The Importance of Outlining Your Research Manuscript

As mentioned in our previous blog about overcoming writer’s block, peer-reviewed journal articles (aka manuscripts) are often considered the bedrock of scholarly output. However, despite their importance, our clients frequently tell us that they have received surprisingly little formal instruction on how to effectively mobilize their research findings into manuscript form. For this blog post, we have decided to focus on an integral and oftentimes missed step in the manuscript writing process – the creation of a manuscript outline. So sit back, relax, and read on to learn more about the process of creating a manuscript outline and pick up some effective tips for doing so.

The importance of creating a manuscript outline

A manuscript outline helps to create a coherent structure for your writing, helping you to save time, and get your most important ideas across effectively. By planning what you are going to write beforehand, you are also safeguarding against writer’s block and creating a roadmap for success. Some of our team’s favorite benefits of creating a manuscript outline include:

• The opportunity to create a rational plan before you start to go down unproductive rabbit holes - it is very easy to get swept up with writing about an idea that is tangential to the main content of the manuscript. Next thing you know, you have spent an obscene amount of time on something that does not make sense and does not fit with the rest of your manuscript. By creating an outline you are helping to focus and structure your thoughts down to the paragraph level, saving you time and energy.

• The opportunity to get early feedback, buy-in, and assistance from other co-authors – a manuscript outline is a useful roadmap for you and the rest of your co-authors and study team. By sharing an outline before you begin to write the content you can engage others in early discussions related to your main messages, the layout of your arguments, and how you will frame the overall manuscript. Importantly, an outline can help you proactively identify where you will benefit from the help or expertise of others, saving you unnecessary delays and last-time pleas for help.

• Help with staying focused and sticking to a timeline - by streamlining your writing to focus on pre- identified content, you are better equipped to ensure that your writing stays on point. Sure, you will still have slow days. But in the long run, you will have created a structure that acts as a helpful to-do list and prevents you from needlessly wasting time on unnecessary content.

Tips for creating an effective manuscript outline

1. Start by identifying your target journal – an important first step is creating and narrowing down an ordered short-list of journals that you plan to submit your manuscript to. Each journal has specific requirements and instructions about things like word count, figures, tables, etc that will have an impact on your outline. Some journals even offer specific instructions about what they would like covered in each manuscript section and/or downloadable general templates for authors to follow.

2. Identify an existing publication that is similar to what you are writing about and use it as a template to help structure your writing and content - why re-invent the wheel when you can stand on the shoulders of giants? In this context, we mean take the time to identify at least one peer - reviewed manuscript that is similar in content to the one you are working on. Similarities could include disease process, methodological approach, or even article type (e.g., commentary). The key here is to identify at least one publication that can help you start to structure your thinking and put your best foot forward.

3. Start broad, then focus in - here at Academy Edits, we advise clients to begin with creating a base outline that identifies a manuscript’s overarching aim(s), underlying research question(s), specific objective(s), and summary of key findings. From there, consider branching out and outlining paragraph by paragraph each of the manuscript’s sections. As you do so, be sure to frequently check back in with the base outline to ensure that your expanding outline is telling a coherent story. When it comes to creating an outline for your results, you may want to start with your figures and tables as they provide a solid snapshot of the depth and breadth of your findings.

4. Circulate your outline early - as we touched upon at the start of this article, there are many benefits to sharing your outline with your co-authors and study team for input. To maximize the benefit, be sure to share your outline early in the process and do not get stuck on the quest for perfection. Obtaining early feedback will help streamline your writing and save you time in the long run. It can also help you identify differences in opinions and desired directions early, before they become a major and costly issue.

5. Remember that this is an iterative process – as every other step in the manuscript writing process, the creation of a manuscript outline is meant to be an iterative process. Thus, it it is important to remain flexible and open to change based on others’ input and how the manuscript writing unfolds. An initially strong idea can evolve into one that warrants changing once you start flushing the idea out further.

Remember that this is part of the process so don’t get bogged down with rigidity and remain open to revisions and change.