Writing with structure

Whenever I consider a new writing idea, whether my own new project or a student’s dissertation pitch, I usually visualize the printed text to come, complete with headings laying out the basic structure. I picture a beautifully typeset journal article’s front page or the book’s table of contents. The main text blurs, like the bottom lines on an eye test, but I know focused words will come later. Instead I begin by imagining the global whole and its wide-open possibilities. Only if I cannot visualize a structure in which the argument would work do I change my approach or counsel the student to rethink their topic.