Organize
Gospel Insight
In D&C 88:119, the Lord instructs His people to “organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing.” That’s not just household counsel—it’s a communication strategy.
When King Benjamin addressed his people (Mosiah 2–5), he delivered a long, complex message with remarkable clarity. How? By chunking, sequencing, and anchoring his message in clear themes. His listeners didn’t just hear him—they understood, remembered, and acted.
Like King Benjamin, your job isn’t just to say something. It’s to help others see clearly and act wisely.
Project Roadmap
This week as you proceed with work on your article, you’ll Outline the Article using the SMART framework.
Why this Matters
Outlining is a thinking tool that sharpens your argument, aligns your evidence, and prepares you to write with clarity and purpose. In business, when you have a high-stakes message to give, you want to make sure you’ve included everything that’s helpful to your argument. A detailed outline is a practical way to evaluate the weight, balance, completeness, and strategic order of that message. Creating a detailed outline for your Business Research Article is a step that will make the writing of your first draft flow easily.
Watch this Video
Read the Textbook Chapter
Differentiate between top-down, bottom-up, and mind-mapping outlining methods, selecting the one best suited for their communication task.
Use bottom-up outlining to clarify complex or overwhelming ideas and organize them into logical groupings and sequences.
Apply the SMART structure (Story, Main Idea, Agenda, Reasons, Task) to improve clarity, flow, and engagement in professional messages.
Evaluate the impact of structure on audience trust and understanding, particularly in high-stakes communication such as announcements or bad news delivery.
Practice outlining as a prewriting habit, recognizing it as a tool for critical thinking and clarity—not just a formatting step.
This lesson aligns with the following BYU Advanced Written and Oral Communication (AWOC) outcomes:
1. Disciplinary Writing
Strong alignment
Helps students focus on a well-defined purpose, use appropriate structure, and adopt a voice and tone suited to professional business audiences.
Encourages use of structured formats (e.g., SMART) that match genre conventions in business writing such as memos, proposals, and announcements.
3. Writing Processes
Strong alignment
Emphasizes prewriting strategies (e.g., outlining, sequencing) that help students organize ideas, identify gaps in logic, and streamline the drafting process.
Reinforces the value of structural planning in both written and oral communication.
Mission Alignment
Strong alignment
Develops students’ ability to think clearly and communicate with structure, preparing them to lead with logic and grace.
Strengthens habits that serve others through clarity and preparedness, especially in high-stakes communication.
Vision Alignment
Moderate alignment
Christlike leadership requires clarity, accountability, and care for others. Teaching students to organize their messages ensures they lead with purpose and reduce misunderstanding.
Highlights that even difficult truths can be delivered with compassion and order, mirroring Christ’s example of thoughtful leadership.
Values Alignment
Integrity in Action Emphasizes clear, structured communication as a moral obligation, especially in sensitive situations.
Excellence Models and practices professional-grade preparation through outlining and SMART structure.
Student-Centered Statement
This lesson puts students first by demystifying the writing process and showing them how to bring order to complexity. It respects students as thinkers who can shape strong ideas through structure. By teaching practical outlining and the SMART framework, it helps students gain the confidence and tools to express their thinking clearly, even in high-stakes or emotionally charged situations.