Turn a topic into a blog post outline
Each section gets a working heading and the single point it must land, ordered so one earns the next.
Last updated
Fill in the blanks
Assembled in your browser — nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
Your prompt
Model-agnostic — works in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or any AI chat.
Why this prompt works
- →Asking for the one point each section must land, instead of a list of subtopics, forces a real argument structure instead of a bag of loosely related headers.
- →Ordering sections so "each one earns the next" pushes the model to think about reader momentum, not just topic coverage.
- →Flagging a weak ending rather than forcing one stops the outline from papering over an angle that doesn't actually resolve.
Part by part
- the ONE point that section must land
- One idea per section. It is the same constraint that makes a presentation work, and it produces more sections that are each shorter.
- not a list of subtopics, the single takeaway
- Names the default output. Subtopic lists are what an outline becomes when nobody decides what each section is for.
- Order the sections so each one earns the next
- Makes sequence a requirement rather than a byproduct. Most weak outlines are a correct set of sections in an order nothing determines.
- what the intro must promise and what the conclusion must resolve
- Ties the two ends together. A conclusion that resolves something the intro never promised is the most common structural failure in a long piece.
- flag that instead of forcing a tidy conclusion
- Permission to report that the angle does not land. A forced conclusion is where a piece becomes dishonest, usually at the last paragraph.
Common mistakes
Write a blog post outline about this topic.Produces a list of subtopics in a defensible order, which is a table of contents rather than an argument. Nothing in it says why a reader should continue past the first section.
Write a blog post about this topic.Skips the structural decision entirely and produces prose built on whatever structure the model chose. Outlining first is what makes the piece arguable before it is expensive to change.
Outline a comprehensive guide to this topic.Comprehensive means covering everything, which produces a shapeless survey. A piece with an angle excludes things deliberately, and the exclusions are what give it a shape.
Questions
Why one point per section?
Because a section carrying two ideas leaves the reader unsure which one mattered. Splitting costs a heading and roughly doubles the chance each point survives the read.
What makes the angle worth stating separately?
It is the difference between a piece and a survey. Topic determines what is in scope; angle determines what is worth saying about it, and only the second gives the outline an order.
What if the outline reveals the angle is weak?
That is a good outcome at the cheapest possible moment. Discovering there is no ending after writing two thousand words is the alternative, and the fix at that point is far more expensive.
Should I outline before or after research?
Both, usually — a rough outline to know what to look for, then a revised one once the research is in. An outline written before you know what you found is a hypothesis rather than a plan.