Papers developing ideas or theories

If you are preparing an outline for a paper that develops ideas or theories, the process of preparing an outline involves:

• organising your ideas;
• creating a structure (mindmapping, grouping and summarising, and managing the details);
• collecting and assembling the evidence;
• writing the outline using your main message, outlining SPQR, and developing key point sentences.

You will recall that we considered these issues in the Effective Writing: core skills section. If you are preparing this type of paper, we recommend that you review the chapter entitled Organising your ideas.