s characteristics, interests, and expectations before making decisions about what you write. In fact, thinking about audience has become so common that you may not even detect your own audience-driven decisions.

For example, you update your status on social media with the awareness of who will read the post. If you want to brag about a good grade, you may write the post to please family members. If you want to describe a funny moment, you may write with your friends’ sense of humour in mind. Even at work, you probably send emails with an awareness of an unintended recipient who could intercept the message.

Consider the following paragraphs. Which one would the writer send to her parents? Which one would she send to her best friend?

• Example A

  Last Saturday, I volunteered at a local hospital. The visit was fun and rewarding. I even learned how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Unfortunately, I think I caught a cold from one of the patients. This week, I will rest in bed and drink plenty of clear fluids. I hope I am well by next Saturday to volunteer again.

• Example B

  OMG! You won’t believe this! My advisor forced me to do my community service hours at this hospital all weekend! We learned CPR, but we did it on dummies, not even real peeps. And some kid sneezed on me and got me sick! I was so bored and sniffling all weekend; I hope I don’t have to go back next week. I def do NOT want to miss the basketball tournament!

Because each paragraph reveals the author’s relationship with her intended readers, you can identify the audience without hesitation.

Sometimes, unlike when you’re speaking to a group of co-workers or writing an email to your mom, the audience for your academic writing assignments may seem unclear or invisible. However, even though your readers (your instructor or your peers) will not appear in person as you write, they play an equally vital role in shaping your writing. Through your writing, you must engage with your audience to build an appropriate relationship given your subject. Imagining your reader(s) during each stage of the writing process will help you make decisions about your writing. Ultimately, the people you visualize will affect what and how you write.

Because focusing on audience will enhance your writing, your process, and your finished product, consider the specific traits of your audience members. Use your imagination to anticipate the readers’ demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations.

• Demographics: Demographics are data about a group of people, such as their age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or gender. Certain topics and assignments will require you to consider these factors as they relate to your audience. For other topics and assignments, these measurements may not influence your writing. Regardless, it is important to consider demographics when you think about your purpose for writing.
• Education: Education refers to the audience’s level of schooling. If all the audience members have PhDs, for example, you may need to elevate your style and use more formal language. If the audience members are first-year college students, you could write in a more relaxed style. An audience member’s major or emphasis of study may also influence your writing.
• Prior knowledge: Prior knowledge is what the audience already knows about the topic. You must decide whether or not to define terms and explain concepts based on your audience’s prior knowledge. Although you cannot peer inside the brains of your readers to discover their knowledge, you can make reasonable assumptions. For instance, a nursing major would presumably know more about health-related topics than a business major would.
• Expectations: What will your reader expect while reading your assignment? Readers may expect consistency in the assignment’s appearance, such as correct grammar and traditional formatting like double-spaced lines and a legible font. Readers may also have content-based expectations given the assignment’s purpose and organization. In an essay titled “The Economics of Enlightenment: The Effects of Rising Tuition,” for example, audience members will expect to read about the economic repercussions of post-secondary tuition costs.

“How Is the Writer Writing?”: Selecting an Appropriate Tone

Tone identifies a speaker’s or a writer’s attitude toward a subject and an audience. You may pick up a person’s tone of voice fairly easily in conversation. A friend who tells you about her weekend may talk excitedly about a fun ski trip. An instructor who means business may speak in a low, slow voice to emphasize her seriousness. A co-worker who needs to let off some steam after a long meeting may crack a sarcastic joke.

Just as speakers transmit emotion through voice, writers can transmit through words a range of attitudes, from excited and humorous to sombre and critical. These emotions create connections among the audience, the author, and the subject, ultimately building a relationship between the audience and the text. To stimulate these connections, writers intimate their attitudes and feelings with useful devices, such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language. Keep in mind that the writer’s attitude should always appropriately match the audience and the purpose.

Let’s say you must write a paragraph that summarizes the legislative process. How would you write the paragraph if your audience were a class of grade 3 students? You would probably use relatively informal language and simple, everyday words. Your tone might be enthusiastic. You might try to make the paragraph entertaining, perhaps even bringing in humour.

Let’s say you must write another paragraph on the same topic, this time for a class of first-year law students. You would likely choose more formal language and specific legal terminology. Your tone would likely be more serious and professional, and you would be less concerned with entertaining the group and more concerned with being taken seriously. Your language would reflect that, and you would take a more serious and professional tone.

Thus, in both cases, your tone will be influenced by purpose and audience. We will examine tone in more detail in Chapter 6, when you begin to write the sentences and paragraphs of your essay.

“What Are You Writing About?”: Choosing Appropriate Content

Content refers to all the written substance in a document. After considering an audience and a purpose, you must choose what information will make it to the page. Content may consist of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, analogies, and observations.

Content is shaped by audience. Are you writing for experts, for a general audience, for other students, or for people who know very little about your topic? Consider that paragraph about the legislative process. In the paragraph for the grade 3 students, what content would you include? What details would you include or omit? What terminology would you choose? Would you include graphic representations? What kind? In the paragraph for the first-year law students, would you include more details? Would you discuss some of the abstract concepts and principles that guide the legislative process? Would the same graphic be appropriate for this audience, or would you need to create a more sophisticated one? Or perhaps these students wouldn’t need a graphic representation, and words would be sufficient.

Regardless of whether you’re writing to grade 3 students or law students, the content must be appropriate, understandable, and interesting for the specific audience. As a result, even though the topic of both paragraphs is the same—the legislative process—the content of the two paragraphs will be very different because of the audience. Keep asking yourself what your readers, with their background and experience, need to be told in order to understand your ideas. How can you best express your ideas so they are totally clear and your communication is effective?

Purpose will guide you in your decisions about content—about what information to include in your assignment. If your purpose is simply to summarize an article, your writing will only include information that appeared in that article. However, if your purpose is to analyze the article, you will need to include your own ideas about the article. If the purpose of an essay is to explain what social media is, you will include factual information and examples to define social media, and you might not include information about the advantages and disadvantages of using social media. However, if your purpose is to persuade other students to quit social media, you’ll focus on the disadvantages of social media and include facts and details—and maybe expert opinion—that emphasize the negative aspects of social media with the aim of convincing your readers to take action.

Considering the purpose and audience for your writing is just as important when you are writing a single paragraph for your essay as when you are considering the direction of the entire essay.

Finally, content is related to tone too. In the informal paragraph for the grade 3 students, you would use everyday words. For the law students, you would use legal terminology. When the tone matches the content, the audience will be more engaged, and you will build a stronger relationship with your readers. We will examine tone in more detail in Chapter 6.

Keep purpose, tone, and audience in the front of your mind as you plan the content of your essay. Establishing purpose, tone, and audience are keys to successful writing.

Chronological Order

Chronological order is used for the following purposes:

• To narrate or describe the timeline of a series of events (e.g., the events that led to World War II)
• To tell a story or relate an experience (e.g., my trip to India)
• To describe or explain the steps in a process (e.g., the human digestive process)
• To explain how to do or to make something (e.g., how to purchase a condo)

When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, in the case of narrating an event—or in the order they should happen, in the case of giving instructions. For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until the present day.

In an essay that is structured according to chronological order, the introductory paragraph should introduce the event(s) or process that will be described in the essay. The thesis statement should indicate the significance of the event(s) or process, and it should indicate the events or steps that will be described in the body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should focus on one distinct event—or one distinct step in the process. It’s important to place the body paragraphs in the correct order. (Imagine trying to follow a recipe that began by describing how to frost the cake without first explaining how to bake the cake!)

Narrate the chain of events using transitional words or phrases such as first, second, then, after that, later, and finally. These transitional words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis.

Spatial Order

Spatial order is used for the following purposes:

• To represent something so that readers can visualize it (e.g., the geography of the Battle of Culloden, including the positions of the British and Jacobite forces)
• To describe parts of a whole in relation to one another (e.g., the five primary geographic regions of Canada)

When using spatial order, arrange subtopics or describe objects/places as they are arranged in space. As the writer, you create a picture in your reader’s mind. The reader’s perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you.

In an essay that is structured according to spatial order, the introductory paragraph should introduce the whole thing that will be described in the essay (e.g., the Culloden battlefield or the geography of Canada). The thesis statement should indicate the significance of the whole, and it should indicate the parts that will be described in the body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should focus on one distinct part (e.g., one of the five geographic regions of Canada). The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place.

The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point. For example, if you were describing the geographical regions of Canada, it would make sense to move from west to east, or from east to west, or from north to south; however, it would not make sense to begin with the prairies and then move to the Pacific Coast and then to the Canadian Shield.

The following transitional words and phrases indicate spatial order:

• • Just to the left or just to the right
• • Behind
• • Between
• • On the left or on the right
• • Across from
• • A little further down
• • To the south, to the east, and so on
• • A few metres away
• • Turning left or turning right
• • Next to
• • Ten kilometres to the east

Read a student’s description of her bedroom, and notice how she guides the reader spatially, metre by metre, in a way that creates a visual image in the reader’s mind:

A Sample Paragraph Ordered Spatially

Attached to my bedroom wall is a small wooden rack dangling with red and turquoise necklaces that shimmer as you enter. Just to the right of the rack is my window, framed by billowy white curtains. The peace of such an image is a stark contrast to my desk, which sits to the right of the window, layered in textbooks, crumpled papers, coffee cups, and an overflowing ashtray. Turning my head to the right, I see a set of two bare windows that frame the trees outside the glass like a 3D painting. Below the windows is an oak chest from which blankets and scarves are protruding. Against the wall opposite the billowy curtains is an antique dresser, on top of which sits a jewelry box and a few picture frames. A tall mirror attached to the dresser takes up most of the wall, which is the colour of lavender.

Order of Importance

Order of importance is used for the following purposes:

• To persuade and convince
• To rank items by their importance, benefits, or significance
• To illustrate a situation, problem, or solution

When using order of importance as an organizational principle, arrange subtopics or arguments either from most to least important or from least to most important.

Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is better to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable.

When writing an argumentative essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately catches your readers’ attention and compels them to continue reading. For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case.

Transitional words and phrases you can use with this method of organization include most important, almost as important, just as important, and finally.

How to Format an Outline

Both informal topic outlines and formal sentence outlines are formatted the same way:

• • The introductory paragraph is assigned the Roman numeral I. The complete thesis statement is usually included here.
• • Each body paragraph is assigned a Roman numeral (II, III, IV, and so on).
• • Within the body paragraphs, capital letters (A, B, C, and so on) represent each main supporting point. These are indented five spaces (press the tab key once).
• • If you’d like to subdivide the main supporting points further, use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, and so on). These are indented ten spaces (press the tab key twice).
• • The concluding paragraph is assigned the final Roman numeral.

Below is a skeleton of an outline. The indention helps clarify how the ideas are related by indicating the levels of support and detail. The example outline follows a standard five-paragraph essay arrangement, but longer essays will require more paragraphs and thus more Roman numerals. The information compiled under each Roman numeral will become a paragraph in your final paper. If you think that a paragraph might become too long, consider whether it actually addresses more than one main idea, and if it does, divide it in two, renumbering the main points appropriately.

Constructing an Informal Topic Outline

In an informal topic outline, indicate main ideas and supporting points with words or phrases. Words and phrases keep the outline short and easy to read. All the headings must be written with parallel structure and labelled as shown above.

In Chapter 4, we followed Mariah’s steps to finding and narrowing her topic and developing ideas for inclusion. Based on those steps, here is an informal topic outline Mariah created based on her idea map in Figure 4.1. The purpose of the essay is to inform, and the audience is a general audience of fellow students. Notice how the outline starts with a thesis statement and is followed by main points and supporting details in outline form using short phrases with parallel grammatical structures.

Constructing a Formal Sentence Outline

A sentence outline is the same as a topic outline except you use complete sentences instead of words or phrases. Complete sentences create clarity and can advance you one step closer to a draft in the writing process.

Formal outlines are often quite rigid in their organization. You cannot subdivide a point that has only one part. For example, for every Roman numeral I, there needs to be a II. For every A, there must be a B. For every Arabic numeral 1, there must be a 2. Note this on the sample outline that Mariah made based on her idea map and topic outline:

• • The content of writing is shaped by purpose and audience: always be aware of the purpose for writing and the needs of your audience, the two most important aspects of writing.
• • Six common purposes for academic writing are to summarize, to explain, to analyze, to synthesize, to argue, and to evaluate.
• • Identifying the audience’s demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations will affect how and what you write.
• • To effectively convey their ideas to readers, writers must put their ideas in a logical order.
• • A strong organizational pattern allows a writer to articulate, analyze, and clarify ideas.
• • Three common organizational approaches are chronological order, spatial order, and order of importance.
• • Chronological order is useful for explaining a series of events, telling a story, or explaining a process.
• • Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as the writer wants them to see it.
• • Order of importance is useful to rank subtopics or arguments by their significance.
• • Effective writers construct outlines to organize their main ideas and supporting details in the order they will be presented. This step in the writing process helps them remain focused and organized.
• • The thesis statement begins the outline, and the outline ends with suggestions for the concluding paragraph.
• • A topic outline uses words and phrases to organize the ideas.
• • A sentence outline uses complete sentences to organize and express the ideas.
• • Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research.