Mapping, also known as clustering or webbing, is a visual and non-linear form of brainstorming for discovery writing and note taking during reading and lectures. Mapping offers several interesting advantages:

• It's quicker than free-writing -- i.e., you can use key words and phrases to note numerous ideas and details without writing out complete sentences. Consequently, while you are mapping, it is easier for your note taking to keep up with your thinking.
• Because you only write keywords, you can get a lot more information on one page. This allows you an overview of your ideas in one glance. In other words, maps give you the whole picture of your idea better than free-writing does.
• Mapping is both visual and verbal; the visual qualities of a map aid memory, so it is easier for you to retain information that you have mapped.
• Because maps are non-linear, they readily support the kind of creative thinking that is called upon in creating web sites and other electronic presentations.

• During brainstorming to sketch out ideas quickly
• During planning to organize the information found during research and make a preliminary plan for drafting
• During drafting to make a preliminary plan for putting the paper together
• During revision (use a descriptive outline) to analyze the pattern of organization and logic of a draft.

Formal outlines follow the conventions of content and format that display material in such a way that relationships among ideas are clear and the content is orderly. A formal outline can be a topic outline, with each item listed as a word or phrase; or it can be a sentence outline, with each item presented as a complete sentence. The two styles should never be mixed in a formal outline.

Follow these guidelines for making an outline:

• Each level must have at least two subdivision; no I without a II, no A without a B, and so on. If a level has only one subdivision, either eliminate it or expand the material to at least two subdivisions.
• Make sure all subdivisions are at the same level (a main idea cannot be paired with supporting detail).
• Make all entries on the same level grammatically parallel.