| name | article-outline |
| description | Build an evidence-ready article outline from audience question, editorial purpose, thesis, information hierarchy, sources, examples, counterpoints, and conclusion before drafting prose. |
Article Outline
Use when a substantive article needs structure before full drafting.
Procedure
- Define the audience, question or problem, desired takeaway, publication context, and editorial objective.
- State the central thesis or organizing idea in one sentence and test whether every planned section contributes to it.
- Identify the questions the reader must have answered in sequence and order sections by comprehension rather than by research chronology.
- Attach evidence, sources, examples, data, demonstrations, or expert input required for each material claim.
- Include important nuance, counterarguments, limitations, or competing interpretations where they improve accuracy.
- Decide where visuals, screenshots, tables, quotes, or code examples genuinely clarify the argument.
- Remove redundant sections and distinguish must-have evidence from optional depth.
- End with a conclusion that resolves the opening question or advances the reader to a useful next step.
Decision rules
- Outline ideas and evidence, not just headings.
- Reader comprehension determines order.
- Do not draft around claims whose evidence does not yet exist.
- Length should follow the information need, not a template.
Quality gate
The outline is ready when the article has one coherent thesis, each section has a reader job and required evidence, major nuance is accounted for, repetition is removed, and a writer can draft without inventing the argument mid-paragraph.
