Magazine Writing

Lesson 3: How to Research your Article and Write an Outline

Writing an Outline

Writing the actual article itself can be much easier if you have prepared a plan or outline. Some writers like to prepare detailed outlines, listing the main points of each paragraph, but others like very simple plans. Some outlines include bubble clusters and spider diagrams, or you could draw boxes listing key ideas like Lynne Rominger does. She lists the items that she is going to cover and the first words of pertinent quotes in each box.

I often like to use detailed outlines in the form of numbered paragraphs. Within each paragraph I note the main points that I want to make. The lead, or beginning of your article is probably the most important part – here you want to ‘hook’ the reader. Some good beginnings include startling facts, strong quotes, questions and interesting anecdotes. The body or main part of the article will expand on these. The conclusion should also be strong. Some articles fall flat at the end – try not to make that mistake. If you have a plan you can quickly see whether the order of the article will make it smooth and easy to read.

An example of an outline for an article on single women characters on screen would look something like this, for example:

1. Lead - 40% of single women today will never get married. (startling fact) - proliferation of single women characters in films and TV reflect growing numbers of singles - not only in twenties, but in thirties and forties - some examples: ditzy Ally McBeal and Bridget Jones, well-balanced Amy in Judging Amy - Amy, arguably truer representation of single women than Ally and Bridget

2. Body

Main points:

- Ally and Bridget both career women in thirties, yet main object of both is to get married - TV series and film concentrate mostly on love affairs, rather than careers - tend to portray single women as only interested in finding husbands, - also both ditzy, accident-prone, get into silly situations - Ally, in particular, obsessed with marriage and biological clock – witness dancing babies Judging Amy

- more interested in career, relationships secondary - show focuses more on life of divorced single woman working and raising daughter - Amy’s mother also single, working woman, even though much older, Very focused on her work - also about family – Amy’s relationships with mother and brothers and daughter - based on true-life characters

- all are improvements, however on Alex in Fatal Attraction

- shown as crazy, obsessed,

- male of film shown in good light even though he is unfaithful to wife and

has a one-night stand with Alex

- quotes from expert or two

- anecdotes?

Conclusion

- Judging Amy show truer to life - We have come a long way from Fatal Attraction

You may not want to prepare such detailed outlines. “Anything that works for you will work for your article”.

1.Bykofsky, Sheree, Sander, Jennifer and Rominger, Lynne. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Freelance Articles. Ibid., p.197

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