Creating comprehensive manuscript outlines that organize research and optimize analytic arguments
The outline process builds upon the materials included in the research dossier to overview support for the manuscripts key claims and identify a clear organizational pattern that contributes to the project’s analytical cogency. Previous clients have expressed that the outline process significantly accelerated their writing process and enabled them to have a bigger picture after staring into the candle for too long.
A brief note about the form and function of the outline:
The outline includes considerably lengthy block quotations that act as support for briefly stated points of elaboration. A manuscript itself should not include more than 3-5 block quotations (over 40 words). However, in the outline, the lengthy passages included in the sub-points are used to help guide the logical connections between the ideas presented in main points and provide material to integrate as paraphrases and chain citations when beginning to draft the manuscript.
In most cases, an outline's word count and page length exceeds the expected draft of the paper. As you takeover from the outline, materials will need to be truncated and adapted to most maximally support the thesis constructed in the outline.
The completed version of this outline reached 20 pages and included a similar structure for the second and third main points.
It took 5 hours to complete and required the completion of a lengthy research dossier prior to its development.
Depending on the size - past outlines have ranged from 3-8 hours of time.