You know your topic, and you have sources piled on your desk or saved on your computer. Which information from those sources will you include in your essay, and which will you leave out? How will you arrange the information you decide to include? You'll answer these questions during the planning phase of the writing process. As you plan, you'll arrange your ideas into the structure you intend to follow in your first draft.
This writing assignment focuses on the following skills:
Choosing which information from your sources to include in your paper
Deciding on a working claim for your essay
Organizing your ideas and evidence into a logical plan for writing
Presenting your plan in a formal outline structure