This article on how to approach report or essay planning is based on a posting I made in one of my tutor group forums recently. I know that several of my students are new to the Open University and possibly new to postgraduate work. That probably applies to students in the other groups as well, so I thought I’d make a public version of my advice.
Most people don’t think logically enough to just sit down and write a really good piece of work off the top of their head. I know I don’t. Even when writing a blog post earlier today, I omitted things I’d intended to include because I didn’t have a plan and check things off as I went along. A plan helps you structure how you’re going to tell the story you want to tell and then tell it in a compelling, focussed way.
I’ve used the following method for postgraduate work in The Open University’s IET faculty and I use a variant for writing my other academic papers. I don’t guarantee it will work for you, but perhaps if you try it, you’ll get some ideas about how to adapt the practice for yourself to good effect. I use dedicated outliner software, but a word processor will do, even if it does not have an outliner mode. In a pinch, you can use a piece of paper and a pen, but it’s more difficult to move things around that way. Some people, by the way, use mind mapping or concept mapping tools to do this sort of planning. Post-It™ notes, like in the post’s header picture, will also work great, although most of your planning shouldn’t end up looking so complicated!
I start by making a list of topics the paper needs to cover. This is usually gathered from the assignment booklet section that lists what you need to do. I use those as headings and beneath each one I list as many things as I can think of that would fit into that section. I also list any relevant quotations or references that I happen to remember and would fit in that section.
The first assignment has a 1500 word limit. That is not a lot. No matter what the word limit is, it will never be enough to fit in everything I have listed so far in my outline. I next need to calculate how many words I can afford to use for each section. Not all of the 1500 words will be available to allocate to the areas. That’s because you will also need an introduction, where you usually describe your context and the overall focus of the work, and a concluding section. Keep aside some word count for those too.
Image by Michelle A. Hoyle under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License
Image: Example of Michelle’s finished outline for an assignment. Note the checkmarks indicating she used that point in her final writing.
Once you’ve decided how much you can afford for each area, go through and pick out the strongest points and references you have. Try to do this with an eye to creating an overall harmonized symphony. Because you’re working with bullet points here, the big picture should be relatively visible to most people still. What we want to do is tell a single story and every point we pick out should help contribute to making that story stronger, so we want things that are complementary and go together well. It’s even better if the same general point can be somehow applied to multiple areas. Depending on the word count, the number of points will usually be fewer than 3 points—maybe only one or two!
Now that you’ve picked out your major points, expand your outline to include relevant references that go with each point or would support the points. Then take a look at the everything within a given area now. Should your major points be rearranged? How will it flow into the next section of your report? The best reports flow nicely from one area to the next without an abrupt break, even if you’re using headings to separate different sections. That’s again because we’re trying to tell a coherent story. If yours is a bit abrupt, don’t worry; it’s just something to aspire to.
Sit down and write a section using your plan as a guide. It’s likely that you’ll come up with something else that fits into it while you’re writing it. That can be OK, but maybe consider how it will alter your plan and keep a ruthless eye on your word count! The idea isn’t to fit as many different ideas into a section as possible but to include enough and in enough detail to tell your story. Check of the points you’ve used out of your outline as you go along to ensure you’ve covered what you meant to cover. Repeat until done with the other sections.
I’ve included a screenshot of an excerpt from a plan I did. This excerpt is a well-advanced plan. In fact, I’ve finished the essay and sent it off. As a result, you can see tick marks where I included a point in my work and some of the ones that I didn’t, because I didn’t have the space. I’ve tried to include full references where possible and quote things when using someone else’s words to help avoid accidental plagiarism. Finally, just because you have a plan, doesn’t mean your end result will end up looking exactly like it. Chances are good your writing will be better for the process though.
Do you use a different process for planning and writing? Share what it is and how well it has worked for you. I’m sure others will be interested too.
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