1. Audience(s) -- me, your mentor, yourself
What does this audience care about?
What can you assume they know?
How will this paper help them?

2. Problems What question(s) or problem(s) prompts this paper?
In other words, why write about the intellectual landscape?

3. Imagining What new ideas are emerging as you do your research?
Which seem most significant or interesting?
Which of the sources you’ve been reading seem most relevant, and why?
What puzzles most intrigue you?
What just plain confuses you?

4. Something like prototyping
What content should this paper include?
How does the content relate to each other? To what you plan to create? To your readers’ needs?
What intellectual moves could you make?
How might the pieces fit together?