Overview

        An outline groups and sequences points. It provides a blueprint you can follow when writing.

        Outlining clarifies what your main ideas are, what your supporting evidence is, and how everything fits together. A working/final outline should enhance the organization and coherence of your research paper.

        To design your outline, focus first on the paper’s body. For now, don’t worry about your introduction or conclusion.

        Material that is not relevant to the purpose of your paper as revealed in your outline should be excised from the paper.

        If portions of your outline seem weak in comparison to others, more research may be required to create a sense of balance in your argument and presentation.

        A final outline can be written as a topic outline, in which you use only short phrases to suggest ideas, or as a sentence outline, in which you use full sentences (even very brief paragraphs) to show the development of ideas more fully.

Procedure

        Base your outline on your organized piles of notes.

        Label your main topic headings with roman numerals (I, II, III and so on.)

        Label the subtopics grouped under each main topic heading with capital letters (A, B, C…)

        Label supporting points (ideas noted on our cards) with Arabic numerals (1,2,3).

        Label specific details (facts, quotations, statistics, examples, expert opinions) with lowercase letters (a, b, c).

Sample

I. Main topic

   A. Subtopic

        1. Supporting point

        2. Supporting point

            a. Specific detail.

            b. Specific detail.

   B. Subtopic

        1. Supporting point.

        2. Supporting point.

II. Main topic

Others

        Your first outline probably won’t be a formal full-sentence one; rather, it’s more likely to be a rough topic (or phrase) outline.

        A full-sentence outline or a combined topic and sentence outline is better suited to mapping out in detail the development of a paper’s ideas.