Outline first

An outline is the cheapest place to fix a piece of writing. Moving a section in an outline takes a second; moving it in a finished draft means rewriting the transitions on both sides. Most structural problems (a buried point, a section that proves nothing, a reader left without the background they need) are visible in an outline if the outline is written the right way.

The right way is claims, not topics. A topic outline ("Background", "Results", "Discussion") only says what each part is about. A claim outline says what each part shows ("Background: the old system failed under load twice in 2025"), which means you can read the outline alone and know whether the argument holds.

When to use it

• Before drafting an article, report, essay, proposal, or talk.
• When a draft keeps sprawling and the person wants to restart from structure.
• When several people need to agree on a document before anyone writes it.
• When someone has a topic and some material but no shape yet.