Research your piece
Do your research in your source materials. Use books, newspapers, magazines and even videos to find relevant information. Take notes on what you find. Take notes in your own words. Make the new information sound like your own voice.
Create a new note for the piece you are writing. Link in your notes. Linking allows you to organize by flow of thought. Start organizing your notes, first by simple white space into related ideas, then by headers once it becomes too difficult to keep track of.
Create your first draft
After your research outline is organized, go through each note and copy it into your first draft. This will create a ridiculously long document that we will then massage until it is in own words and all unnecessary detail is removed. This method is recommended by Cal Newport.
Add footnotes and references in APA format. Footnotes are optional, but the references can help us to avoid getting a copyright slap. Do name authors where you can.
Create your final draft
Read the piece over from top to bottom. Spellcheck, adjust wording and fact check the piece.
Next we publish the piece.
Publish or present your part.
If it’s a blogpost, essay, or book, it’s time to publish. Publish to your preferred medium. Bask in the contentment of a job well done.
If it’s a presentation or an outline for a video, then it’s time to make digital or electronic cue cards.
Add to your body of work
Once you’ve completed the assignment, it’s time to add it to your body of work. This helps you see how far you’ve come and it also helps you to create a body of work. All authors have many short pieces they’ve written. Sometimes these short essays can be combined to produce a single larger piece, such as a book.
References:
(Newport, C. 2007) Flat outline technique
Cue cards for public speaking
