This is the night of all the week to which I looked forward with the most pleasure.
Better.
The Best Night in the Week
There is one night in the week that is, to me, more pleasant than any other. You know which one it is as well as I do, for it is your best friend, too.
123. Plan long compositions as you gather the material.
Use cards or slips of paper of uniform size for making notes while reading. During the early stages of your reading, the various topics which you will discuss will begin to make their appearance. Make only one note on each card. After writing the note, write one or two words in the upper left-hand corner to indicate the topic treated in that note. As you accumulate notes, keep them sorted according to the topics.
When all the available sources of material have been utilized and all the notes taken, arrange the various stacks—one stack for each topic—by first spreading them out upon a table so that you can see readily all the topics at once. Then move the stacks about, thus trying out various arrangements until you have made one which seems logical and complete. You will then have a plan for your composition.
124. Revise for arrangement and development by making a plan of the composition after it is finished.
By outlining the composition you have written, you will be able to see just how certain ideas bear upon the subject and are related to one another. Again, the outline will show you whether or not the ideas follow any orderly sequence. But best of all, perhaps, it will enable you to judge whether the composition omits anything that is vital for complete understanding, or contains something that distracts the reader’s attention.