I think it was very helpful to put together an outline before I completed the written assignment for my thesis. It helped as I organized my ideas. What I found to be promising was that I found several points in the paper where I can insert some of the personal findings that i discovered in the three interviews that I conducted. I found that some of the thoughts that were brought out in the interviews were useful as I shaped the various sections of the paper.
Here is the outline for my thesis statement.
or here is a PDF version: