## 11.1. Structuring your thoughts

Do you have trouble organizing your text, or getting your thoughts on paper? Have you had the experience that you did not know the best way to formulate a sentence and ended up not writing down anything at all? A great strategy that you can try to solve this problem is to work with an outline. This method helps many people who got stuck after an enthusiastic start of their research project. It may not work for you, but the only way to figure out whether it works for you is to try it first.

- How can I write a text from an outline?

Start with a list of the sections that your thesis or paper consists of. The typical structure of a thesis is the following:

Preface

1. Introduction
2. Theory
3. Data and Methods
4. Results
5. Conclusion and Discussion

In the second step, develop your sections into paragraphs. Here’s an example for the first section:

1. Introduction
   1. Research question
   2. Societal relevance
   3. Scientific relevance
   4. Context

In the third step, copy the outline of the second step and formulate section headings as questions.

1. Introduction

a. Research question

Which questions will I answer in this thesis?

b. Societal relevance

Why would it be important for people in society to know the answer to the questions I am asking?

c. Scientific relevance

What does my research add to the existing literature? How is it innovative?

d. Context

Which developments in society make my research relevant?

In the fourth step, copy the outline of the third step and elaborate. Use the questions to focus your writing. If you are writing sentences that do not really contribute much to an answer to the question, you are getting side tracked. Stop writing in this direction and focus again on your question.