At the drop-ins, I often have people coming who are in the beginning of the writing process. They have often run into issues when writing, such as running out of ideas, unclear writing, or weak arguments. Their mistake? They simply overlooked one important part of the writing process: planning.
As any writer knows, you need to plan out what you’re writing in order for it to be effective. Planning out your writing allows you to develop stronger arguments and be clearer in presenting them – both of which are essential to writing a successful university-level assignment.
Let’s examine 5 things you can easily do to help you plan your writing!
1.) Organize your ideas before you start writing
One common thing I’ve noticed in my own writing is that I often have a problem with my main ideas. Consequently, I spend a lot of time trying to fix these problems while in the middle of writing my assignments. To combat this, I’ve started outlining my thoughts before I start writing. Writing stuff down (be it digitally or on paper) really helps to organize your thoughts and see what you want to work with. As a bonus, even if you might not initially use all your ideas, at least you have them to refer back to.
2.) Start with your main point
Always start by planning out any piece of writing by asking yourself “what’s the main point I’m making?” For instance, in essays, this will be figuring out what you want to prove (e.g., the thesis). Knowing what you will be arguing will allow you to have a much easier time finding out exactly how you’re going to prove these ideas and be more streamlined when writing.
3.) Make sure your supporting points make sense before investing in them
No one wants to make a weak argument. So, we should strive to make sure the entire argument is strong. This means we need to examine if our supporting arguments and points are well-researched and clear, and support our main argument. Map out your arguments, and make sure they meet this criteria before you start writing your essay.
4.) Outline the structure
Once you know the arguments you’ll be making, plan how you’re going to present them. This means mapping out the structure of the writing you will be doing. This allows you to make sure your points are each getting enough attention and being presented both strongly and clearly.
5.) Worry about polishing it up last
In writing, make sure you address the global issues like structure and argument first before addressing more local issues such as grammar and flow. Global changes can be much more drastic and could potentially cause you to have to re-focus your entire piece, while local changes don't have such a large scale repercussion.