Early in the writing process, informal outlines can help you sketch a plan. At this stage, an informal outline has certain advantages over a formal outline: It can be produced more quickly, it is more obviously tentative, and it can be revised more easily as your ideas evolve.

Informal outlines can take many forms. Perhaps the most common is simply the thesis followed by a list of major ideas. You can also make a diagram or flowchart to find an organizing pattern.

Don’t be afraid to play with your ideas on paper. Seeing ideas helps you think things through and find or create a structure for presenting those ideas.

If you began by jotting down a list of ideas or drawing a clustering diagram, you may be able to turn that list or diagram into a rough outline by crossing out some ideas, adding others, and putting the ideas in a logical order.