Writing course - Lesson 2

Getting Started: Clustering Ideas                            Outlining

Clustering

CLUSTERING IS SIMILAR to another process called Brainstorming. Clustering is something that you can do on your own or with friends or classmates to try to find inspiration in the connection between ideas. The process is similar to freewriting in that as you jot down ideas on a piece of paper or on the blackboard, you mustn't allow that ugly self-censor to intrude and say that your idea (or anyone else's) is dumb or useless. Write it down anyway. In Clustering, you jot down only words or very short phrases. Use different coloured pens as ideas seem to suggest themselves in groups. Use printing to suggest that ideas are main thoughts or supportive ideas. Don't bother to organize too neatly, though, because that can impede the flow of ideas. Don't cross anything out because you can't tell where an idea will lead you. When you get a few ideas written down, you can start to group them, using coloured circles or whatever. Draw linking lines as connections suggest themselves.

Clustering is a type of prewriting that allows you to explore many ideas as soon as they occur to you. Like brainstorming or free associating, clustering allows you to begin without clear ideas.

To begin to cluster, choose a word that is central to your assignment. For example, if you were writing a paper about the value of a college education, you might choose the word "expectations" and write that word in the middle of your sheet of paper. Circle "expectations," then write words all around it--words that occur to you as you think of "expectations." Write down all words that you associate with "expectations," words that at first may seem to be random. Write quickly, circling each word, grouping words around your the central word. Connect your new words to previous ones with lines; when you feel you have exhausted a particular avenue of associations, go back to your central word and begin again.

For example, "expectations" might lead you to consider "the social aspects of college," which may lead you to consider "career networking." You may then find yourself writing down words that compare the types of jobs you might get through career networking. You may end up asking yourself questions such as "What sorts of jobs do I want? Not want?" Have fun with this exercise; even silly questions can open avenues to explore, such as "What if I ended up waiting tables at Buddy's?" "Would I rather be a lion-tamer or an accountant?" "What about my brilliant career as a stand-up comedian?"

Some words will take you nowhere; with other words you may discover that you have many related words to write. Random associations eventually become patterns of logic as you look over your work. After looking over the clustering exercise above, you might conclude that you want an exciting career as a performer of some type, rather than a job in the service sector or behind a desk.

Now your sample paper about the value of a college education has some focus: how you expect college to lead to an interesting career that involves creativity, skill, and performance. You might then want to return to the phrase "Job Skills" and develop that part of your cluster, noting the skills that you'd need to reach your ideal career.

Clustering does not take the place of a linear, traditional outline; but, as the example shows, it allows you to explore ideas before committing them to a particular order.

Outlining

IT MIGHT PROVE USEFUL to organize the ideas that suggest themselves during the freewriting and clustering exercises into a preliminary outline form. It is possible to write a paper without an outline, but it might suggest that your paper lacks organization if it proves impossible to write an outline that describes the thinking process behind your paper. Outlining never hurt; how helpful it is depends on what kind of thinker you are. At the least, a tentative outline can suggest areas in which your paper needs additional work or supporting details to bolster main ideas or, on the other hand, areas which have too much emphasis and need to be pruned down to avoid an imbalance. It might also help you to see how ideas are related and where connections or transitions are necessary between sections of your paper. Furthermore, the outline will help you visualize how ideas fit within the thesis statement that is taking shape in your mind. Remember that your outline is only a tentative skeleton to hang ideas on; limbs can be lopped off or added as the writing proceeds.

An outline presents a picture of the main ideas and the subsidiary ideas of any subject. Some typical uses of outlining are: a class reading assignment, an essay, a term paper, a book review or a speech.  For any of these, an outline will show  a basic overview and important details.

Some professors will require an outline in sentence form, or require the main points to be in chronological order, or have other specific requirements. A student’s first responsibility, of course, is to follow the requirements of the particular assignment.  What follows illustrates only the basics of outlining. The library presents it as a quick reminder because students often ask about outlining, and the information is not easy to find quickly in various reference books.

BASIC OUTLINE  FORM Below is a synopsis of the outline form. The main ideas take roman numerals. Sub-points under each main idea take capital letters and are indented. Sub-points under the capital letters, if any, take italic numbers and are further indented.

I.  MAIN IDEA                A. Subsidiary idea or supporting idea to I                B. Subsidiary idea or supporting idea to I                    1. Subsidiary idea to B                    2. Subsidiary idea to B                        a) Subsidiary idea to 2                        b) Subsidiary idea to 2

II.  MAIN IDEA                A. Subsidiary or supporting idea to II                B. Subsidiary idea to II                C. Subsidiary idea to II

III. MAIN IDEA                A. ...........                B. ..........

It is up to the writer to decide on how many main ideas and supporting ideas adequately describe the subject.  However, if there is a I in the outline, there has to be a II; if there is an A, there has to be a B; if there is a 1, there has to be a 2, and so forth.

OUTLINING  EXAMPLE Suppose you are outlining a speech on AIDS, and these are some of the ideas you feel should be included: AZT, Transmittal, AIDS babies, Teenagers, Safe sex, Epidemic numbers, Research.     To put these ideas into outline form, decide first on the main encompassing ideas.  These might be: I. Transmittal, II. Societal Consequences, III. Research. Next, decide where the rest of the important ideas fit in. Are they part of AIDS transmittal or AIDS societal consequences or AIDS research solutions?  The complete outline might look like this:

Major Aspects of Aids                        I. Transmittal of AIDS            A. Transfusions            B. Body fluids                1. Sexual                2. Non-sexual      II.  Societal Consequences of AIDS             A. Epidemic disease pattern                 1. Teenagers                 2. Women                 3. Homosexuals             B. AIDS babies             C. Increased homophobia             D. Overburdened health care     III.  Research Solutions to AIDS             A. AZT             B. HIV virus             C. Other viruses

It is only possible to make an outline if you have familiarity with the subject. Not only in the initial outline, but during the course of the research, the writer may find it necessary to add, subtract or change the position of various ideas. This is acceptable as long as the logical relationship among ideas is preserved.

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