While some people find listing bullet points a very helpful way to work through their ideas as they begin writing, others are more comfortable expressing their ideas in full sentences. If you are not sure where or how to begin, a good way to generate ideas is to make notes
You can begin by writing in a general way about very simple things, such as what you already know about the topic of the assignment, or why you love it, or hate it, or what you don’t understand and think you need to learn more about.
One useful starting technique is to write sentences to complete phrases such as the following:
- I think I’m going to argue that…
- The thing I find most interesting about this topic is…
- The most surprising discovery in my library research was…
Outlining is one of several techniques for organizing your main points, examples, evidence and background information into a coherent structure and can be a useful way to get started with your writing. Outlining usually works best when it occurs after you engage in brainstorming but before you get to the stage of drafting.
Useful steps to take as you draw up your outline include:
- Gathering your notes and brainstorming ideas, identifying what is relevant, grouping key related concepts together, and discarding what is irrelevant
- Confirming your working thesis or position statement as you review the relevant material to determine whether it is valid and how the material is contributes to supporting/addressing it
- Mapping out the skeleton structure including main sections and brief points you want to develop within them, e.g., Thesis/Claim, Introduction, Argument 1, Evidence Support for Argument 1 etc.
For other starting techniques, see Starting Techniques under Resources.
