Compose Better And Faster Exploitation The Index Card Method
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- June 25th, 2009 |
- Comments
In this article I’m going to discuss the “index card method” of writing. If you haven’t ever proved it, you should know that exploitation index cards to compose is a real good and functional artifact to get the job done. It’s easy once you get the basic idea, and if you practice it regularly you’ll be able to produce better results and faster results on a consistent basis.
For the purpose of this article, an “index card” is the little 3×5 or 4×6 lined paper card that you can purchase at your local office distribute fund. They provide just enough room to compose any notes but not so much to let you go off on a tan!
Now for the methodology…
You’ll need quite a few index cards on hand. You’ll need anywhere from 50 to 500 depending on the filler of your book.
Block 1 is to get your notes onto the cards. Go finished your sources, your thoughts, your notes, and compose a little bit of matter for each issue on each index card. The more detailed you are, the better… but you don’t deprivation to over-do it. If you find yourself needing to activity the card over and compose on the back you’re probably getting carried away.
Once you have moved all of your project-related notes onto the index cards, you analyze finished the cards and start categorizing and organizing them. Break them up into groups of related topics. It’s easiest just to create a few dozens and form finished them on your kitchen table or a similar aboveground.
The next block is to start to organize each individual chimney into an order that “works”. This is the point where you need to consider the FLOW of your account, and how the order of events in your writing is going to affect your audience.
Finally, once you have ordered each individual chimney, you need to form them into order from beginning to end. I unremarkably like to remember each chimney as a chapter or area of the book. Depending on how you’ve aroused until this point, the precise divisions and the meaning of a group of cards might be different for you.
Now you have your complete project in a collection of ordered, organized index cards. This is the point at which you begin the conventional “writing” process, of actually typing the manuscript exploitation your index cards as a guide. I would not sit with the entire chimney of cards at once, but would instead consume “divide and conquer” to tackle one group at a time, and in each group accept things one card at a time.
You’ll probably find at this arrange that the writing process itself becomes more of a process of copying from the cards, paraphrasing, and “gluing” things unitedly. If you have followed these stairs faithfully to this point, your project will probably start to appear like it’s writing itself! The only abstraction left to do at this point is to focus on communication and form, and making your writing flow unitedly advantageously.
To review, for this method to activity, you need to accept the following simple stairs:
1. Delegate your thoughts and notes to index cards
2. Categorize the cards into dozens of cards that can be grouped unitedly based on issue, etc.
3. Order the cards in each group into an order that makes meaning
4. Order the groups themselves into an order that makes meaning
5. Compose your first draft aboveboard from the cards, “gluing” things unitedly here and thither where necessary.
If you practice this method faithfully, you’ll probably find that it takes the difficult parts of writing and simplifies them, and allows you to drop more time on the parts of writing that you enjoy.