Summary

The importance of planning and organizing your thoughts for your report cannot be overemphasized. It is critical that you begin outlining your report with a clear idea of the elements you considered in your Dialogue with the Reader Worksheet: your purpose, reader, reader’s main question, and main message. This will enable you to proceed to the next step in the planning process—outlining your report.

When preparing your outline, keep the following considerations in mind:

  • Using the dialogue technique helps you to stay focused on your reader’s needs as you create your outline.
  • Breaking information into manageable groups helps your reader to understand and remember your ideas. Make sure those groups have a logical and meaningful relationship to each other. Otherwise, your reader may become confused.
  • Outlining your report in a pyramid form lets you see how your ideas are related, both horizontally and vertically. It is an iterative process, so don’t be afraid to correct and revise as you proceed.