Outline Your Paper

With a good outline, you are better able to write a logical, well-organized paper. You may even start to feel as if your paper can practically write itself!

What Is an Outline?

An outline is sort of a list of all the ideas that you will discuss in the body of your paper. It’s more than just a list, though. It’s a list that is arranged in a special way so that the bigger, main ideas stand out from the supporting details (the facts or examples that support the main ideas).

In traditional outline form, the biggest ideas, or main topics, are numbered with Roman numerals. The second biggest ideas, or subtopics, are indented and use capital letters. Supporting ideas, or details, are indented farther and numbered with Arabic numerals.

Here’s an example:

I. First Main Topic

A. Subtopic

1. Detail

2. Detail

B. Subtopic

1. Detail

2. Detail

3. Detail

C. Subtopic

1. Detail

2. Detail

II. Second Main Topic

A. Subtopic

1. Detail

2. Detail

Some outlines include even more levels of detail, which are even farther indented, using lowercase letters. You probably won’t be including such small details in your outline, but here’s an example of how it would look if you wanted to include them:

2. Detail

a. Smaller detail

b. Smaller detail

c. Smaller detail

From Notes to Outline

The way you organized your index cards gives you a good idea of how to organize your outline. Remember how you sorted your note cards by headline and then made bigger piles of cards? In the example, the note cards were sorted by headline into different types of dog behavior—barking, face-licking, growling, and so on. Then the cards were organized into three bigger piles—sounds, facial expressions, and body language. Now those three big piles become the main topics in the

outline—Roman numerals I, II, and III. The headlines become the subtopics, which are labeled with capital letters. The information in your

notes contains your details, which are labeled with Arabic numbers. Your computer’s word processing program probably has an outlining feature. If you want to use it, go to the index under the “Help” function in your word processing program. Type in “outlining,” and then follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

Rules for Outlining

The model outline follows certain rules. The following rules can help you write an outline that leads to a well-organized paper:

1. Use Roman numerals to indicate main topics.

2. Use capital letters to indicate subtopics.

3. Use Arabic numbers to indicate

details.

4. Include at least two main topics. (Our example has three.)

5. Include least two entries at each level. In other words, have at least two main topics. Under each main topic, include at least two subtopics. And under each subtopic, have at least two details.

Why do these rules matter? They matter because when you draft your paper, the main topics become paragraphs, and the subtopics become sentences. You need more than one paragraph to make a paper, you need more than one sentence to make a paragraph, and you need more than one detail to support an idea.

Planning Your Beginning and Ending

Now that you’ve completed your outline, it’s time to think about how your paper will begin and end. You don’t have to have the final wording down, but having a plan will help you enormously when you begin your actual writing. Knowing how your paper will begin and end will make the middle easier to write by giving you a “frame” to work within.

Your Thesis Statement

Every paper should begin with a very important sentence or group of sentences that tell the reader—right up front—the main idea of the paper. That’s right—the one big, main idea of the whole paper. The technical term for this part of a paper is the thesis statement.

You’ve probably had the main idea for your paper in your head since you chose your topic. Now, by looking over your outline, you should be able to put that idea into one or two clearly worded sentences. Look at your main topics—the ones with Roman numerals in

front of them. Ask yourself these questions about your main topics:

- What do these ideas add up to?

- How are these main ideas related to one another?

- What’s an even bigger idea that covers all of them?

By asking—and answering—these questions, you can come up with a thesis statement.  Now you’ve got your thesis statement. When you write your first draft, try to present that statement in the most interesting and inviting way possible.

Your Conclusion

Here’s how one teacher tells her students how to write a paper in three simple steps:

1. Tell your readers what you’re going to say.

2. Say it.

3. Tell them what you said.

You’ve already planned how to tell your readers what you’re going to say. That’s your thesis statement. You know what you’ll say. That’s the main part of your paper, which you’ve already outlined. In your conclusion, you’ll tell your readers what you said—and maybe a little more.

In your conclusion you sum up, or review, your main points. If you

want to make your paper even better, try helping your readers answer the question “So what?” In other words, tell them what they can do with the information you’ve given them, or tell them why the points you made are particularly interesting or important. You might even end with a question that will keep readers thinking about your paper after they’ve finished reading it. If you think now about your thesis statement and your conclusion, you’ll have your whole paper planned. Writing your first draft can be a piece of cake.

Source:

Chin, Beverly Ann. (2004). How To Write A Great Research Paper. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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