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This article was co-written by Emily Listmann, MA. Emily Listmann is a private tutor in San Carlos, California. She has been a social studies teacher, curriculum coordinator, and SAT prep teacher. She received her Master of Education degree from Stanford University School of Education in 2014.
This article has been viewed 67,838 times.
An outline is useful for organizing ideas and information for a speech, essay, novel, or review guide based on your notes. Making an outline may seem complicated at first, but you can learn to gain the necessary organizing skills! Let’s start by sketching an idea and choosing a structure for the outline.
Steps
Outline ideas
- Some people come up with better ideas when they write on paper. In addition, you can easily draw diagrams or examples to visualize the concepts of the topic. However, it may take you longer to write on paper, and it will not look neat.
- Typing may be easier if your notes are already on your computer, as you can copy and paste them into your outline. The copy and paste feature also allows you to easily rearrange sections of your outline if necessary. In addition, if you type, it will be easy to copy information from the outline and paste it into your work. However, it will be difficult for you to take notes in the margins or draw diagrams.
- If you’re working on a creative project like writing a novel, defining a concept, genre, or premise, use an outline to build the structure of your work.
- Your topic may be broad at first, but you need to set a direction. For example, your history essay topic might be French life during the German occupation during World War II. When writing your outline, you should narrow the topic down to the resistance fighters known as guerrillas .
- With school assignments, you need to review the instructions or ask the teacher. If you plan your work, you can use an existing outline as a template.
- If you make your own outline, you can choose which format works for you. For example, you can write an outline in shorthand.
- Annotated ideas
- Quotes
- Statistical data
- Historical events
- Freely write the ideas that come to your mind.
- Create a mind map.
- Write your thoughts on the cards.
- For example, you might write an essay about a policy change. Your argument might be “Policymakers should take a step-by-step approach when it comes to policy change to reduce conflict, allow adjustment, and encourage compromise”. Each of the reasons listed in your argument will become a main idea in the outline.
Build an outline structure
- Roman numerals – I, II, III, IV,
- Capital letters – A, B, C
- Arabic numerals – 1, 2, 3
- Lowercase letters – a, b, c
- Arabic numerals in brackets – (1), (2), (3)
- 1.0 – Gradual policy change encourages compromise
- 1.1 – Both sides have influence on policy
- 1.1.1 – Each party presents its arguments before voting
- 1.1.2 – Citizens voice their opinions
- 1.2 – Neither side gets everything they want
- 1.1 – Both sides have influence on policy
- You can use short words to quickly organize ideas, to write an outline for a speech, or to plan your own.
- You can use full sentences to make it easier to write a complete essay later, to write an easy-to-understand review guide, or to meet the requirements of an assignment.
Organize your ideas
- If you have ideas or mind mapping, you should use markers of different colors to identify which ideas belong to the same group.
- Sort the item cards if you use them to brainstorm. Put cards with related ideas together. For example, you can stack the cards or line them up for easy reading.
- For example, your main idea might be: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein emphasizes emotion over reason. Your side ideas might be: Victor Frankenstein recovered by nature, and his scientific experimentation efforts created a monster. With supporting details, you can include quotes from the story.
- If you are writing a story or presenting a historical point of view, chronological arrangement makes sense. For an essay or speech, choose the most cited subtopic to start with. From there, you’ll arrange the other sub-topics so that each smoothly transitions to the next.
- Your broad ideas need to be connected to the main point or idea. If not, you need to rewrite your thesis statement to reflect the main ideas you include in your outline.
- The “bait” sentence to attract readers
- 1-2 sentences covering the topic
- Thesis sentence
- Outline notes with phrases: II. Frankenstein values emotion over reason
- Outline in full sentences: II. In the novel Frankenstein , author Mary Shelley emphasizes emotions over reason.
- Depending on the purpose of your outline, you may have more sub-points. For example, a novel can have many sub-points. A study guide also often has many side ideas.
- In essays, this is usually the word where you “prove” your argument.
- In creative work, you can include necessary details that you need to put in the context, such as an internal contradiction of the main character.
- Similar to the side points, you can have more supporting details depending on the purpose. A novel or review guide usually has more detail.
- Format numbers and letters:
- Roman Number
- Capital letters
- Arabic numbers
- Lowercase letters
- Arabic numbers in brackets
- Decimal number format
- 1.0
- 1.1
- 1.1.1
- 1.1.1.1
- Repeat the argument.
- 1-2 sentences summary.
- 1 concluding sentence.
Completing the outline
- This is also an opportunity for you to find missing parts or ideas that have not been fully implemented. If you notice that there are still unanswered questions, please fill in the gaps with more information.
- If the outline is just for you, you probably don’t need to do this step.
- It’s also a good idea to have someone help you check for errors, as it’s often difficult to spot errors when you’re looking at your own work.
- While editing your outline, check with the instructions to make sure you’ve met all of the requirements. If not, you need to go back and correct the mistakes.
- You can write additional classes if you want additional information.
- You can also add layers for lengthy creative work or review guides.
Advice
- Write short and simple. Outline does not need elaborate style; it just states your point.
- Don’t be afraid to remove extraneous information as you research the topic and narrow the focus.
- You can also use the outline as a memorization tool!. Choose concise words to remind you of a concept.
- You can use specialized software or a text editing program to arrange the outline automatically. For example, Microsoft Word has a feature that allows you to create an outline or format text as you like.
- Each level of the outline should be indented 0.5 -1 inch (1.3 – 2.5 cm) from the previous level to make each level easier to recognize. Note that this may not be very effective if you write full sentences.
- If you find evidence that contradicts your argument, don’t ignore it. Include it in your outline, and use the extra steps to summarize your counterargument.
Warning
- In general, you should avoid giving only one idea or a sub-point to any level of the outline. If you already have an A, you need to add a B or A’ to that level.
- An outline is not an essay in any other form. You write only the main ideas, not all the details.
This article was co-written by Emily Listmann, MA. Emily Listmann is a private tutor in San Carlos, California. She has been a social studies teacher, curriculum coordinator, and SAT prep teacher. She received her Master of Education degree from Stanford University School of Education in 2014.
This article has been viewed 67,838 times.
An outline is useful for organizing ideas and information for a speech, essay, novel, or review guide based on your notes. Making an outline may seem complicated at first, but you can learn to gain the necessary organizing skills! Let’s start by sketching an idea and choosing a structure for the outline.
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