Preparing an outline, is like creating the blueprints for a building. When created well, an outline will successfully guide your first draft of your paper in an efficient and well organized manner. In essence, a lot of the major thought process has to happen at this stage. What will you say needs to be determined. Then, upon creating your first draft, your can flush out how you're going to say it. An outline determines the flow of your paper which in turns allows your reader to "anticipate - or predict - what will come next" (Bedford, 218). This puts your reader at ease, and when your reader feels at ease and confident in your writing they will be more likely to agree with your argument or jump on board the ship you are advocating for.
There are many organizing patterns in which your paper would be suited for. They are: chronology, description, definition, cause/ effect, process explanation, pro/con, multiple perspectives, comparison/ contrast, strength/ weakness, costs/ benefits, problem/ solution. Unfortunately not one of these categories immediately jumped out at me as the best pattern for my paper on play. The closest option I think would be definition mixed with problem/ solution. Defining play in a new light for the reader and then identify the current problem of lack of play in our society and proposing the solution of play conditioning classes. I still need to lock down my thesis though. Perhaps once this is more defined the right organizing pattern will be clear.
Using tools like clustering, mapping and labeling will help with creating an outline. Given the non chronological or clear pro cons of my topic, I think clustering will be the best tool for me to use to get this process started.
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