The Writing Process (Continued)
Organizing
This is the stage where you have a solid topic and support for the topic. Now, you determine the order of your points and what examples you want to include and where. This is the stage where your essay begins to take shape and actually looks like an essay. Again, expect to go through this stage several times before you get to the next stage. (The textbook considers this step as part of drafting. It doesn't matter where you do this--as long as it gets done.) This is the point in which you will need to submit an outline for your essay. If you have not gone through the previous steps, creating an outline will be frustrating and difficult. Therefore, when you submit your outline for grading, it should not be the first time you have begun working on your essay.
See the section on Organizing the Essay for specific recommendations on organizing a typical academic essay.