Friday, June 24, 2011

How Effective Outlining Can Help You Write Better

By Allec Borseci


A number of people struggle when writing articles or papers. Some individuals can string together sentences in a very efficient way, but don't have the ability to structure their piece appropriately. And others simply have no confidence in their ability to write in any way. However, I think that anyone has the capacity to write well. Like anything, it just takes some time and practice.

There does exist one thing, though, that you can do right now to enable you to enhance the quality of your writing. That is: effective outlining. Through taking thorough notes and arranging them in an efficient outline, you can actually significantly improve the articles you write. And, while it may seem like creating an outline could increase the time that it takes to write an article, it can, in fact, lessen the time required to create a high quality piece. This is because an outline is like a guide. It will lead you from point A to point B. This is essential in the writing process, because, most of the time, the toughest part of writing is knowing what you should say next. With a good outline, you'll never be at a loss for words.

Through the use of an outline, the entire writing process becomes much less of a painful process. Content can never be poor because of what you have to say. There's an audience for anything. A piece of writing can only be poor when it doesn't get your point across in an effective way. Thus, if you can clarify the most crucial point in your article in a manner that your audience can understand, you can write quality articles. This is why successful outlining can help you. Its going to let you create a structured piece that your audience can easily adhere to and understand.

Constructing the outline is an important part of the writing process. When your outline is careless and unorganized, then, almost certainly, your written piece will be sloppy and unorganized. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be easy to follow.

When I begin my outlining process, I always put the title of my soon-to-be article at the top of the notepad or word processor I am working with. That way I'm centered on the intention of the content I'm concentrating on. Next, I'll use roman numerals, letters (lowercase and capital), numbers as well as other symbols (dashes, asterisks, etc.) together with indentation to help me organize my content. (Most word processor's have extensive bullet options that will manage this for you.)

I always begin with the intro. In the intro portion of the outline, I usually only opt for 1 or 2 sub-categories. Following the introduction is the body, and after that is the conclusion. The body is, clearly, the place that the bulk of my notes are going to be and I normally have a variety of sub-categories within this location. At the end is the conclusion.

Throughout every single sub-category of my outline, I add the key points that will help me write a great article. When it comes time to write, I've got an extensive amount of facts organized in an efficient manner. This technique let's me breeze through even the longest articles in a fraction of the time it would generally take.

Whenever you construct your notes into a well-organized outline like this, article writing becomes a breeze. The more comprehensive you are making your notes and outline, the more thorough your written-piece will be.

With this simple and speedy method of outlining your notes, you will notice a tremendous improvement in your ability to write quality content. This is definitely the method I used when going from making nothing to $1500 a month after only six months of freelance writing. Whatever the type of writing you do, be it for school, work, or play, effective outlining may be the simplest way to write better.




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