4. How Should You Prepare to Write?

Across the street several tree experts were cutting down a huge old oak that had been hit carelessly by the builder's bulldozer and had not recovered from the shock. The upper leafy fringes were sawed off first. As they fell, ropes caught them momentarily before they were lowered to the ground. Then the main branches were removed, section by section. That done, a power saw made short work of the massive trunk. Finally, a trench a foot or so deep was dug around the base, the heavy root formations were sliced away, and the last traces of the tree disappeared after soil had been shoveled back into the excavation. Everything proceeded neatly and quickly, step by step.

Here, in the efficient removal of a dead oak, was a strik­ing example of how important it is to work with an orderly procedure and with a plan in order to bring about desired results. The men had had to make certain, in advance, that none of the falling pieces would injure them or the nearby house and shrubs. Experience had taught them that it made a difference whether they started in one place or another. Even had they been working in a field and been intending to drop a tree by sawing only its base, they would have had to plan the proper cutting angles so that it would fall without crashing down on their heads.

In a way, the workmen were retracing nature's footsteps. They were methodically tearing down what had just as methodically gone up. Although many mysteries about the growth of living things still remain, it is quite clear that there is a basic order and design. A seed doesn't just happen to grow into a towering forest giant. Certain conditions favor­able to growth must be present so that the various stages will progress smoothly.

It would seem, then, that the most natural thing in the world is proper planning, whether something is being built up or being torn down, whether it is alive or inanimate, whether it is a tree, a building—or a composition! And since careful preparation is so essential, it is always puzzling to your teachers why you are often reluctant to spend the neces­sary time to organize your ideas before you write.

You hear about an outline almost as soon as you begin to write full paragraphs, way back in the lower grades. Your teachers stress the need for planning what you are going to say so that the final talk or composition will have the good sense and good form that every well-developed effort should have. It's old hat to you—the stories about the relationship between blueprints and houses, travel agencies and enjoyable trips.

You appear to be impressed with this logic when it comes to talking. You would be terrified if you were asked sudden­ly to stand up and deliver a five minute talk on some subject. You would consider this kind of assignment grossly unfair. A person needs time to think it out, you would say, to figure out the main points he wants to make. He has enough trouble even when he prepares his speech.

Yet when it comes to compositions, many students think an outline is a waste of time. They become impatient and want to get started at once. If their minds are blank when confronted with a topic, they would rather sit around and wait for an inspiration than spend the time working out an outline. It reaches the ridiculous at times. I have known students who rushed blindly into a composition and then, to satisfy the teacher's insistence on an outline, jotted down some notes after they had finished.

Yes, I readily admit that some people can and do succeed in writing excellent pieces without a moment's planning. But if you examined their ability closely you would discover three things: they apparently were born with a strong sense of order, they have trained themselves to formulate their ideas in their minds very rapidly, and they have a superior com­mand of the language as well as a considerable background of general information. They can dispense with a written outline because they can think ahead fast enough and far enough to avoid going off the topic or underdeveloping the paragraphs. However, even these gifted writers know full well that for long essays or those requiring research they will do poorly unless they set things up first on paper. A pro­fessional author would not dare to submit an article or a story to an editor unless almost as much time had been spent in designing the piece as in writing it. The whole point is beautifully summarized in the words of one of the great English poets, William Wordsworth. Rather than subscribe to the popular and false notion that poets feel inspired by some sight or emotion and then promptly dash off an immor­tal lyric, he said:

"Poetry is emotion recollected in tranquillity."

Words destined to be well-remembered are not poured out. They are the products of thought, effort, and planning.

You can be sure of one thing. Without some preliminary thinking on paper, you will rarely produce the best composi­tion you are capable of writing. You can be sure of another thing, too. A brief and simple outline, of the kind we will shortly discuss, will not be a waste of time; on the contrary, it will help you do the writing job right:

1. It provides the paragraphs for the body. It might be said that a composition should be prepared inside out. Unless you know what your main ideas are going to be, you cannot very well know where to begin or how to end. There­fore, the main purpose of the outline is to set up the middle of the composition.

The outline can be made to work almost by mathematical formula. As a rule of thumb, you can assume that an ade­quately developed body paragraph will require about 100 words. Many good paragraphs are shorter, of course, and many others run into hundreds of words. But, on the whole, you can use the 100 word suggestion as a means for deter­mining the number of middle paragraphs you should prepare in relation to the total number of words required.

For example, you have been asked to write 250-300 words on a given topic. Since you will want to leave at least 75-100 words for the beginning and ending paragraphs, you can readily see that two paragraphs in the body would be just about right, 100 words or so for each. Knowing this, you can concentrate on planning the best two paragraphs you can think of, rather than aimlessly writing a series of brief, pointless little paragraphs or cramming everything into one whether it fits or not. Naturally, you want your writing to sound free and spontaneous, and you may fear that this formula type of approach may prevent that. But once you have developed the technique, you will be amazed at how your mind will develop the habit of preparing main ideas in an organized pattern of suitable length without robbing it­self of spontaneity.

2. The outline provides the material for the opening and closing paragraphs. Since one leads into the major discussion and the other brings it to a close, it is a relatively simple matter to set up a good introduction and conclusion once you have planned your body paragraphs.

Indeed, if you wish to extend the formula idea, you can use it here, too. If you plan to write two body paragraphs, you can expect to write four sentences in your introduction-one to suggest the main idea and purpose of the entire com­position, one to hint at the contents of the first middle para­graph, another to refer to the second, and a fourth to help you lead into the body. The same device can be used for the conclusion. Exactly how this is done will be made clear to you in Chapter 5.

3.         The outline prevents wandering from the topic.

When you have carefully planned what you are going to write in a particular paragraph—and nothing else regardless of how tempting it may sound at the moment—you won't be able to introduce ideas that do not belong because you will have imposed upon yourself a discipline that all writers recognize as necessary to insure the logical sequence of thoughts centered about one point at a time. Not only will each paragraph have unity within itself but its contribution to the topic as a whole will be improved.

4.         The outline helps you avoid technical errors. It is usually difficult, if not impossible, to do two things at once and do them well. You will recall that the model composi­tions were judged on the basis of their form and content. Whenever you write you are faced with the double job of ex­pressing yourself with interest and good sense as well as cor­rectness as dictated by acceptable usage. If, because you have prepared a good outline, you do not have to think about what you are going to say next, you can concentrate on forming good sentences and avoiding careless errors in spell­ing and grammar. The driver of a car who doesn't know his way gets into an accident easily. He can't keep his mind on the road and its hazards because his eyes are searching for signs to show him the right direction.

5.         The outline saves time! Yes, it saves time; it doesn't waste it. It may take you ten or fifteen minutes to prepare your work and you may think you have fallen behind some of the other writers who began scribbling away as soon as the signal to begin was given. But you will eventually catch up to them and pass them. You won't be stopping every few minutes to wonder what to say next, nor will it be necessary for you to cross out huge sections of writing because you have suddenly discovered that you have wandered off the subject. Once you begin it will be full speed ahead. If you have ever watched a mile race, you are familiar with the picture of the runner who dashes into the lead at the outset and appears to be leaving everyone hopelessly behind. The eventual winner, who has planned his pace, inevitably passes the now-faded early flash and finishes strongly and confi­dently. Similarly, the outline helps you pace your writing so that the last part of your composition is as interesting and forceful as the beginning.

It is quite possible that the distaste some students have for outlines stems from the fact that they have been taught to approach the whole idea as if it were a jigsaw puzzle. The suggested procedure goes something like this:

Let your mind roam at random about the subject.

Jot down any idea that occurs to you.

Eliminate the ones that don't fit.

Arrange the remaining ones in proper order. Coordinate the ones that go together.

The trouble with this method is that you often bog down while you are playing the complicated game of shifting sub­topics about. It does seem silly and time-wasting to let your mind blunder about up half a dozen blind alleys and then literally drag it back to where it should have been in the first place.

We're not going to prepare outlines this way. This method sounds all right, but it doesn't work for most students. Our technique is simpler and much more direct. It depends upon the same kind of mental direction and discipline that enable an expert to get to the core of a problem almost without a moment's hesitation.

When an architect is called in to plan a house, he doesn't begin by making aimless drawings on a piece of paper, hop­ing that one of them will look attractive to his clients. First there is a meeting to discuss the kind of house the buyers want. At least three basic questions must be answered:

What style does the family prefer? How many rooms are necessary?

What features must be included in each room so that it best suits the needs of its occupants?

The answers to these questions lead to the plans from which the house is built.

As a writer, you are an architect with words. If you want to plan quickly and effectively, you, too, must learn to use questions to guide your thinking. They will help you force your mind to focus directly on the demands of the topic. They will lead you to an outline that takes into account the purpose, length, and major ideas of the composition you wish to write.

The key questions you must answer before you write a single word on any topic are also three in number. Memorize them. Use them regularly. Make the guide-question tech­nique a habit. Your outlines will become the indispensable tools they should be for successful writing.

Question I: How shall I handle the material? Here is where you make your final decision about what you want to tell your reader and how you want to tell it. You should have partially answered this question while you were selecting your topic, if you followed the suggestions offered in the previous chapter. Now you review the situation. Have you narrowed the topic sufficiently to suit the length required? Is this a con­troversial subject that calls for a definite point of view? Will you have to get more information than you have? Are you go­ing to personalize? Have you thought of an unusual approach? Can you get the point across in the form of a story, or will a vivid description do the job, or will perhaps a "how to" ex­planation be best? This briefing session you have with your­self points your thinking in the right direction and ideas flow readily when the actual writing takes place.

Question II: How many paragraphs do I need? Now, re­membering that the outline prepares the material for the middle or body of the composition, you check the total num­ber of words you will have to write. Let's say it is 300. You can subtract 100 words or so for the beginning (introduc­tory) and ending (concluding) paragraphs, which you will add later on. That leaves about 200 words for the middle, or 100 for each of two body paragraphs. If you work it this way you will be using the formula technique suggested previously, a very effective way of training yourself to lay out para­graphs that are suitable both in number and length. Let me repeat, however, that the numbers are to be regarded by you as approximate, merely as yardsticks, and that variations are to be expected. Under certain circumstances it would be per­fectly reasonable to write one rather full body paragraph of 200 words or three or four short, crisp ones of 50-75 words each. Whether you decide to use the formula device or to try some other arrangement, the main thing is that you must know in advance how many paragraphs you will use. Why is this so important? Think about the architect again for a mo­ment. He has to know how many rooms there will be in the house before he can plan what to put into each one. Your paragraphs are like his rooms, and the contents of either one depend upon the number.

Question III: What major ideas will each paragraph de­velop? You are now ready for the written outline. Suppose you have decided to use two middle paragraphs, the topic being "Dating on a Dime." Your approach might be to pre­sent your material as if you were an expert and were giving advice to others. Since this is going to be a "how to" piece of writing, you decide that the best way to explain your tech­nique is to follow a definite teaching pattern. First you will describe your method and then you will give an example to illustrate the point. Thus one of the middle paragraphs will talk about selling the idea to your date and the other about carrying it out. On a piece of paper you draw two lines near the top, like this:

On each line you write a major idea heading that will briefly suggest the contents of a paragraph. The phrase used here should be general in nature and no more than two or three words in length, as in:

SELLING THE IDEA           CARRYING IT OUT

Now you think of the details that will help you develop your paragraphs and will later be converted into sentences. Use specific words or phrases to list the details! Expressions like "how it was done, where it began" are of little value be­cause they do not act as good reminders. The main purpose of an outline is to enable you to do your thinking in advance so that you can concentrate on forming effective sentences and paragraphs when you get to the actual writing. If at any point you forget what you had in mind, your planning has been wasted.

Consider how most people remember humorous stories. They try to keep the "punch line" in mind, the specific word or remark that brings the laugh. Building up the story around this key expression then becomes easy. Once a skillful hu­morist has a peg ton which to hang his sentences, he can con­centrate on his delivery, choose his words carefully, let his imagination have full rein, and introduce variations as they occur to him in the telling of the story.

The details you insert under the paragraph headings must work the same way. They must be so definite that as soon as your eye looks at them your mind is ready to form the sen­tences that will develop the thoughts in the most attractive possible manner. Thus, if you write "where it began," you aren't helped very much because you must stop to think about the place and try to recall what you had originally wanted to say. What is worse, you may even forget the point altogether (as people do with jokes) and you will be blocked in the smooth flow of words that should proceed from a good outline. On the other hand, a phrase like "Joe's room" or "the back porch" sets the train of thought in motion again when you have to write the sentences based on this detail.

Getting back to our topic, then, you arrange the specific details underneath the paragraph headings. The order will vary with the type of material that is to be presented. If it is narrative, you will naturally want to put first things first; if it is argumentative, you may want to build up to your most powerful point at the end; if it is descriptive, you will want to organize the items into an easily followed form, like start­ing near the door of a room and proceeding around it from. left to right or vice versa. Since ours is going to be a "how to" composition with some narrative aspects, the order of the details is obvious: the series of steps that lead to a success­ful date on a dime. So you put them in:

SELLING THE IDEA              CARRYING IT OUT
anti-spending line                      exit parents
simple things of life                    icebox raid
value of exercise                       living room walk
need for conversation                music, talk
parents' night out arrival            icebox raid, walk

At this point, your outline is finished and you are ready to write. The two major ideas in the body have been laid out and you know exactly what you are going to say in the paragraph you will form for each one. You spend a few minutes thinking about an opening paragraph that will start the composition off with a bang. In the next chapter you will be shown how this can be done with consistently good re­sults. After you have written the most interesting beginning paragraph you can think of, you are ready for the material prepared by your outline.

The idea heading for each of the middle paragraphs will usually serve as the topic sentence. Well have more to say about this type of sentence later, too, and explain what its purpose is and how good ones are created. For the moment, however, let's assume you have started one of the middle paragraphs properly and have reached the specific details of the idea headings. This is where the outline proves to be most useful. The points you want to develop in the para­graph are right before your eyes. Now you can really focus on the sentences—correct ones, interesting ones, colorful ones, varied ones, the best ones you can write.

Your final use of the outline involves a procedure very similar to the one used in writing the beginning paragraph. The only difference is that now you must direct your attention to bringing the composition to a satisfactory conclusion. You take a quick look at your outline once more to remind your­self of the major ideas you talked about. Then you write the final paragraph that ties things together. This is another technique that will soon be explained in greater detail.

Suppose we pause now to examine how a student handled the outline we have just reviewed. As you read the com­position, check back to the idea headings and details. Notice how smoothly they have been worked in, and make up your mind now that you will train yourself to do this equally well.

Dating on a Dime

Boys, step this way. if you can't keep up with your girl and are bothered by empty pockets, I'll let you in on a big secret. You can have a good time for a dime/

First you have to sell the idea to your fair lady. That's simple. Get her into a conversation on the material things in life, the silly way people throw their money around. She will soon agree that it takes more brains to have fun without buying it. Then play up the simple things. Discuss the lost arts of walking and talking. If you've done your English homework, give her a few ex­amples from literature. The knockout wallop comes with the unselfish approach. Why not give the folks a night out? By this time, she's hooked.

When the big night arrives, get to her house early. Offer to do the dishes. That impresses the folks and gets rid of them quickly. Once you are alone, get busy.

While you work around the kitchen (she does the dishes, of course), inspect the refrigerator. There may be some odds and ends there that you like. After everything is shipshape, take a walk—from the kitchen to the living room. Sit around, play some records, and talk, if you don't say anything tor certain periods of time, that's all right, too. Sometimes actions speak louder than words. If you get hungry again, take another walk—back to the icebox. You'd be surprised how quickly time passes. In {act, the only drawback here is that the folks always get home too early.

But you've nad a good time. It hasn't cost you a cent. What about that dime, you say? Oh, you keep it in re­serve. Occasionally there's a kid brother around who has to be paid off.

This illustration of a completed unit demonstrates how helpful a good outline can be. It supplies you with the ideas and simultaneously holds the material together. Getting your paragraphs set up becomes almost routine with practice. Once you have decided upon your approach and the number of paragraphs, the rest follows a pattern. If your handling of a topic is to be personalized, you pick the highlights of your experiences related to the subject. Two paragraphs—two highlights; three paragraphs—three highlights, etc. If you plan to express an opinion, you select your best arguments to form your major idea headings. If you want to tell a story, you break it down so that each significant change of time or place becomes a paragraph. If you have a description or explanation in mind, you divide the material into the im­portant aspects or steps, as was done with the dating topic.

Putting down the four or five specific details under the idea headings shouldn't be much of a problem, either. Usu­ally you choose the topic and the ideas that will develop it. If you have chosen properly, you are writing about a subject you know. It is reasonable to expect, then, that the key words or phrases you jot down to remind you of the contents of each paragraph will occur to you practically as fast as you can write them. Even if you have been assigned a single topic about which you know very little, the procedure is still the same. You do some research first. Then you proceed with your selection of your approach, your decision about the number of paragraphs, the idea headings, and the details under them.

To make sure that everything we have said about the out­line is clear to you, here are a few more examples prepared and written by students:

OUTLINE EXAMPLE 1

Topic: The Art of Baby Sitting

Question I: How shall I handle the material? The writer de­cided to talk about herself as a baby sitter and to tell the story of a typical experience.

Question II: How many paragraphs do I need? Since the composition called for 300 words, the writer planned for two body paragraphs.

Question III: What major ideas will each paragraph develop? Many things happen in the course of a five or six hour baby sitting session. It was the job of the writer to select the two ideas that would be most interesting to the reader and most thoroughly cover the topic. This is what the outline looked like:

FEEDING                   PUTTING TO BED
pablum                         changing diaper
first spoonful                 loss of pin
refusal to swallow         refusal to sleep
dress disaster                screams
annoyance                    picking up

The Composition

My phone rang. It was my charming neighbor who was inquiring whether my services as a baby sitter were available. Since Í had been admiring a hat in the store windows for several days, this was an excellent oppor­tunity to get the money to buy it.

I arrived in time for baby's feeding. Her mother gave me instructions before she left, but I wondered about that peculiar look she gave me in addition. I prepared the pablum. Smiling at the child, I pushed a spoonful into her mouth and met no resistance. This was going to be easy. The baby's mouth was full but she made no effort to swallow the food. Was something wrong? The thought had hardly left my mind when, with a hissing sound, the pablum slithered out of baby's mouth and landed in my lap. I might get that hat, I thought, but what about a new dress? The struggle went on until my patience was exhausted. I had to stop before I did things to baby that are against the rules.

It was time for the little dear to be changed and put to bed. Since I was a novice, I left the safety pins nearby. What a mistake! I pinned one side. I started the other— but where was the second pin? Madness almost gripped me. Had baby swallowed it? I was about to drop in a dead faint when I heard a yowl. There, sticking to a chubby little fist was the pin. I hurriedly finished dress­ing her and dropped her into her crib. I had been told that she went to sleep like an angel. How could she have changed into a monster so fast? She screamed. She kicked. She blasted away until I picked her up. Then it was quiet. We went through this battle about forty times. She won every round.

When mother arrived she found a happy baby pulling merrily away at my hair. I refused an offer of a glass of milk and, clutching the money in my hand, left quite rapidly. Safe at last! Lately Í have begun to wonder just how important new hats really are.

OUTLINE EXAMPLE 2

Topic: Faces in the Subway

Question I: How shall I handle the material? This writer decided to describe an actual ride during which he had the opportunity to study the faces of the other passengers. His approach was to be in the form of a thinking-out-loud report, a sort of soliloquy.

Question II: How many paragraphs do I need? Although this assignment also called for 300 words, the writer decided to use three paragraphs in the body because he wanted to establish the setting of his experience first. You will see how this contributed to the mood of the piece.

 Question III: What major ideas will each paragraph de­velop? Here the author very cleverly chose to go from the general scene, to faces as a group, and then to one particularly interesting face. Hence his three idea headings:

THE CAR                  FACES            ONE FACE
people                         unmoving          his looks
sounds                         emotion            questions
smells                           the look            war
                                    thought tears

The Composition

The faces in the subway are stamped by the heel of life. Every morning and night I see the faces of sadness, vacant eyes staring at wild "Buy, buy, buy" ads. Of these faces I write.

I stand transfixed, entangled with legs and feet I cannot see. I stare into cavernous nostrils, bottomless ears, gaping mouths—and wait. Wait for what? For any­thing! Ì wait for the train to stop rocking and rolling, for a thought to distract me, for the smell of toilet water, halitosis, Pepsodent, Chanel No. 5, alcohol, and hair lotion to disappear. But all these smells linger, hanging close to the roof of the shaking car.

The faces linger, too. They are mostly unmoving faces. At times I detect a quiver of emotion in a pouting lip and Í tremble, for this must surely be a madman. No one smiles in the subway. I see a multitude of people stand­ing nose to nose, staring vacantly ahead. Tired faces ques­tion each other. Far down in the womb of the city I inspect the faces that inspect my face and the face next to me that inspects the face that inspects my face.

But there must be thought behind those faces. That man! There! He is clean shaven, has a prominent brow and thin lips. Where will he be an hour from now? What will he be doing? Is there some pain gnawing away at his stomach? Does he love someone? Does he know hate? Sorrow? Does he know of mud and blood, and voices in the night crying for mother instead of a medic? When was the last time a tear fell from that blue eye? Was it twenty years ago or last night? Does he know that I am watching him?

They cannot all be sad faces. Behind them there must be a spark of hope, a surge of joy. Surely the heel of life that stamped these faces must be padded with prayers and dreams. Some day I will solve the mystery of these faces in the subway.

OUTLINE EXAMPLE 3

Topic: Among Relatives I Have Known

Question I: How shall I handle the material? The writer chose an autobiographical approach, selecting various periods in her life and analyzing them as they affected her relations with her subject.

Question II: How many paragraphs do I need? This is an excellent example of how a writer uses brief, sharply etched paragraphs instead of the fuller ones that are more common. Ordinarily, two paragraphs in the body would have been sufficient for the length of this composition. But since the author wanted to present insight into several stages of her development, she quite justifiably preferred to skip too much detail and concentrate on quick impressions. Four middle paragraphs, as you will see, were not too many, and, in this instance, were not underdeveloped.

Question III: What major ideas will each paragraph develop? The material traces the growth of an attitude and an emotion from childhood to the middle teens. Each period is flashed before your eyes with a detail or two, just enough to create the desired impression. The four idea headings:

LITTLE	PIRATE	GROWING
GIRL	STAGE	OLDER	RECENTLY
voice	pirate novels	similarities	effort to understand
laugh	Lafitte, Blood	selfishness
terror	Father's eyes	fear of imitation	new insight
			contradictions

The Composition

This little masterpiece is going to concern itself with someone I've "known" for a long time, and yet, until just recently, never realty knew, in the true sense of the word, at alii

When Í was a very little girl, the most awe-inspiring, frightening human being in the world was my rather. His booming voice and boisterous laugh invariably sent me scurrying behind any convenient person or chair, whenever he came into sight.

Like all children, I went through many stages. One of them was the development of a tremendous passion for reading pirate novels. My father's swarthy complexion and irregular features constantly had me envisioning him as Jean Lafitte, Captain Blood, or some other daring, swashbuckling brigand. His eyes have never been quite right for a pirate's though! They're brown and very deep and calm, like twin streams in a mid-autumn forest.

As I grew older, I observed that we were too alike in many respects—two selfish, irresponsible, impulsive, quick-tempered scamps who really didn't care what hap­pened to the rest of the world as long as we were safe and comfortable. I loved him as one would love a charm­ing, naughty child, but Í didn't want to be like him. The knowledge that I was seemed to create a constantly widening gulf between us.

It's only during the last year that we've made any real attempt at getting to know each other. On my part I've discovered an intriguing, many-faceted personality who can be shrewd and "hard-as-nails" one moment, then gentle and almost child-like in his trust the next. He can tell both sad and ribald stories with equal pro­ficiency. He'll forget something that happened to him yesterday, but be able to recall, down to the smallest detail, an incident that occurred in Moscow, Paris, or New Orleans forty odd years ago.

Yes, we've become friends . . . good friends. I only wish my mother had lived to see it. it would have made her very happy.

Although each of the outlines you just reviewed was pre­pared for a 300 word composition, the number of middle paragraphs varied. This was done to illustrate to you the flexibility of the outline technique. The arrangement in Ex­ample 1, however, is to be regarded as typical and the one you should use most frequently. For the usual high school composition (250—300 words), stay with the standard para­graph breakdown: a beginning paragraph (50-75 words), two middle paragraphs (about 100 words each), and a final paragraph (50—75 words). Try variations only after you have begun to feel confident in your use of the four paragraph composition.

Of course, you may be in a school where a 500—750 word composition is the normal thing, or you may be required to prepare a 1500 word term essay on occasion. What do you do? That's right. You plan for more middle paragraphs. You may want to increase the size of the paragraphs by 25—50 words each, but this simply means the addition of a few more details under the idea headings for the paragraphs and the writing of an extra two or three sentences. The valuable thing about learning to plan your paragraphs in terms of the number of words required is that you develop the ability to handle any composition assignment regardless of its size. It's very much like those sweaters the women in your house­hold (or you yourself) knit. A bigger size makes little dif­ference. All it needs is a little more time and some extra wool. The basic pattern remains the same.

Here are some exercises that will test your understanding of the outlining principles we have been discussing. You will find the answers at the end of this section.

EXERCISES

1. You have been asked to write 300 words on "Teenage Drivers." Which of the following ways of handling the material would probably produce the most interesting para­graphs for your composition? Place a check in the space provided before your choice:

 a.        A discussion of good and bad teenage drivers

 b.        The history of granting licenses to people under  21

 c.        What adults think of teenage drivers

 d.        Why you consider yourself or a friend a superior driver to many adults

 e.        The laws of your state affecting all teenage  drivers

2. Below are three pairs of outlines. In each example decide which outline is superior because the idea headings indicate that the topic has been sensibly narrowed down and the de­tails have been made more specific. Place a check in the space before the letter of your choice:

Topic: Modern Medical Miracles

OUTLINE A

U.S.A.             Europe
East                  Russia
Midwest           England
Far West          France
South               Italy
OUTLINE B
Salk Vaccine                Heart Surgery
polio threat                   TV demonstration
injection series  cutting through layers
reduction of victims       sewing tissues
fourth shot                    sewing layers back

Topic: Part Time Jobs

______ OUTLINE A

My Job                        Why I Like It
tailor shop                    extra money
preparing tickets           saving for college
bicycle deliveries           outdoors, meeting people
collections, tips sense of responsibility

OUTLINE B

Kinds of Jobs               Employment Laws
neighborhood               causes for enactment
business district age requirements
messenger service         number of hours
delivery jobs                 compensation

Topic: A Memorable Football Game

 OUTLINE A

Team Records              The Game
Home team                  First quarter
Visitors                        Second quarter
League standings          Third quarter
Coaches, players          Fourth quarter

OUTLINE B

The Crowd And I         The Key Play
Our spirit                      Score
Banners, food   Tense moment
Keeping warm              The end run
Cheers                         Tearing down goalposts

Topic: TV Westerns
Characteristics A	Characteristics B
Setting Characters Story Climax	Main street, bar Fast gun, challenge Marshal, villain Slow walk, draw
Topic: Sunday at Home
Morning A	Morning B
Sleep Breakfast Reading Chores	No alarm clock Cereal, bacon, eggs Sunday comics Weekly room cleanup
Topic: Keeping Teachers Happy
Assignments A	Assignments B
After supper Outline, review Library sources Typewriter, pictures	When to do How Extra work The dress-up
ANSWERS

3. Below are pairs of idea headings which represent the material that might go into one of the middle paragraphs of the composition on the topic. Select the ones which are superior because the details listed are more specific. Again place a check in the space provided before your choice:

1. d. Approaches b and e would probably be very boring to your readers or listeners; they have heard c before; a would sound as if you were preaching at them; d makes them feel you are their champion and one of them. Half the battle is getting the audience on your side.
2. "Modern Medical Miracles"-Outline B is definitely superior. It would be impossible to cover adequately the medical progress of two continents, whereas concentrating on two examples is much more reasonable. The details, too, are much more specific in the second outline.

"Part Time Jobs"—Outline A is better. The topic has been sensibly narrowed down, the details are more specific, and the approach is personalized.

"A Memorable Football Game"—Outline B is clearly supe­rior. Nothing is duller than the review of a game in detail. Writing about sports is much more difficult than many stu­dents realize. Only by concentrating on highlights and human interest aspects can the telling of an athletic contest be made interesting.

3. "TV Westerns"-B

"Sunday at Home"—B

"Keeping Teachers Happy"—A

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