Outlines

What is an outline?

An outline is a plan for your document or paper. When used early in your drafting process, an outline can help you visualize how different components of your paper will fit together. It’s also useful to ensure you have all the components you need. For example, an outline can help you:

• Check that you have evidence to support your claims
• Visualize how each paragraph will build into your thesis
• Estimate the length of each paragraph or section and identify areas that need development or streamlining
• Ensure that the flow of ideas and organization of topics is logical

You can get as detailed as you need. Some outlines are just general plans that writers use to check organization, while others are more detailed and allow writers to organize their notes for a paper.

When should I outline?

Since an outline is most often used as a plan for your document, it’s best to start early in the drafting process. Outlines can help you figure out what you’ve already done and what you might still need to do before you’re ready to write. You can revise your outline several times before you start writing or if you find that things aren’t quite working once you start writing. You can also use reverse outlines to help you revise your organization or flow once you’ve written a draft.

Organizing your outline

The specific organization of your outline will depend on the type of paper you’re writing and your specific ideas. Some outlines use Roman numerals to number the sections, or letters to label different paragraphs. You can use whatever system works best for you. Just keep in mind that you should be able to tell how many paragraphs you have and what order they will appear. You should be able to identify the different components easily, for example, a supporting point and a paragraph should look different in some way.

Example outline