Bottom-Up Writing Guide
Start with Small Pieces
This step is about focusing on the minute details that you want to include in your writing. It's similar to collecting individual facts, quotes, data points, or ideas that will form the substance of your writing.These pieces are the building blocks of your argument or narrative, and you should gather them without worrying about their order or connection.
What specific details, facts, or pieces of evidence do you find most compelling for your topic? Can you list individual ideas or data points that you think are crucial to include in your paper?
Connect the Pieces
In this phase, you begin to find relationships between the individual pieces of information. You might group similar facts together or arrange points in a sequence that makes logical sense. This process is like assembling sections of a puzzle, where each section represents a coherent part of your larger argument or story.
What What relationships or connections can you identify between the pieces of information you’ve gathered? How might you group these details to form coherent sections of your paper?
See the Bigger Picture Emerge
As more pieces are connected, an outline of the larger structure starts to appear. This is where you begin to understand how your details fit into a broader context and what your main message might be. It's a bit like stepping back from a partially completed puzzle to see what the finished image might look like.
As you connect more details, what larger structure or outline begins to take shape? What main message or thesis is emerging from the connected pieces?
Complete the Whole Document
Finally, you continue to add and connect pieces until your document is complete. You may need to rearrange some sections or add additional information to fill gaps in the logic or narrative. The end result is a comprehensive piece of writing that has been built from the ground up, ensuring that all the details are in place and contribute to the overall purpose.