2.00 Problem Statement (Preliminary Outline)

Develop an outline or plan for your paper.

An outline is like a road map in that it lets you see both where you are headed and what progress you are making at getting where you are going with the time and energy at hand. A good outline helps you get where you are going more efficiently, it lessens the chances that you will wander off the desired road, and, most importantly, it gives you some sense of where you are at. In the writing process you need to be able to judge your progress. An outline helps you do that. If you can not judge your progress (even if that sometimes is s--l--o--w) you will likely wander about frustrated. A simple outline can prevent that frustration; it also usually improves your writing.

Clearly define your research problem (i.e., "topic"). A one-half-to-one-page outline statement, developed from your prewriting and free writing, will help clarify your problem and your approach to it. (Suggestions for developing this rough outline into a more formal outline are contained in sections 6.00-6.01.)

Your problem statement should initially both raise specific questions and contain tentative conclusions and/or expectations. See also sections 6.00, and 12.00-12.04.

(See Hodges and Whitten, 33e.)