Do you think in Outline format?

[Southern Presbyterian]

It seems that several people that I know, or know of, have the ability to organize almost any type of information into outline form. My Pastor is one of the people and I must say that he is the undisputed master of this talent.

Is this a common gift? Do you think in outline format? I don't but am wondering if it is talent that I can develop. Frankly, unless I'm presented with an actual outline, or take literally hours to read and study material, an outline is the farthest thing from my mind.

 

[Skyler]

If I do try to make an outline I do it on the computer, because as I assimilate more information I almost invariably change the outline, sometimes drastically. Even then I usually wait until I've meditated on the subject for a considerable amount of time.

That could be at least in part the reason why taking notes annoys me so much.

 

[C. M. Sheffield]

Outlining or organizing information is essential to effectively communicating it to the church. So, yes I think in this way and appreciate books that are well formated so as to be easily outlined. Actually, I make an outline of every book I read. It helps me see the author's flow of thought and line of reasoning more easily. Though John Owen's works do not readily lend themselves to this task!

I wouldn't say its a gift. More like a skill - one I would encourage every minister of the Word to learn.

 

[Scottish Lass]

I've taken lecture/sermon notes in a modified outline format since high school--I use the indenting to signify links and topic expansion, but I skip the Roman numeral/letters/Arabic number labeling. I don't know that I think in outline format per se, but I definitely organize written material that way.

 

[jambo]

I would be like this however I have never thought of it as a gift, simply as the natural way a person's mind may work. I tend to think those with logical analytical minds would do it this way.

 

[sdesocio]

I think outlines are helpful both to take in information, but also in teaching. Ford Lewis Battles wrote an outline of Calvin's Ins. which was incredibly helpful in my seminary study of the book. I also find that starting with an outline of what you want to say is a good way to stay on target. I think it works in the pulpit and in written communications.

 

[Tim]

An outline is usually a linear presentation of the main points that may be distilled from a rhetorical piece. But all it does is label the parts. You can't argue for something unless you are able to pick a number of "main points". I think we all do this to some extent. The question, rather, is how readily do we recognize what we are doing.

To write the original post, Mr. Helbert, you had in your mind a number of things you wanted to state or ask. You then took each of those "items" and categorized them ("which ones go together"). Finally, you wrote about those in two main sections/paragraphs of your post.

We could outline the entire post, or we could outline each individual paragraph (although the paragraphs are probably too short for this).

Here is an outline of the original post:

1. some people organize well
----example: my pastor

2. questions:
----I don't do this. Do you? Is this common?
----can this skill be developed?

I think this skill can definitely be developed. One can often outline well-written pieces by extracting the first sentence of each paragraph, or by summarizing each paragraph with one sentence.

Another challenge is to identify what is "main" and what is "sub". Your statement that your pastor does this well is "sub" because it seems to fall under the "greater" statement with which you opened. Your mention of your pastor strengthens your opening sentence by providing evidence.

I hope this helps in some way. Great question. I have been trying to work on this too and this is what I have been able to figure out by considering my own academic writing.

 

[jwithnell]

I think people people tend to be either linear in their thinking (think of friends who say "and then" a lot and your having to hear them through before understand the point) or categorical. The latter pretty quickly lumps info together by type, similarities etc. This might be what you mean by naturally thinking in outlines. I don't think one is superior to the other. The linear thinker is likely to be a good story teller and creative writer; the categorical thinker is likely to be able to quickly grasp information in an analytical way.

 

[Pergamum]

I think our culture is moving more towards a less "out-liney" way of thinking and there seems to be a push for more "narrative' approaches to Scripture. It might be a ministry aid to be less "out-liney" and more "Story-ish" in some contexts.

 

[JennyG]

We were taught this as a skill in my school. It was called precis writing, and in those days you had to do it in English exams - essentially you were handed a longish passage of factual prose probably taken from some book, and had to summarise it in a single paragraph with a word limit. The idea was to teach you to cut through verbiage to the crux of what was really being said.
The technique we learned was to read through the passage noting down as shortly as possible, as we went, the main points that were made - material that was only there to illustrate generally had to go, unless it was a sizeable proportion of the whole. You would then have your skeleton of points in terse note form which you would re-clothe in a single paragraph of your best and clearest prose.
It was quite fun to do, and it's definitely useful!