8 outline styles to get your writing off to a better start

Good writing starts with good thinking. 

And one simple way to streamline your thinking and begin to put it into words is with an outline. 

During Ragan’s Writing & Content Editing Conference in December, Anne Stuart, senior editor of Connections MIT Sloan Management Review, explained that an outline is like your GPS to writing. It helps show you where you’re going and how to get there. 

When you think of an outline, you may be thinking of those complex, Roman numeral-filled ordeals you may have had to create in school. And that is indeed one type of outline. If that works for you, wonderful!