A1-b: Outlining a text to identify main ideas (written texts)

A1-bOutline a text to identify main ideas.

You are probably familiar with using an outline as a planning tool to help you organize your ideas. An outline is a useful tool for reading, too. Outlining a text—identifying its main idea and major parts—can be an important step in your reading process.

As you outline, look closely for a text’s thesis statement (main idea) and topic sentences because they serve as important signposts for readers. A thesis statement often appears in the introduction, usually in the first or second paragraph. Topic sentences can be found at the beginnings of most body paragraphs, where they announce a shift to a new topic. (See C2-a and C5-a.)

Put the author’s thesis and key points in your own words. Here, for example, are the points Emilia Sanchez identified as she prepared to write her summary and analysis of the text printed in A1-a. Notice that Sanchez does not simply trace the author’s ideas paragraph by paragraph; instead, she sums up the article’s central points.

outline of “big box stores are bad for main street”

Thesis: Whether or not they take jobs away from a community or offer low prices to consumers, we should be worried about “big-box” stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot because they harm communities by taking the life out of downtown shopping districts.

  1. Small businesses are better for cities and towns than big-box stores are.
    1. Small businesses offer personal service, but big-box stores do not.
    2. Small businesses don’t make demands on community resources as big-box stores do.
    3. Small businesses respond to customer concerns, but big-box stores do not.
  2. Big-box stores are successful because they cater to consumption at the expense of benefits to the community.
    1. Buying everything in one place is convenient.
    2. Shopping at small businesses may be inefficient, but it provides opportunities for socializing.
    3. Downtown shopping districts give each city or town a special identity.

Conclusion: Although some people say that it’s anti-American to oppose big-box stores, actually these stores threaten the communities that make up America by encouraging buying at the expense of the traditional interactions of Main Street.

Guidelines for active reading

Previewing a written text

  • Who is the author? What are the author’s credentials?
  • What is the author’s purpose: To inform? To persuade? To call to action?
  • Who is the expected audience?
  • When was the text written? Where was it published?
  • What kind of text is it: A book? A report? A scholarly article? A policy memo?

Annotating a written text

  • What surprises, puzzles, or intrigues you about the text?
  • What question does the text attempt to answer?
  • What is the author’s thesis, or central claim?
  • What type of evidence does the author provide to support the thesis? How persuasive is this evidence?

Conversing with a written text

  • What are the strengths and limitations of the text?
  • Has the author drawn conclusions that you question? Do you have a different interpretation of the evidence?
  • Does the text raise questions that it does not answer?
  • Does the author consider opposing viewpoints and treat them fairly?

Asking the “So what?” question

  • Why does the author’s thesis need to be argued, explained, or explored? What’s at stake?
  • What has the author overlooked in presenting this thesis?

Guidelines for writing a summary

  • In the first sentence, mention the title of the text, the name of the author, and the author’s thesis. (See A1-c.)
  • Maintain a neutral tone; be objective.
  • As you present the author’s ideas, use the third-person point of view and the present tense: Taylor argues. . . . (If you are writing in APA style, see APA-3b.)
  • Keep your focus on the text. Don’t state the author’s ideas as if they were your own.
  • Put all or most of your summary in your own words; if you borrow a phrase or a sentence from the text, put it in quotation marks and give the page number in parentheses.
  • Limit yourself to presenting the text’s key points.
  • Be concise; make every word count.