Ruizhe Jiang

Jesse Mikhail Wesso

Writing 2

May 30, 2023

Discussion on the usefulness of the outlines

The use of outlines has long been a topic of interest for writing enthusiasts,

academic researchers, and students in general. While some staunchly advocate outlines as

the key to writing success,

others remain skeptical. So,

what role does an outline truly

play in writing? In this blog, I

will discuss various scholars'

perspectives and findings on outlining. I hope this scholarly dialogue will be enlightening

and thought-provoking for you.

Early Investigation into Outlines

In 1972, Blaine K. Mckee, a professor of journalism at

Colorado State University, conducted a questionnaire on

outlining and received 80 valid responses from 180 members

of the American Society for Technical Communication. All

respondents agreed that some form of organization was

necessary before writing. However, only four participants

Dr. Mckee
used a formal sentence outline, while another four didn't use
an outline at all. The rest employed organizational methods such as topic outlines, word

outlines, and word/phrase combination outlines. Each organizational method had its

advantages and disadvantages, with some being timesaver and others having a clear

format. The four individuals who didn't use outlines believed that outlining was a waste

of time and hindered their inspiration. At the end of the survey, Dr. McKee emphasized

that every writer has their own method that works for them. He quoted from John R

Golaswezewski, “Hard and fast rules are not prevalent, and the writer must flow with the

tide to survive.”

Comparison of Outline and Other Writing Preparation Methods

In 1988, Ronald Kellogg conducted a study comparing outline-

based and draft-based writing strategies. As a psychology

professor at the University of Missouri, he also examined the

phenomenon of attentional overload experienced by students using

Ronald T. Kellogg
different strategies. The research demonstrated that written

outlines significantly enhanced students' writing quality, while drafts did not show the

same improvement. Mental outlines also improved writing quality, and both written and

mental outlines reduced attentional overload. However, Kellogg acknowledged that drafts

could still be beneficial in specific circumstances.

In 1990, Ronald Kellogg also compared outlining and clustering as two strategies. The

researchers discovered that outlines improved the writing quality of essays that only had

a topic provided but had no effect on essays where ideas and organizational results, in

addition to the topic, were available for reference. In contrast, clustering was found to be

entirely ineffective.
Does the outline really work?

Since the end of the last century, some scholars have moved away from fetishizing

outlining and started questioning whether outlines are truly the solution for effective

writing.

“Until we have more information and a better theoretical

understanding of the processes involved in text production, it

may not be appropriate to offer the firm advice to prepare

written plans before writing examination essays.” In 1991,

M. Torrance, G.V. Thomas, and E.J. Robinson from the

G. V. Thomas
University of Birmingham investigated the effectiveness of

outlines for students' exam essays. Although most students in the questionnaire agreed

that writing an outline was a necessary step before composing a text, there was no

correlation between writing an outline and students' writing performance.

In 2002, John Clayton, an experienced writer, published a concise but straightforward

article in the Harvard Management Communication Letter, arguing against outlining and

claiming that it stifled creativity.

Discussion on the Roles of Outlines

“It has dangers as well as power.” In 1995, Barbara E.

Walvoord from the University of Cincinnati, along with five

other researchers from different institutions, conducted a study

involving 122 undergraduate students from four schools. The

researchers found that most students used outlines at some

Barbara E. Walvoord
point during their writing process. They identified all types of writing frames as outlines,

unlike McKee's categorization. The researchers summarized several proven roles of

outlining, including guiding the direction of writing, bridging content and structure,

organizing ideas, previewing and evaluating the arrangement of writing, and

summarizing progress. However, the researchers also noted that many students used

outlines incorrectly, either too broadly or too narrowly. Most importantly, they found that

simply using an outline did not improve students' writing scores.

Outline Supporters and Their Outline Strategies

Brian Wagner, a writing expert who has taught at several universities, believes that

outlines are highly useful, and he argues that those who oppose outlines are not using the

right outlining strategy. In 1994, he proposed the outline method of brainstorming from

document analysis.

“The process of reverse outlining brings order to chaos: once the existing structure is

made explicit, writers are more equipped to see where the problems are and, thus, are

able to address them.” Cynthia L. King, an associate professor of communication studies,

introduced a reverse outline writing construction strategy in 2012. According to her

approach, writing involves drafting, analyzing the topic of sentences in the draft,

outlining the essay based on the topics, and then reorganizing the essay structure

accordingly. King acknowledges the usefulness of outlining before writing, as

highlighted by Kellogg, but she also emphasizes the importance of drafting in the writing

process. She also cites the findings of Walvoord and Torrance, agreeing that creating a

draft is a necessary step before outlining.

Latest Research

“Students perceive outlining as more useful if their outlining

process includes both organization and content exploration and

less useful if it excludes organization or content exploration.” In

2019, Matthew J. Baker, an associate professor in the Department

of Linguistics at Brigham Young University, conducted research

on the writing
Matthew perspectives of business communication students.
J. Baker

The study heavily drew on previous research, such as Mckee's 1972 survey. It revealed

that students viewed outlining as a pre-writing preparation activity, which differed from

Mckee's findings for professional writers. The study confirmed Walvoord's findings that

student outlines played a role in structuring essays, and the longer the final written piece,

the more effective the outline. The study also supported Torrance's findings that not all

students engaged with the content in the outline. Lack of time was often cited as the

reason for students not writing outlines, despite surveys indicating that outlines save time.

Based on Kellogg's 1988 study, the authors concluded that for shorter writing tasks,

students could be taught to create a mental outline and give an oral presentation. In

response to students reporting difficulty in generating outline points and incorporating

material when transcribing the outline into a final paper, the authors advocated for using

proper outlining strategies, including King's reverse outline strategy and Wagner's

brainstorming strategy.

This discussion on outlining has spanned nearly 50 years, with scholars sharing their

views based on rigorous experiments and investigations, collectively advancing the

understanding of outlining. I hope this blog has provided helpful insights, and more

importantly, I hope you discover the writing strategy that works best for you.
 Reflective essay

The main question I want to explore in this blog is whether writing an outline is useful, as

I myself have always been skeptical about the usefulness of outlines and therefore want

to understand the results of professional research on them in academia.

This academic dialogue took place in many different academic journals and was

presented in the form of academic papers spanning nearly 50 years. The overriding

concern of all scholars involved in the academic dialogue was whether the outline would

be useful to a particular group or how it would be perceived by the particular group of

people involved in writing it. Each scholar participates in the dialogue and expresses his

or her views through the publication of a research paper written by him or her and filled

with detailed survey data or experimental data. Some have a strong attitude in support of

the outline, while others are opposed. For example, in 1972, the term outline referred

only to a narrowly structured outline, and all other informal outlines were considered

simple processes of writing preparation, to the point where scholars considered outlines

as long as they were organizational preparations of writing points, whether words,

phrases or sentences, or even verbal mental outlines. As a vehicle for academic dialogue,

the dissertation itself is also gradually changing. Whereas the early 20th century articles

of the dialogue were not as rigorously formatted, the latest papers published in 2019 are

very rigorously formatted and very closely linked between each paragraph, from the

abstract, introduction, and literature review to the study of experimental methods, data

analysis, and finally the summary, insights, limitations of the study, and prospects for

future research.
I think this is a discourse community conversation because this group of scholars meets

the characteristics of the discourse community written in Melzer's article. First, this group

of scholars has a widely shared public goal, as they all want to increase everyone's

understanding of the role of the outline in writing through the efforts of their own

research. This common goal motivated all the professional scholars involved in the

dialogue, making them each conduct their research critically and objectively and look

critically at the results of their predecessors. Second, there are well-established

communication platforms among these scholars, namely academic journals where papers

are published after peer review, and academic conferences where scholars can discuss

directly with each other. Each participant in the dialogue interacts with each other by

publishing in a rigorous peer review journal. The final panelist, Professor Baker of

Brigham Young University, first participated in a discussion on academic writing by

attending the annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and

Communication in Florida in 2015, and then had his paper published in an academic

journal in 2019. Third, scholars who participate in the dialogue use the publication

process to gain others' perspectives on their research and thus improve their own

research. Scholars can also access the latest research information by reading the

published results of others. Fourth, these scholars pursue their common goals through

genres unique to academia, journal papers and conference papers. They advance their

knowledge about the outline by publishing papers that are recognized by their peers. All

papers that have been successfully published to the public through peer review are the

common outcome of this discourse community. Through a single paper, they

demonstrate to not only their peers but also to the general public the progress of their
research on the outline problem as indicated by the scientific results they have studied.

Fifth, the bar is high, and the dialogue is full of specialized language, as all the

participants have PhDs in linguistics, media, education or related fields, and many have

been working in language education or professional writing for many years. All of these

scholars have thought deeply about the outline and have real-life experience, and all have

years of professional academic research training that allows them to use specialized

terminology in their papers and thus engage in communication.

After reading all the relevant papers by the scholars involved in the dialogue, my

perception of the outline changed. Before the whole WP2 learning process, I always

thought the outline was a waste of time for me. Through this conversation, I have read

multiple detailed experimental data for the outline or data from large scale survey reports.

Through the research of these scholars, I realized that outlining could help me explore the

organization of my essay and that even a simple informal outline could help me save time

and improve the quality of my writing. I learned a variety of different useful outlining

methods, such as organizing by reverse outlining after writing a draft, brainstorming

ideas before writing an outline, or mentally outlining before writing a short essay of a few

hundred words. I also realized that the outline itself is already part of the writing process

rather than a pre-writing step, so latter I will sketch out in my mind the finish writing that

the outline may bring when I am writing it.

There is a great deal that intrigues me and deserves to be explored further in this 50-year-

long conversation involving many colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and

the United States. First, the academic paper itself has undergone many changes from the

last century to the new century, and the Internet has made the journal, the vehicle for
academic papers, suffer a huge impact. The academic essay, a widely used genre of

writing itself, is intriguing to me as it changes with the rigors of the times to fit the social

environment, and I think it is well worth exploring. Then, in addition to outlining,

scholars in the conversation mentioned a variety of other methods to aid in organization,

including clustering, drafts, and lists. I think research conversations about the effects of

other writing readiness operations are also well worth exploring. Finally, this dialogue

confronts a group that includes both students and professional writers, and the

comparison of the different effects of outlines and other writing preparation methods on

different groups is well worth examining.

 Bibliography

Baker, Matthew J. (2019). Pain or Gain? How Business Communication Students

Perceive the Outlining Process. Business and Professional Communication

Quarterly, 82.3, 273-296. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329490619831277

Walvoord, Barbara E.; Virginia Johnson Anderson; John R. Breihan; Lucille Parkinson

McCarthy; Susan Miller Robison; A. Kimbrough Sherman. (1995). Functions of

outlining among college students in four disciplines. Research in the Teaching of

English 29.4, 390-421.

Kellogg, Ronald T. (1988). Attentional overload and writing performance: Effects of

rough draft and outlines strategies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning,

Memory, and Cognition 14.2, 355-365.

Torrance, Mark; Glyn V. Thomas; Elizabeth J. Robinson. (1991). Strategies for answering

examination essay questions: Is it helpful to write a plan?. British Journal of

Educational Psychology 61, 46-54.

Clayton J. (2002). First, don’t write an outline. Harvard Management Communication

Letter, 5(8), 3-4.

Kellogg R. T. (1990). Effectiveness of prewriting strategies as a function of task

demands. American Journal of Psychology, 103, 327-342. 

King C. L. (2012). Reverse outlining: A method for effective revision of document

structure. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 55, 254-

261. https://doi.org/10.1109/tpc.2012.2207838

McKee B. K. (1972). Do writers use an outline when they write? Technical

Communication, 19, 10-13.

Wagner, Brian J. (1994). An easy outlining approach for producing solidly structured,

audience-directed reports. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 08.4,

475-482.

Melzer, Dan. (2020). Understanding Discourse Communities, Writing Spaces: Readings

on Writing, Volume 3.