Outlining Strategies

Creating an Outline

Creating an Outline

Gather your prewriting and all the information you want to include in the paper.

Write down the information in the order you think makes the paper most logical.

Outline only the body paragraphs for your essay.

Creating an Outline

Include the thesis statement at the top to ensure you include only the support that defends or proves your thesis.

Include all your source examples and any other information that makes up a paragraph

Creating an Outline keep the following in mind when

creating an outline: One point may never stand alone Your outline must be complete and detailed. After you have drafted an outline, rearrange

the order of topics and subtopics. Place them in the best order, so items make sense, and transitions are easy to add.

Ways to Organize an Outline

Your outline is a visual representation of the order of ideas in your paper.

It is a good idea to explore different organizational arrangements.

The following are the more common ways to organize ideas:

Ways to Organize an Outline

Least important to most important: Many persuasive essays are organized in this way to build the momentum of an argument

Ways to Organize an Outline

Most important to least important: Executive summaries and news articles are usually written this way because readers may not have time to read to the end of the story or article.

Ways to Organize an Outline

Chronologically: If you tell a story or describe a process

—for example, downloading a song from the Internet or changing an automobile tire—the order of events or steps in the process is important.

Ways to Organize an Outline

Logically: You may organize your outline

logically so the information makes the most sense, such as from a problem to a solution.

Ways to Organize an Outline

Spatially: If you want to describe the way a

person or object looks, you may arrange the descriptions in a certain order

Resource

For additional help with outlining, review the information at the following site: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/.