Article Outline

---
name: article-outline
description: Build an evidence-ready article outline from audience question, editorial purpose, thesis, information hierarchy, sources, examples, counterpoints, and conclusion before drafting prose.
---
# Article Outline

Use when a substantive article needs structure before full drafting.

## Procedure
1. Define the audience, question or problem, desired takeaway, publication context, and editorial objective.
2. State the central thesis or organizing idea in one sentence and test whether every planned section contributes to it.
3. Identify the questions the reader must have answered in sequence and order sections by comprehension rather than by research chronology.
4. Attach evidence, sources, examples, data, demonstrations, or expert input required for each material claim.
5. Include important nuance, counterarguments, limitations, or competing interpretations where they improve accuracy.
6. Decide where visuals, screenshots, tables, quotes, or code examples genuinely clarify the argument.
7. Remove redundant sections and distinguish must-have evidence from optional depth.
8. End with a conclusion that resolves the opening question or advances the reader to a useful next step.

## Decision rules
- Outline ideas and evidence, not just headings.
- Reader comprehension determines order.
- Do not draft around claims whose evidence does not yet exist.
- Length should follow the information need, not a template.

## Quality gate
The outline is ready when the article has one coherent thesis, each section has a reader job and required evidence, major nuance is accounted for, repetition is removed, and a writer can draft without inventing the argument mid-paragraph.