[教你如何写出完美的论文--系列教程(10.DVD)].07.Writing.Your.First.Draft.pdf


Part 1: Creating an Outline
Keep it simple: Don’t stress about that stodgy, pedantic outline form you may have learned, with its Ro-
man numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals, lower case letters, etc. It’s too easy to get hung up on what
goes where and why. That form might work well for a inal presentation version of your outline, but it can
actually slow you down when you’re sketching out the irst version of your outline.
Start by writing your thesis at the top of your outline, stated in that single clear sentence.
Now ask yourself: What needs to be said to support the thesis? Think about the various parts of your
thesis, breaking it apart into pieces as needed. Each part needs to be explained and defended, and sewn
together into a convincing whole. You may need to:
* Deine precisely and clearly the terms you use in the thesis.
* Give accounts of events and examples that suggest a cause-and-effect relationship.
* Quote statistics or other numerical data.
* Detail individual examples that suggest a broader pattern (sometimes anecdotes).
* Cite factual evidence to back up the truth of the various parts of your thesis, including,
depending on the nature of the paper, either data from primary sources, ideas from secondary
sources, or both.
* Give information about alternative theses, along with facts and ideas to show why you think
these alternative theses are wrong.
Thumb through your note cards, and jot down on a piece of scrap paper a list of all of the various support-
ing ideas you have to choose from. Whenever you come across a strong piece of supporting information
that helps to explain, defend, clarify, or sharpen your thesis, write a phrase or sentence that summarizes it
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on your scrap paper. Look over your list: Is it full enough? Are there any holes? Is it too full? Are there any
redundancies?
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Part 2: Classic Outline Structures
Now, how do you reorganize this list into a usable outline? Consider the following structures:
* Narrative sequence (you can reorganize your list chronologically as a timeline or storyboard or
as a classic storytelling arc — exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement)
* Cause and effect (you can reorganize your list as a two-column chart or table, with Causes and
Effects in each column and a speciic set of events in each row)
* Compare and contrast (you can reorganize your list as a two-column chart or table, with
Similarities and Differences in each column and a speciic set of elements in each row)
* Pro and con (you can reorganize your list as a two-column chart or table, with Advantages
and Disadvantages in each column and a speciic set of qualities in each row)
* Thesis and evidence (you can reorganize your list as a breakdown of your thesis, just presenting
the evidence for it, point by point, in some sequence that feels clear and logical)
Once you’ve chosen a structure, use a few different colored pens or markers to apply some color-coding
to your list. Mark all of the supporting ideas that belong to the same event, theme, example, argument,
point, observation, etc. with the same color, creating an easy-to-distinguish chunk. Then, in the same
color, write a quick phrase in the margin that identiies that chunk. You may have to play with this orga-
nization a few times, recopying your list as needed. Once you’ve inished deining your chunks, transfer
them into your outline one at a time.
Some pointers for a good outline:
* Spill the beans.
* Eliminate the irrelevant.
* Start and inish strong.
This study guide should be used along with a program published by Video Aided Instruction, Inc.