How Having a Specific Purpose Can Help You Outline and Improve Your Writing

The Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah was undoubtedly one of the most prolific writers of books, newspaper and magazine articles. He would probably not have written that rapidly and fluently if he wasn’t such a compulsive outliner.

In front of me I have a book which Nkrumah was working on before he died. The book was published after his death by the Panaf Books in London under the title The Rhodesian File, the title Nkrumah had given the working file of his planned book.

Lessons from Nkrumah’s Rhodesian File

In the Rhodesian File, the publishers include what they call “the scheme of the book,” which is actually the outline of the nine chapters and a conclusion that Nkrumah planned would make the book. Each chapter has a further detailed outline of the content. The outlines are so detailed that in fact it was easy for the publishers to complete and publish the book.
One of the best ways of practicing writing outlines is by learning to write what is called a Specific Purpose. Don’t let name scare you. A Specific Purpose is just a fancy name for a summary of what you expect to achieve with your article. There are many ways to write a Specific Purpose but I prefer to write mine with an infinitive, for example “To explain,” “To show,” and so on.

Example of an Effective Outline

Supposing I am writing a guide on how to travel from Europe to Africa. You can travel overland, by air or by sea. My specific purpose would be a summary, “To explain the three ways of travelling from Europe to Africa.” Notice how clear I am about what I want to achieve. And notice too, that the three parts – which form the three paragraphs of my article, are already contained in my specific purpose.
From this you can easily write your thesis statement, about which we discussed in my article, How Theme Statement Can Improve Your Writing, and then write your outline. You outline will contain the three main ideas and will be expressed thus:

The three ways to travel from Europe to Africa are:

1. Travel by air
2. Travel by sea
3. Travel over land.

Of course, under each heading, you can create as many subheadings subheading as you like or as required by your article. 

Remember, of course, to follow Nkrumah’s good example by writing your outlines before you start writing your article. Think of your outline at the concept level, at the time when you are developing your article idea. Don’t listen to those who advice writing outlines after you’ve writing your article because such an outline will not help you improve your writing.