The Research Project

The Research Project
Formal Sentence Outline

Overview
The Formal Sentence Outline is one of the assignments which make up the majorResearch Paper. Using the specified standard outline format indicated below, you will show the major divisions and subdivisions of your research paper, making every entry a grammaticallycomplete declarative sentence.

The Assignment
Following all of the formatting guidelines and rules below, write a formal sentence outline which indicates the structure and development of your research paper, showing its divisions and subdivisions. Make every entry of the outline a grammatically complete sentence.

Note: Do not write an outline whose entries are single words, short phrases, sentence fragments, orquestions. Every entry must be a completedeclarativesentence of the sort which might actually appear in your research paper.

Remember that revised and updated revisions of this outline should be included on Noodle Tools..

Outline Format
Place the essay's thesis statement at the top of the outline. See the example provided. Most outlines contain three or four levels of detail (although more levels may be used if the writer wishes). The format for this assignment uses Roman numerals for the main, or largest, divisions of the outline (level one). Capital letters indicate the sub-levels of the main divisions (level two). Arabic numerals indicate the sub-levels of the capital-letter sections (level three). Lower-case letters indicate the sub-levels of Arabic-numeral sections (level four).

Outline Rules
1. The Rule of Pairs: If you have a I, you must have a II; if you have an A, then you must have a B; if you have a 1, then you must have a 2, and so on.

2. Different sections of the outline may have different levels of detail. Give each section the amount of detail it requires.

3. Indent each successive level of the outline three spaces, and maintain even internal margins throughout the outline.

4. Double-space between all headings in the outline (or doublespace the whole outline and triple-space between headings).

Example of Typical Outline Structure:

Thesis Statement

I.
A.
1.
2.
B.

II.
A.
B.
C.

III.
A.
B.

IV.
A.
B.
1.
2.
3.
C.
1.
a.
b.
2.

and so on . . .

Example Outline (partial):

I. The polygraph measures physiological changes in response to

questions.

II. Private businesses use polygraph testing for at least two reasons.
A. Employees are tested to thwart thievery.
B. Potential employees are tested to discover
characteristics that would make them undesirable.

III. Well-supported arguments can be made against the use of

polygraph tests.
A. They intrude into an individual's private life.
B. They are demeaning to a person being tested.
C. The results are often read inaccurately.

and so on . .