Organization and Outlining

Essays and paragraphs may be organized according to one or a combination of strategies. See Organization under Paragraphing.

And, see Patterns of Development in this section.

Outlining is the road map for the essay. American writer Tom Wolfe said, “By writing an outline you really are writing in a way, because you’re creating the structure of what you’re going to do. Once I really know what I’m going to write, I don’t find the actual writing takes all that long.”

Critical thinkers use outlines to organize their ideas and check the organization of their drafts throughout the writing process.

"The Writing Process: Outlining." http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/4Outlining.pdf