Report Writing Tips: Outline, Outline, Outline!
When creating any form of written content such as a whitepaper for a business, a report for a class, or a personal blog, there is one strategy that I have used to great success that I’m going to share with you today: progressive outlining. While creating outlines is not a new concept, the approach I take is something that has fit my working style and scattered thought process for many years and is something that you may be able to use. Today, I’m going to walk you through the process of creating content using a progressive outline that you can use for your own success.
Step 1: Outline Sections & Paragraphs
The hardest thing about writing something is finding a way to put ideas on paper in the first place. This can be daunting when you also need to consider the format of what you are creating. To get around this, start by knocking out the easy parts that relate to structure. For example, a blog post could look like this:
<TITLE>
Introduction
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3
Closeout
Your school project may have a rubric for you to follow that can work in the same way. In any case, just putting these into a word document is an excellent way to get the ball rolling and it also creates a template that you can fill in almost any order you like.
Step 2: Populate Rough Ideas into Sections
It may make sense to go from top to bottom when creating certain types of content. Other times, you may have an idea of something you want to say for a specific section. The beauty of this approach is that you simply need to populate your outline, regardless of the order. The way I see it, this step is like filling up the reservoir of thoughts you need to make your piece of content. The best thing to do is to gradually fill in the sections with rough ideas in whatever order keeps you moving and focused. During this step, you will have multiple bullet points in each section to help crystalize your ideas into a more final form.
Step 3: Reorder & Reword
This is where you take your bullet points into their final form by typing out the final language to be used in your end product. Keep everything in the outline format so it is easy to reorder sentences and isolate the areas you need to focus on.
Step 4: Consolidate & Format
Once you are comfortable with everything you have in your outline, delete the outline format and get everything ready for the final presentation. You will get rid of all the bullet points, align the text properly, and format any headings as necessary. Congratulations, you’re done!
I’ve developed this strategy over many years of observation as well as trial and error while working through deadlines related to school assignments, professional publications, and personal projects. Go ahead and try my strategy and see how you can make it work for you! Once you discover your working and writing style, you will be able to develop a strategy like this one and streamline your work process.