Stick it to the wall.

It has gradually dawned on me that I’m a visual learner, and tonight, that little sunrise of realization made its way onto my wall.  I now introduce to you the Post-it Brick Wall method of outlining a paper.

• How it works: main points of thesis (orange) each get a column, ensuring that everything relates back to that pesky thesis.
• green stickies are sub-points within each paragraph to keep rambling at bay.
• each brick represents a paragraph.

Why it’s preferred to simple Roman numerals outline:

• post-its are so. much. fun.
• color makes life more interesting.
• it can be adjusted far more easily than copy-and-pasting and redoing all the Roman numerals.
• no stupid tabbing.

Cons:

• very little guarantee that all post-its will still be there tomorrow morning.
• funny looks from your roommate.
• potential for ink smudges on your hands after sticking them to the wall. (Note: this could also be seen as a pro if you like the “hard worker” look of inky hands.)

I also give myself points for resourcefulness with using the provided bricks as paragraph breaks.  Now if only inspiration would strike before midnight, it’d be really lovely.