ENTC 3030

Organizing & Drafting Documents

Outlining as Organization

The process of outlining partitions your document.

You • divide your materials under topics,

• sequence the topics, and

• then further subdivide them into subordinate ideas.

As you arrange topics, you also mold a structure of key points that shapes your work. • Outlining effectively isolates and sequences

the categories of interest. • As you explore the relationships among these

categories, you define the limits and emphasis of your document.

Think of outlining as a stage of the writing process.

It can help you in the following ways:• Isolating and arranging topics.

• As you name some topics and dispense with others, you give focus to your document.

To develop the parts of an outline, identify keywords that name your categories and reflect your aims. • As you list these words and phrases, you can

also consider subcategories and explore the logic of your source material.

This exploratory process eventually leads you to connect the parts of your document logically and to fill in the gaps. • Often, however, you have to reconcile this

conceptual logic with the standard formats required by journals and funding agencies.

• Integrating a general document design with your specific material. • In designing a document, try to integrate a general

format with the specifics of your project topics.

Your general format may be the standard requirement of a funding agency or government specification. • It may also be your own top-down design of a

series of categories.

As you structure the document, keep integrating the general format with the more detailed topic outline.

• Adjusting the scope and sequence of your source material to reflect the needs of your audience. • Outlining is a means of data reduction.

As you arrange information, eliminate what you do not need. • Two common approaches to sequencing

information are logical order and order of importance.

Arrangement in logical order is more likely to appeal to experts, whose interests are conceptual. • Following the order of importance is more

likely to appeal to managerial and administrative audiences concerned with costs, personnel, and schedules.

• Getting feedback from colleagues and supervisors. • One important use of outlining is to promote

consensus on goals, coverage, and strategy for documents, whether proposals, articles, or theses.

Circulate your working outline for discussion. • At the outlining stage, the suggestions of a

collaborator or supervisor may save you a lot of time later in the writing process. • Changing outlines is much easier than changing

drafts.

Drafting the Document

Drafting is never the same for any two writers. • Methodical writers work from an outline, point

by point.

• Intuitive writers may write entire sections at a time, barely glancing over their outlines.

Outline are maps that can keep you on course and remind you of your audience and aim. • You may want to add or delete topics as you

write.

Expanding on an outline in a word processor is one way to create a rough draft.

Tools and Tips for a First Draft

Word-processing programs are effective tools for merging the outlining and drafting processes. • You can develop an initial outline, start writing

individual sections of it, and then rework material that needs further development.

Your outline can be fleshed out and your draft revised in whatever order you feel comfortable with. • Some writers type the draft into a word

processor; others write it in longhand, have it word-processed, revise on a printout, and have it word-processed again.

Tips for Drafting

Review your aim. • Try to keep your main writing goals in view

and avoid digressing. Set writing goals.

• Writers write drafts most successfully in stages.

• Set an objective for a four- or five-page section and write the section at one sitting, if possible.

Maintain momentum. • Keep writing.

• Don’t insist on achieving finished copy.

• Don’t worry about where you start.

You can begin with the concluding section and end with the introduction; that way, your conclusions will be focused on your introductory claims. • By writing out of document sequence, you

can build up writing momentum for more difficult sections.

Revise rigorously in hard copy. • Computing encourages wordiness.

• If you print out the text, you can get a sense of the whole, and you can jump around quickly as you edit for organization and consistency.

Expect to go through several draft and printout cycles. • Use the revision capabilities of computing to

review and revise your draft. • Don’t put all your time into your first draft.

The very first draft, usually called the rough draft, is something you generally don’t show to anyone.

• Few people other than you will be able to read it intelligently.

• A rough draft is useful, if messy, because it allows you to organize your document and work out your main arguments.

Your next draft may sill be crude, but it may be ready for the attention of others.

Cycling a draft can help you immensely if it brings constructive criticism.

• Cycling is a requirement in many organizations, but you should follow one firm rule:

• Don’t submit crude drafts to colleagues or supervisors.

Crude drafts often get treated as final drafts.

A crude draft may be nearly complete, but you don’t really have a finished draft until you have the following:• An introduction, middle development, and conclusion,

so that coverage and analysis can be examined

• Coherent, grammatical language

• Accurate spelling

• A series of clear, if still rough, graphics

• Clean copy, with subject headings, subheadings, and standard margins

Be sure you’ve reached this stage before you begin to circulate your copy to those who will judge your work.

• Readers soon forget the distinction between rough and final copy, and they may associate your performance with what they see first.

Developing Arguments

An argument supports a claim with a convincing set of reasons. • You can expect to make arguments in nearly

all documents, whether technical reports, refereed journal articles, or memoranda.

A writer’s aim is rarely just to inform. • You need to identify problems, make claims,

and defend them convincingly.

Generally, the facts, no matter how effectively you analyze them, will not unequivocally support your claim. • Writers need to interpret the facts to show that

they mean what the writer thinks they mean.

Facts rarely speak for themselves. • Readers need to understand the context of

the facts. • They must be convinced that the facts are accurate

and effectively used.

Hence, readers need to know exactly • What your claim is,

• What problem you think you are addressing,

• What you think are the issues of the argument,

• How you got your evidence, and

• What you think your evidence means.

Your argument can be strengthened or weakened at any of these steps.

If your readers can’t figure out what problem you are addressing, they will doubt your judgment.

If they don’t think you’ve worked out an effective approach to the problem, they will think you are missing the point.

If they think that your evidence is weak, they will question your rigor.

If they don’t like the way you’ve used your evidence, they will question your reasoning.

And if you manage to satisfy your readers on all these points, they may still argue that you came to the wrong conclusions.

One way to construct arguments is by linking together:1.A problem or situation to be remedied

2.A claim or thesis that resolves the problem

3.Background issues that give the particulars of the problem and establish criteria for solving it

4.Evidence that applies the criteria to support the claim or thesis

5.A discussion in which the evidence is weighed and shown to support the claim

This general structure is used repeatedly, quite independently of a writer’s field of specialization, profession, or job definition.

• These elements of argument do not always have to be explicit, although they usually should be.

Moreover, the order and extent of their development will depend on the kind of audience you are addressing.

• The more expert the audience, the more detailed your arguments have to be.

Get Perspective on Your Work

Eventually, your draft will be ready for reviewing.• Before your work is in final form, you will want

the appraisal of your colleagues and probably your supervisor as well.• The time it takes to circulate your document so that

others have a chance to read it and make suggestions is your time for a breather.

Many writers put their work on the shelf and move on to something else during this period.• When they come back to their work to

incorporate comments and revise, they have a fresh perspective.