Hello, and welcome to this week’s tip-of-the-week! If you’ve missed our previous tips-of-the-week, check them out here. This week, we’re going to talk about outlining in Word.
Outlines take many forms and can be approached in many different ways. In this post, we’re going to talk about a multilevel list outline for organizing ideas in a logical sequence. This is beneficial for organizing anything from a blog post to short-term and long-term goals for your business.
Successful plans are the first steps for success. A proper approach prevents uncertainty. Outstandingly organized outlines are the keys to keen insights.
When traveling somewhere new, I appreciate a road map. When writing a new blog article, ebook, or letter, I prefer a plan. My overall view of the project determines its ultimate outcome, and the same is true of outlining both short-term and long-term goals.
Successful planning helps ensure short-term and long-term goals are outlined and executed correctly, on-time, and as planned. For interpreters and translators, goals involve more than marketing outcomes. Goals may also include both personal and professional objectives including improving language skills daily, learning a new piece of software each quarter, strengthening simultaneous interpretation skills, or developing strategies for marketing a freelance website.
So how does a multilevel list work and how is it done?
A basic multilevel list looks like this:
1) Short-Term Goals
a) First short-term goal
i) Notes/details of goal
b) Second short-term goal
i) Notes/details of goal
c) Third short-term goal
i) Notes/details of goal
(1) Long-Term goals…
To begin a multilevel list of your own or to modify an existing multilevel list, do the following:
- Click the “Home” tab.
- Click “Paragraph.”
- Click on the “Multilevel List” dropdown.
- You are presented with a variety of multilevel list layouts; choose the one that best suits your needs.
- To change the existing list level, click on the “Change List Level” submenu.
- To define a new multilevel list, click on “Define New Multilevel List” and follow the prompts. Note: Defining a custom multilevel list is not discussed in this post.
- It is possible to include special style formatting (e.g. bulleted list numbers or different indent levels) for your multilevel list and to design an entirely customized list layout.
With Word’s multilevel list features, you no longer have to manually format your outlines; the entire process is automated for you.
Consider these benefits of using a multilevel list:
- Organize your thoughts
- Break larger tasks into smaller and more manageable ones
- Clarify your thoughts, plans, and approaches to see what works and what doesn’t
- Take an overall view of your goals and use different levels for short-term and long-term goals
- Make different lists for your goals, plans, and approaches
- Use another multilevel list to evaluate ultimate outcomes of your goals and plans
Although multilevel lists may at first appear simple and relatively limited in scope, they are actually capable of providing a great deal of useful detail and may be used for analysis and evaluation in a variety of situations.
Do you use multilevel lists as part of your work? Leave us a comment and let us know how they help you achieve your goals
