Freelance Writing & Business Communication

How to create an outline (before you write)

Modified excerpt from Harness The Business Writing Process.

Below, there are a couple of outline examples. The first is a major topic outline on the subject of creating outlines. it lists two points one would address if writing about (or speaking about) creating outlines. The second is a more detailed outline on the same topic, the kind of outline you want to create before you write (or speak) on a topic.

Major topic outline
Creating outlines
1. How to create an outline
2. Benefits of outlining

More detailed outline
For a more detailed outline, you would subdivide the topic headings as in the following example:

Creating outlines
1. How to create an outline
a. Outline major topic points
b. Subdivide topic headings where appropriate
c. Further subdivide subcategories if appropriate

2. Benefits of outlining
a. Provides logical structure
b. Gives you a detailed road map
c. Ensures all major and minor points are covered
d. Produces greater clarity and focus
e. Removes the stress of trying to hold onto all you know about a topic while you are writing about it
f. Helps you detect errors in logic
g. Allows you to write quickly in manageable chunks
h. Ensures you do not lose your train of thought when you have to take breaks from writing
i. Facilitates the approval process, if one is required

Benefits of outlines expanded
Can your outlines be even more detailed? Absolutely. In fact, your outline could be, and should be, much more detailed–containing points, secondary points, tertiary points, and so on. The greater the scope of the document (in other words, the longer the document), the longer and more detailed the outline should be.

With that in mind, allow me to address some of the points listed under “Benefits of outlining” in the outline above.

Outlines provide a logical structure to your document. If you have brainstormed all the points you need to know and listed them in the order that you want to write about them, then you have a detailed road map that will get you from point A to point B in the shortest possible time. Instead of weaving all over the writing road and heading down dead ends, you will start where you should start, take the route you need to take, and end up where you want to be.

Does that mean you cannot meander? Of course not. If you think of a point that did not make it into your outline, you are free to explore it. If it is something you should write about, make room in the outline for it. If it is something that proves to be not all that useful, leave it out. The point is, even if you wander, the outline will ensure that you don’t get lost. It will keep you on track, ensuring that you cover all major and minor points, in an order that makes sense to you, to your topic, and to your reader.

If you are covering all the points you need to cover to convey your purpose or achieve your goal, then you will write with greater clarity and focus. In addition, if you have outlined all you need to address before you start to write, your outline will help you write with greater clarity and focus. You will feel more confident in your writing ability and you will be less inclined to digress.

If you are writing fiction and want to take great digressions to see where you, your characters, or your story ends up, indulge yourself. If you are a business writer who needs to convey an important point so your reader knows what to do next, then you don’t want to be digressing. In fact, you probably do not have time to digress. You want to write with clarity and focus for your sake and for the sake of the reader.

A detailed outline means you do not have to hold on to all you know about a topic while you are writing about it. That removes a great deal of the stress that you might feel while you are writing. It also helps you detect errors in logic before you write. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather revise a series of outline points before I start to write than revise an entire report several times because my writing did not flow in a logical manner.

With an outline in place, you can write quickly in manageable chunks. Instead of having to write a fifteen-page report, you only have to write a series of two-hundred to three-hundred word chunks or sections. That too reduces the stress associated with writing. And it ensures you do not lose your train of thought when you have to take breaks from writing. For instance, if the phone rings, you can finish a sentence, take the call, and then pick up your writing at the next outline point. Or you can go home at the end of the day knowing you will come back to the document the next day and pick up where you left off—because the next point you want to address is there in your outline.

If you have to get a major document approved before you can send it out or post it online, send the outline out for approval first. The person who has to approve the documents can see if you have all the points you need to make in your outline. If any points are missing, or if the approver does not think your points are as logically structured as they should be, then he or she can add (or delete) points or move them around before sending the outline to you.

When you start to write, you will be writing to an approved outline. That does not mean the person who has to approve the report won’t make some changes; however, the changes are more likely to be of a subjective nature rather than a request to revamp and reorganize your entire document. And yes, I know that some people who have to approve documents before they go out will ask you to revamp or reorganize anything you’ve written, even if you have carefully followed the approved outline. That’s why my last point said “facilitates the approval process” not “guarantees the approval” of your final document.

I hope I have given you enough information here so that you can see how going through the outline process will get you to the stage where it is all over but the writing. And as any writer will agree, that’s a good place to be before you start to write.

See also Why create an outline before you write.
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Paul Lima is a freelance writer and a business writing instructor. He is also the author of several books on business writing and the business of freelance writing, including How to Write a Non-fiction Book in 60 Days and (re)Discover the Joy of Creative Wrting. His latest book is Harness The Business Writing Process: E-mail, Letters, Proposals, Reports, Media Releases, Web Content.