# Essay outline

The scaffold I use to take an essay from a loose idea to a publishable draft.
It's the shape behind the pieces on ilonagolman.com — most of them decode one
talk, paper or interview and argue with it.

Copy this file, fill it top to bottom, delete the guidance as you go.
Free to take, fork and adapt.

---

## 0 · Before you outline

Answer these three in one line each. If any is blank, you have a topic, not an
essay — go read more.

- **What changed?** The specific new thing: a claim, a launch, a reversal, a
  number. Not "AI is moving fast."
- **What do I say about it that the source doesn't?** Your line. If the answer
  is "I summarize it well", stop — that's a link, not an essay.
- **Who is annoyed by this?** If nobody could disagree, there's no argument in
  it and the piece will read as filler.

---

## 1 · Title

Written last, drafted first as a placeholder.

Test it: does the title state a position, or announce a subject? "Notes on AI
policy" is a subject. "The doomers wrote a happy ending" is a position.

    Title: ______________________________________________

---

## 2 · Dek — 2 to 4 sentences

The paragraph under the title. It carries the whole piece for the person who
reads nothing else, so it must be complete, not teasing.

It does three jobs, in this order:

1. Names the thing and its context — who, what, when, and why this source
   carries weight.
2. States what's new about it.
3. Lands your angle — the sentence only you would write.

> **Rule:** no curiosity gaps. "What happened next surprised everyone" is a
> withheld fact, not a hook. Give the reader the finding and let the argument
> earn the read.

    Dek: ______________________________________________
    __________________________________________________

---

## 3 · The arc — 4 to 7 sections

Each section is a **heading plus 2–5 paragraphs**. The heading is a claim, not
a label: "The numbers don't survive contact with the filing" beats "Analysis".

A working default order:

| # | Section | Job |
|---|---------|-----|
| 1 | The scene | What happened, concretely. Date, names, what was said. No interpretation yet. |
| 2 | The claim | The strongest version of their argument — steelmanned. Quote them directly. |
| 3 | The check | Where it holds and where it breaks. Numbers, sources, counter-evidence. |
| 4 | The turn | Your angle. The thing the source can't see from inside it. |
| 5 | So what | What follows if you're right — for the reader, in their terms. |
| 6 | The residue | What you still don't know. Ends the piece honest, not tidy. |

Drop any section that isn't earning its place. Six is a ceiling, not a target.

    §1 heading: ______________________________________
    §2 heading: ______________________________________
    §3 heading: ______________________________________
    §4 heading: ______________________________________
    §5 heading: ______________________________________
    §6 heading: ______________________________________

---

## 4 · Quotes

Use them where the person's own words are stronger than your paraphrase —
usually at the steelman, and at the moment they contradict themselves.

- Verbatim. If you trim, mark it, and never trim across a "but".
- Attribute the **person and the setting** — name, venue, date, timestamp.
- One quote per section, roughly. More than that and you're hosting, not writing.

---

## 5 · Sources

Every load-bearing claim gets a link. Primary sources over write-ups: the
filing over the article about the filing, the full talk over the clip.

Collect them as you draft, not at the end — retrofitting sources is how a
paraphrase quietly becomes a claim nobody can trace.

    - [source name] — [link] — [what it supports]
    - [source name] — [link] — [what it supports]

---

## 6 · Cut pass

Read once, out loud, with only these:

- **Kill the throat-clearing.** The real first sentence is usually the third
  one. Delete the two above it.
- **Empty evaluations out, facts in.** "Remarkably fast growth" → the number.
  If there is no number, there is no claim.
- **Passive to active.** "It was announced" → who announced it.
- **One idea per paragraph.** Two ideas means a paragraph break is missing.
- **Every adjective earns its slot** or leaves. Most leave.
- **Last line:** does it land, or trail off? Cut back to the strongest sentence
  and stop there. Endings fail by continuing.

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## 7 · Ship checklist

- [ ] Dek works standalone — someone who reads only it knows the finding
- [ ] Every number has a source and a date
- [ ] Every quote is verbatim and attributed to a person, not a caption
- [ ] Disagreements are named, not smoothed into a midpoint
- [ ] What I don't know is stated somewhere in the piece
- [ ] Title states a position
- [ ] Read out loud once, all the way through

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