Outlining: Creating An Outline

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OUTLINING

Outlining is a tool used in the writing process to help you organize the ideas
into a logical order, visualize your paper’s potential structure, and to further
flesh out and develop points. It is a way for you to demonstrate the main
argument (thesis), main points (topic sentences), and main pieces of
evidence you are going to present in a paper before actually writing the
paper. Additionally, one of the essential purposes of an outline is to clearly
convey the connection between the thesis and each of the topic sentences.

Creating an Outline
 Before you start creating an outline, you need to have a clear thesis
statement, or clear purpose or arguments.

 Organize your outline in whatever format fits into the structure needed
for the type of paper you are writing. One common outline format uses
Roman numerals, letters, and numbers. Other outlines can use bullet
points or other symbols.

 Outlines can be written using complete sentences or fragments or a


mix of the two.

 After creating your outline, you may decide to reorganize your ideas by
putting them in a different order. Furthermore, as you are writing you
might make some discoveries and you can always adjust or deviate
from the outline as needed.

Steps in Outlining

1. Generalizing -The first step is to look over each individual piece of


information that you’ve written and assign it to a general category.

2. Ordering - To begin, look at your most general categories. With your


thesis in mind, try to find a way that the labels might be arranged in a
sentence or two that supports your arguments.

3. Putting it all Together - With the sentences you have established


from the first two steps, you have essentially constructed an outline for
your essay.

Types of Outlining
1. Topic Outline - In this outline, you list the main idea to be covered in
your writing. These ideas are stated in words or phrases rather than in
sentence. It is useful for short essays.

2. Sentence Outline - Organizes your ideas using complete thoughts.


This means you can include more information and details. These are
typically used for longer reports and research papers.

Examples of an Outline

1. Traditional Approach - This method involves dividing your story up into


smaller parts, and creating mini-summaries for each part. This is great for longer
stories.

2. The Synopsis - Focuses on creating a concise representation of your story


that will help you, as the writer, remember the myriad details you ultimately
want to include.

3. The Snowflake Method - This method is more detailed format, it forces


the writer to consider many different parts of the story.

4. The Three-Act Structure - This is another method that involves organizing


and expanding at the same time. This method helps to make sure that your
story has a dynamic plot-structure, and follows the basic three-act structure.

5. The Hero's Journey - This model aims at creating an exposition or


introduction (setting the stage); rising action, or development of conflict; climax
(where the conflict comes to boiling-over point); falling action (the response to
this conflict); and denouement (the resolution and tying up of loose ends).

6. The Freytag Model - This model is similar to the hero’s journey, and the
three-act structure. It gives the writer some structure to guide their
organization, but leaves the specifics up to the writer.

7. Draft Zero - The draft before the draft. This is the anti-outline, and some
people find it liberating, creatively engaging, and hectic.
The point of this method is to just write. Ramble your story, and don’t worry
about mistakes. They will be fixed later.While using this method, feel free to use
symbols, cross-outs, drawings, notes, and whatever other short-hand devices you
might know. The point is to just get the story onto paper.

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