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.
K
E
Y
4
