Forces you to think long and hard before writing your paper and to articulate in black and white why you're spending so much valuable time on it.
Establishes an implied contract between you and everyone whose help you'll need.
Serves as a blueprint that makes writing the paper easier.
Shows your growth as an analyst better than the actual paper, which is massaged by others.
When? When should you do it?
After doing the research (interviews, database searches, etc.) look at your sources and existing documents or publications on the issue.
After talking to relevant individuals - principle actors, experts, team members and leader.
After doing enough research to identify and narrow the critical issue of interest to the reader, construct a hypothesis, and devise a methodology.
But before going so far that you've invested unrecoverable time going down the wrong track.
What? What should you address?
Key analytic questions:
What will be your main point-statement of synthesis?
What is the relevance for the readers?
What is the paper's audience?
What critical assumptions does your analysis rest on?
Why are you doing the paper now?
What previous work has been done on the subject? How is yours different?
Is this something the mainstream press is going to pound to death and perhaps the deaper story hasn't been discovered?
Does the paper have any unusual sensitivities because of its subject matter, intended audience, or conclusions?
Alternative scenarios:
What other directions can the analysis take?
Why are you discarding those choices?
What are the meaning, importance, and implications if events work out differently from the way your analysis suggests?
Stumblingblocks:
What gaps do you have in your sources of information, methodology, or understanding of reader interests that stand in the way of sound analysis?
What steps are you taking to close these gaps?
What could go wrong between now and the completion of your paper draft that could derail it?
Administrative details:
Who's the author? Will you have a joint author or contributions from others? Do they know about it?
What section of the site are you choosing and why?
What components will coordinate on the paper?
Will you use any outside reviewers?
Will you use the results of your own research, or other unusual sources of information?
What publication date are you turning for? What are your production milestones - review deadline information? (Be conservative.)
Do you plan to use graphics or other visual aids?
Are there any spinoff opportunities for other kinds of articles, insets, or photos?
Outline:
Include a proposed outline of the paper, including section headings and subheadings, paragraph topics, and listings of graphics, tables, text boxes, and annexes.
Do a topic sentence outline-all of your core assertions. It will force you to articulate your analysis in black and white.
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