Before I write my essay, I always plan far ahead. I always want to see the “blueprint” of my essay so that there would be less mistakes and errors once I begin to write it. Having an outline of your essay is something like having that “blueprint”. It will help you organize your ideas and thoughts into a lucid and logical pattern. It will prevent you from creating an essay that is muddled and cluttered. It will help you arrange your paragraphs into a coherent sequence. In short, knowing some of the basics of outlining is essential if you want to write a good essay.
First and foremost, you must outline your essay with an opening, body, and conclusion. The opening is for the introduction of the topic and theme of the essay. This is also the place where you first state your argument. The body is where you develop your argument by providing data and evidence to substantiate your statements. Finally, the conclusion is where you sum up all your findings.
In outlining your essay, try to jot some brief points for every paragraph you plan to write down. These brief points will make sure that each paragraph in the essay has something to say about the given topic of the essay. In many mediocre essays, there are paragraphs that do not fit at all with the essay. Worse, some of these paragraphs are completely unrelated to the given topic. These brief points will guide you back to the topic if your writing comes to a dead end.
When I write my paper for me, one of the most difficult things to do is to arrange my paragraphs into a logical progression. Luckily, outlining helps a lot in that regard. By outlining, you can arrange the sequence of paragraphs in the form that is suitable for your topic. For instance, if you are writing a personal essay, you can outline your essay in such a way that every paragraph builds up on the suspense from the previous one. With outlining, you can have a better picture of how your essay will eventually look like.
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