How do you organise a capstone article?

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   Sparhawkeposted 15 years ago

   I have an idea for a capstone article, and though I don't want to tip my hand as to what I am doing I would really appreciate some hints and pointers on organisation...
   
   Imagine it is about cars (it isn't, I don't have a clue about them), what areas would you go into, what would you talk about and how would you organise all these little threads to make a tapestry at the end?
   
   Whenever I sit down to write I end up with about 700 fragmented notes and nothing to show for it...
   
   So how do you experienced people get along?

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Personally, I just start writing Hubs around the topic, then see how they fit together.  But I'm not a planning-type person.

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2. 90

   rebekahELLEposted 15 years ago

   it helps to figure out your overall objective depending on your topic. take your subject and break it down into individual categories for your text capsules. it helps to have links to additional information, images, videos.
   
   I recently wrote one for the Hubtrail project. I wrote one for the Tampa Bay area and covered the three major cities in the metro area. I still plan to write more hubs to link to it about other cities in the area.
   
   are you talking about only one hub or a series of hubs?

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3. 59

   Sparhawkeposted 15 years ago

   Thanks for your answers, you leave me much to consider

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   1. 90

      rebekahELLEposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I think darkside has some capstone hubs. you could check his profile page and do a search in the search box.

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   2. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      It just dawned on me that you may be thinking of applying to the Capstone program.
      
      If that's the case, you do have to decide on your structure before you write anything, because you have to get accepted for the program before you start writing the Hubs.  Darkside explains how he approached it in this Hub:
      
      http://hubpages.com/hub/capstone
      
      If you're just creating your own Capstone set, not in the official program, I think the easiest way to cut through your current confusion is just to get started. 
      
      I would write all the individual Hubs first, and leave the Capstone to the end.  Once you've written a decent number, take a look at them and see if a pattern is emerging.
      
      Let's take your examples of cars. Start writing Hubs on cars.  You might find most of your Hubs are turning out to be on sports cars, with only one or two on family models.  So you might decide to narrow your capstone down to sports cars.  The other two Hubs won't be wasted because they'll still work as standalone Hubs.

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