A familiar way to organize is to outline. A written outline, whether brief or detailed, acts as a map that you make before a journey. It shows where to leave from, where to stop along the way, and where to arrive. If you forget where you are going or what you want to say, you can consult your outline to get back on track. When you turn in your essay, your instructor may request an outline as both a map for readers and a skeletal summary.
See more on thesis statements.
See more on using outlining for revision.
Thesis-Guided Outlines. Your working thesis may identify ideas you can use to organize your paper. (If it doesn’t, you may want to revise your thesis and then return to your outline or vice versa.) Suppose you are assigned an anthropology paper on the people of Melanesia. You focus on this point:
Working Thesis: Although the Melanesian pattern of family life may look strange to Westerners, it fosters a degree of independence that rivals our own.
If you lay out your ideas in the same order that they follow in the two parts of this thesis statement, your simple outline suggests an essay that naturally falls into two parts — features that seem strange and admirable results.
–A woman supported by her brother, not her husband
–Trial marriages common
– Divorce from her children possible for any mother
–Wives not dependent on husbands for support
–Divorce between mates uncommon
–Greater freedom for parents and children
When you create a thesis-guided outline, look for the key element of your working thesis. This key element can suggest both a useful question to consider and an organization, as the table below illustrates.
Informal Outlines. For in-class writing, brief essays, and familiar topics, a short or informal outline, also called a scratch outline, may serve your needs. Jot down a list of points in the order you plan to make them. Use this outline, for your eyes only, to help you get organized, stick to the point, and remember ideas under pressure. The following example outlines a short paper explaining how outdoor enthusiasts can avoid illnesses carried by unsafe drinking water. It simply lists the methods for treating potentially unsafe water that the writer plans to explain.
| Sample Thesis Statement | Type of Key Element | Examples of Key Element | Question You Might Ask | Organization of Outline |
| A varied personal exercise program has four main advantages. | Plural word | Words such as benefits, advantages, teenagers, or reasons | What are the types, kinds, or examples of this word? | List outline headings based on the categories or cases you identify. |
| Wylie’s interpretation of Van Gogh’s last paintings unifies aesthetics and psychology. | Key word identifying an approach or vantage point | Words such as claim, argument, position, interpretation, or point of view | What are the parts, aspects, or elements of this approach? | List outline headings based on the components that you identify. |
| Preparing a pasta dinner for surprise guests can be an easy process. | Key word identifying an activity | Words such as preparing, harming, or improving | How is this activity accomplished, or how does it happen? | Supply a heading for each step, stage, or element that the activity involves. |
| Although the new wetland preserve will protect only some wildlife, it will bring several long-term benefits to the region. | One part of the sentence subordinate to another | Sentence part beginning with a qualification such as despite, because, since, or although | What does the qualification include, and what does the main statement include? | Use a major heading for the qualification and another for the main statement. |
| When Sandie Burns arrives in her wheelchair at the soccer field, other parents soon see that she is a typical soccer mom. | General evaluation that assigns a quality or value to someone or something | Evaluative words such as typical, unusual, valuable, notable, or other specific qualities | What examples, illustrations, or clusters of details will show this quality? | Add a heading for each extended example or each group of examples or details you want to use. |
| In spite of these tough economic times, the student senate should strongly recommend extended hours for the computer lab. | Claim or argument advocating a certain decision, action, or solution | Words such as should, could, might, ought to, need to, or must | Which reasons and evidence will justify this opinion? Which will counter the opinions of others who disagree with it? | Provide a heading for each major justification or defensive point; add headings for countering reasons. |
Working Thesis: Campers and hikers need to ensure the safety of the water that they drink from rivers or streams.
Introduction: Treatments for potentially unsafe drinking water
–Remove bacteria and protozoa including salmonella and E. coli
–Use brands convenient for campers and hikers
–Use bleach, chlorine, or iodine
–Follow general rule: 12 drops per gallon of water
–Boil for 5 minutes (Red Cross) to 15 minutes (National Safety Council)
–Store in a clean, covered container
Conclusion: Using one of three methods of treating water, campers and hikers can enjoy safe water from natural sources.
This simple outline could easily fall into a five-paragraph essay or grow to eight paragraphs — introduction, conclusion, and three pairs of paragraphs in between. You won’t know how many you’ll need until you write.
An informal outline can be even briefer than the preceding one. To answer an exam question or prepare a very short paper, your outline might be no more than an outer plan — three or four phrases jotted in a list:
Isolation of region
Tradition of family businesses
Growth of electronic commuting
The process of making an informal outline can help you figure out how to develop your ideas. Say you plan a “how-to” essay analyzing the process of buying a used car, beginning with this thesis:
Working Thesis: Despite traps that await the unwary, preparing yourself before you shop can help you find a good used car.
The key word here is preparing. Considering how the buyer should prepare before shopping for a used car, you’re likely to outline several ideas:
–Read car blogs, car magazines, and Consumer Reports.
–Check craigslist, dealer sites, and classified ads.
–Make phone calls to several dealers.
–Talk to friends who have bought used cars.
–Know what to look and listen for when you test-drive.
–Have a mechanic check out any car before you buy it.
After some horror stories about people who got taken by car sharks, you can discuss, point by point, your advice. You can always change the sequence, add or drop an idea, or revise your thesis as you go along.
Formal Outlines. A formal outline is an elaborate guide, built with time and care, for a long, complex paper. Because major reports, research papers, and senior theses require so much work, some professors and departments ask a writer to submit a formal outline at an early stage and to include one in the final draft. A formal outline shows how ideas relate one to another — which ones are equal and important (coordinate) and which are less important (subordinate). It clearly and logically spells out where you are going. If you outline again after writing a draft, you can use the revised outline to check your logic then as well, perhaps revealing where to revise.
When you make a full formal outline, follow these steps:
For more on parallelism, see B2 in the Quick Editing Guide.
See more on analysis and division.
CAUTION: Because an outline divides or analyzes ideas, some readers and instructors disapprove of categories with only one subpoint, reasoning that you can’t divide anything into one part. Let’s say that your outline on earthquakes lists a 1 without a 2:
Logically, if you are going to discuss the probable results of an earthquake, you need to include more than one result:
Not only have you now come up with more points, but you have also emphasized the one placed last.
A formal topic outline for a long paper might include several levels of ideas, as this outline for Linn Bourgeau’s research paper illustrates. Such an outline can help you work out both a persuasive sequence for the parts of a paper and a logical order for any information from sources.
Crucial Choices: Who Will Save the Wetlands If Everyone Is at the Mall?
Working Thesis: Federal regulations need to foster state laws and educational requirements that will help protect the few wetlands that are left, restore as many as possible of those that have been destroyed, and take measures to improve the damage from overdevelopment.
A topic outline may help you work out a clear sequence of ideas but may not elaborate or connect them. Although you may not be sure how everything will fit together until you write a draft, you may find that a formal sentence outline clarifies what you want to say. It also moves you a step closer to drafting topic sentences and paragraphs even though you would still need to add detailed information. Notice how this sentence outline for Linn Bourgeau’s research paper expands her ideas.
Crucial Choices: Who Will Save the Wetlands If Everyone Is at the Mall?
Working Thesis: Federal regulations need to foster state laws and educational requirements that will help protect the few wetlands that are left, restore as many as possible of those that have been destroyed, and take measures to improve the damage from overdevelopment.