Chapter 8: Planning the Essay

What You Will Make

Create a section plan showing each part’s job, evidence, and approximate share of the word count. This is a provisional allocation, not a universal formula.

Choose an Order for the Question

A chronological structure follows development over time; a comparison can organise around shared criteria; a claim-based structure follows the reasons needed for the thesis. Choose the structure that lets the reader evaluate your answer without reconstructing the connections alone.

Fictional teaching case: This lesson uses the invented campus-transit records in Chapter 1. Record labels and numbers are practice material, not real research to cite or submit.

Plan the Transit Evaluation

For the invented 1,500-word assignment, try: 150 words introducing the question; 200 defining evening access and the evidence; 350 examining usage; 400 examining the timetable and survey; 250 addressing the alternative reading and limits; 150 drawing the evaluation together. These allocations total 1,500 and can change during drafting.

The largest portion examines the time-specific question. A 700-word history of campus transport would crowd out that analysis. Conversely, removing all context would leave the reader unable to understand what the records measure.

Do not make “Record A,” “Record B,” and “Record C” your only section logic. The records belong where they support the reader’s questions. One source may matter in more than one part, provided you avoid repeating the same explanation.

Try It Yourself

Write a question above each planned section: “What changed?”, “For whom?”, “What does the evidence leave uncertain?” Add the necessary source and a sentence of anticipated reasoning. If a section has only a topic label, specify its role in the argument.

Read the headings in order. Where the movement is unclear, write a connecting sentence before deciding whether to move or combine sections. Keep a note of evidence still needed.

Check Your Work

• Does every section help establish or qualify the thesis?
• Is there enough space for analysis after source description?
• Are necessary definitions supplied before they are used?
• Can the plan fit the assignment without hiding limitations?

After drafting, compare the actual paragraph sequence with this plan and revise either one when the reasoning improves.

Source Guidance

A reverse outline lists existing paragraph points so their order and gaps can be examined. (Harvard College Writing Center)