Organizing Your Thoughts: Outlines Part 1

An outline is a useful tool for arranging an assignment before you commit pen to paper. Here are some strategies you can use to help develop an outline on your assignment topic:

1. Jot down your ideas for the paper. (This is a sketch outline at this stage.)
2. Look these ideas over and create a logical sequence.
3. Connect the ideas using a diagram or a flow chart. This chart should demonstrate the relationships between your ideas. I suggest planning each paragraph in your paper in the following 4 sentence structure:
a) Topic sentence - What is this paragraph about? What is the argument you are making?
b) Sentence 2 - What evidence do you have to back up your argument?
c) Sentence 3 - Explain how this evidence backs up your argument.
d) Sentence 4 - Finish your argument & link it to the next idea
4. Use transitional words to link ideas. (See next posting for more on transitions)
5. The next step is the creation of a working outline. A working outline:
a) Place ideas in order with major headings. For an assignment of roughly three pages, you should plan 3 paragraph per page. If you read all of your topic sentences, you will see if your argument is in order. Jewinski and Dodds suggest the following:
i) "Look for relationships among ideas and group them as subheadings under headings. Beware of shopping lists of topics.
ii) If you can't decide where to place an idea in your outline, put it in two or three places and see where it fits best.
iii) "If an important idea doesn't fit, write a new outline with a place for it."

Dodds, Jack and Judi Jewinski. The Ready Reference Book. (1998): 15.

In the near future I will discuss how to number the items in your outline.