Research Paper Assignment Twelve

How to Outline

Now that you have completed 50 note cards, it is time to start planning the actual paper. The next step in this process is the creation of an outline.

WHAT IS AN OUTLINE?

  • An outline is your paper’s blueprint. It includes your thesis, your major topics –or categories of information - that support the thesis, and the specific points that you will use to explain or exemplify your main points.

WHY OUTLINE?

  • A thorough and successful outline will ensure an organized, successful paper.
  • The more time and effort you put into the outline, the less challenging the actual writing of the paper will be.
  • Using an outline can help you organize your material and can also help you discover connections between pieces of information that you weren’t aware of when you first conceived the plan of your paper.
  • It can help you identify holes, or gaps, in your information.
  • It can also make you aware of material that is not really relevant to the purposes of your paper or material that you have covered before and should therefore be removed.
  • Therefore, it serves an essential role in managing the information you garnered from your research into a logical, well-organized paper.
  • The most important thing to remember about your final outline is that it is truly representative of your actual paper. If a topic is in your outline but not adequately discussed in your paper, revision is necessary. The outline will serve as a guide for the reader, and therefore must accurately reflect the content and organization of your paper.

TYPES OF OUTLINES

  • There are several different types of outlines, and a few different ways of formatting the material. As you move through school and encounter different instructors and different papers, you may be required to complete a different type of outline. Thisis just ONE way.
  • One type of outline is a WORKING OUTLINE, which is usually an informal list of topics and subtopics which you are thinking of covering in your paper. (You completed a very basic informal outline at the beginning of this research process when you selected the colors of your index cards and assigned them topics.) This working outline can be revised as you discover new material and get new ideas that ought to go into your paper.
  • A FINAL OUTLINE reflects the organization and coherence of your research paper. It serves as the skeleton for the paper.
  • I am going to require that you complete a through working outline now, and then a final outline to be submitted along with the final version of your paper.
  • The final outline will serve as a checks and balances system of judging the quality and quantity of your material. I will use it to guide my reading of your paper, almost like a table of contents.

Basically, your outline will look like this:

Precis paragraph

  1. Category One (from sub-question one)

A. Supporting Idea One

  1. Specific Example or Explanation One
  2. Specific Example or Explanation Two
  3. Etc, if applicable

B. Supporting Idea Two

1. Specific Example or Explanation One

2. Specific Example or Explanation Two

C. etc, if applicable

II.Category Two (from sub-question two)

A. Supporting Idea One

1. Specific Example or Explanation One

2. Specific Example or Explanation Two

B. Supporting Idea Two

1. Specific Example or Explanation One

2. Specific Example or Explanation Two

III.Category Three (from sub-question three)

A. Supporting Idea One

1. Specific Example or Explanation One

2. Specific Example or Explanation Two

B. Supporting Idea Two

1. Specific Example or Explanation One

2. Specific Example or Explanation Two

IV.Category Four (from sub-question four, if applicable)

A. Supporting Idea One

1. Specific Example or Explanation One

2. Specific Example or Explanation Two

B. Supporting Idea Two

1. Specific Example or Explanation One

2. Specific Example or Explanation Two

STEP ONE: Start with your THESIS. For most of you, this will be achieved by turning your guiding research question into a statement. Remember: the thesis should contain both your TOPIC and THE POINT YOU ARE MAKING about that topic.

Examples:

The death penalty should be abolished

 Abortion rights should continue to be legal in the United States.

 The benefits of playing video games outweigh the few possible harms.

  • Cats make the best pets.

STEP TWO: Separate your piles of cards into stacks. Each color will represent a section of the paper. Reconsider you sub-questions.

Do they need to be changed?

What is the most logical order to put them in within your paper?

STEP THREE: Turn your sub-question statements into the main categories in your outline. You will use upper caseroman numerals (I, II, III, IV…) to represent thesemain SECTIONS or CATEGORIES of your paper. (SEE STEP ONE, ABOVE)

There is no prescribed length to a section, and lengths of sections may vary.

Think critically about the order of your categories. One good rule of thumb is to start with any background information or historical information that would help your reader understand your topic.

For example:

  1. There are many different breeds of cats to choose from.
  2. Cats have unique qualities that most other pets do not have.
  3. Cats require little maintenance and are relatively inexpensive pets to keep.
  4. People who own cats experience many physical and mental benefits.

STEP FOUR: Write a précis. This is a summation of your entire paper. Basically, it is a paragraph beginning with your thesis, and then supported by your sub-questions, which you have turned into statements and introduced by transition words.

So a précis for a paper about cats - with the sub-questions about breeds, qualities, maintenance and benefits - might look like this:

Cats make the best pets. First of all, there are many different breeds of cats to choose from. Also, cats have unique qualities that most other pets do not have. Cats require little maintenance and are relatively inexpensive pets to keep. Finally, research has actually proven that people who own cats experience many physical and mental benefits.

STEP FIVE: Look at each stack of cards individually. Go through the information, and organize, or group, it into smaller categories. You will use capital letters (A, B, C…) to represent the supporting ideas under each of your sub-questions. Each main topic should have at least two supporting points, though some sections may have many more.

For example:

  1. There are many different breeds of cats to choose from.
  2. Domestic
  3. Hybrid

You will write a section about A, domestic cats and then a section about B, hybrid cats.

STEP SIX: Further divide these supporting points into more specific categories. These more specific categories will become the paragraphs for the paper. . Now, use ordinal numbers (1, 2, 3…_) to represent these categories.

For example:

  1. There are many different breeds of cats to choose from.
  1. Domestic
  2. Long hair
  3. Short hair
  4. Hybrid

STEP SEVEN: Decide which note-cards have information that you would actually like to use in your paper to explain your ideas. Separate the cards you will use as quotes within the paper and stack them in order, and label them. This means you should at least one note card for each of the ordinal numbers you created in step six.

******Depending on the nature of your paper, and the type of information that you have, you may need to continue even deeper into the outline, with lower case letters (a, b, c…) underneath your ordinal numbers. For example:

I.There are many different breeds of cats to choose from.

  1. Domestic
  2. Long hair
  3. American Longhair
  4. Burmin
  5. Persian
  6. Maine Coon
  7. Short hair
  8. Hybrid