Talk with no one on the subject, and
read nothing on it, till you have thought yourself empty; and even then you
should note down what the conversation or reading suggests, rather than
what you have heard or read.
+III. Construct a Framework+.--Before writing hunt through your material
for the main points, or heads. See to what general truths or thoughts these
jottings and those jottings point. Perhaps this or that thought, as it
stands, includes enough to serve as a head. Be sure, at any rate, that by
brooding over your material, and by further thinking upon the subject, you
get at all the general thoughts into which, as it seems to you, the subject
should be analyzed. Study these points carefully. See that no two overlap
each other, that no one appears twice, that no one has been raised to the
dignity of a head which should stand under some head, and that no one is
irrelevant. Study now to find the natural order in which these points
should stand. Let no point, to the clear understanding of which some other
point is necessary, precede that other. If developing all the points would
make your theme too long, study to see what points you can omit without
abrupt break or essential loss.
+IV. Write+.--Give your whole attention to your work as you write, and
other thoughts will occur to you, and better ways of putting the thoughts
already noted down.
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