The third step of the five-step strategy, toward improving your scholarly research writing is to look at the “Big Picture”.
Start by asking yourself,
- “What is the overall information (concept, claim, argument, idea, or key issue) I am wanting to convey”?
- “How can I break down (categorize and separate) the information into smaller parts (chunks)”?
Applying the Strategy
1) Use a graphic organizer (e.g., concept map, classifying table, flow chart) to:
- Categorize the larger themes (concepts, claims, arguments, ideas, or key issues).
- Identify and separate each theme (concept, claim, argument, idea, or key issue) into smaller parts.
- Keep breaking down the smaller parts until you have exhausted your efforts.
2) Present each part in a logical order (smaller to larger or larger to smaller) by
explaining how each part is related to each other and how each part fits into the “Big
Picture”.
- You can then decide how you would like to organize each part (concept, claim, argument, idea, or key issue).
- For organization, the larger themes could be headings and the smaller parts could be paragraphs.
