Easy-To-Use Writing Plan

Sometimes writing projects drift into dangerous waters or even run aground. You can avoid this by charting a course which will keep you on track and on schedule.

The Effective Writing Center at University of Maryland University College has developed a valuable planning tool which works for school or business writing assignments. In "Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule," EWC explains that "A writing plan helps you stay in control of your writing assignments and complete them on time."

UMUC's Writing Project Plan prompts writers to consider each important element in the writing process and time for each activity using the following 12-step approach:

Writing Project Plan

Date assigned:

Date due:

Title:

Working thesis:

Audience: Who is the primary audience? Who is the secondary audience? Do I need to make any special accommodations for these audiences?

Scope of assignment: How long is this assignment expected to be? Is it expected to cover a time period or a range of ideas?

Purpose for writing: What do I want to accomplish with this project — show my teacher what I know, earn a high grade, satisfy a course requirement?

Goals of the information: How will the audience use the information?

Methodology: How will I write this assignment? What writing strategy will I use? How will I develop this assignment? Will I subject my paper to any kind of review by the teacher or a peer? How many drafts will I have time to write? Will I have to create any graphics for this assignment? How much research will I have to do? What kind of research is required for this assignment? Should I develop an annotated bibliography? What style standard will I use?

Content outline: Include an outline of the assignment and a brief description of what you plan to include in each section. Include how much library research you think you will need and whether you can use other sources of information such as interviews, personal experience, case studies, and data you collected yourself.

Research: List the titles of your preliminary resources and the subject areas you will need to research.

Schedule for this project: Your schedule should include a week-by-week plan for researching, writing, revising, and submitting your writing project. If your project is due within a week, use a day-by-day schedule to plan it.
"This planning tool," says UMUC, "can be used for any formal or informal longer writing assignment. In addition, this tool can be used to get feedback from your teacher on your assignment."
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