100 ways to improve your writing (3)

100 ways to improve your writing (3)

We continue with the advice of the book "100 ways to improve your writing" by Gary Provost:

https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/writing/100-ways-to-improve-your-writing/

(2.6) Organize the material

Some writers organize their material so thoroughly that everything they write looks like a hardware creation guide. Your outline, whatever form it takes, should contain enough room for creativity and new ideas.

But you must organize your material. Organization will help you use logic in what you say, and it will speed up the writing process. Also, it will help you get a general idea of the article and write it with coherence and cohesion.

There is no one right way to organize your material, because organization depends on the nature of the work and what works for you, so I can't tell you the best way to organize, but I can give you some tips that will help:

  • Create a list of questions about your topic before you start the research, and organize the questions that relate to it. Use many different sources to get the answers - even research many sources to get answers to a single question.
  • Gather more material than you will use, because the material you have gathered will make the words flow faster. 
  • As you collect written material, whether you're photocopying it at the library, transcribing taped interviews or simply scribbling notes, write only on one side of the paper. That way you can cut the material with a pair of scissors and rearrange it anywhere.

This advice on organizing your work material is essential for writing scientific articles

  • Getting the facts right is the first step before writing an article.
  • Everything must be based, supported, backed up by previous work.
  • The more references you find to justify a fact or a statement you make, the better. But remember that the references section should not exceed 10% of the total length of the article.
  • Select the best references: primary, recent, reliable... and in English.

Sergio Lujan-Mora