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 often can be found at the beginning of body paragraphs, where they announce a shift to a new idea. (See 1e and 3a.)
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 article "Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street." 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.
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.