Structuring the list of contents

Compare the writing of your book to that of the task facing an artist painting a landscape.

The artist envisages in advance the composition of the picture (your list of contents), makes rough sketches of essential features (your draft copy) and arrives at a balanced decision on execution. The artist has choices on technique for implementation and so do you.

WHY YOU SHOULD COMPLETE THIS BEFORE YOU WRITE ANYTHING

When you work away conscientiously on compiling the list of contents in advance, you open the door to these choices on how you will tackle the actual writing of your book.

Authors exercise preferences on execution

Some start at the beginning and continue right to the end without diversion; others tend to cherry pick, darting back and forth from one chapter or section to another. A few authors manage to combine both techniques successfully in that while maintaining a regular course, they make the occasional detour as and when inspiration strikes.

Whichever route you decide to travel you'll need a reliable road map and that is why you should always compile your list of contents before you write a single word.

MATCHING THE SEQUENCE TO YOUR RESEARCH FINDINGS

As with any list of things-to-do, you begin compilation of the list of contents at the origin of your dissertation, progress through the middle by highlighting all of the essential elements and end up at the tail; the climax; the promise of fulfilment. To do this effectively, you must match what you know with what you have discovered and merge your accumulated findings into a logical sequence of factual information. Sounds easy, but you won't get it right first time. You just keep at it until everything clicks into perfect place.

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