Building an Outline
- 2. Overview Your outline is an elaborative extension of your thesis statement. • The order should mirror the thesis statement’s order exactly • There will be no new concepts presented but new content will be added to further address or explain the main points that your thesis statement identified 2
- 3. Overview What does this mean? • A great thesis statement is very general. It paints the picture of what will be covered within the paper by identifying main points. It does not go into detail on which sub-points will be chosen to support the main points. • The outline begins to illuminate more detail through a presentation of sub- points and sub-details. 3
- 4. Checkpoint 1. Locate your thesis statement 1. Locate and highlight each main point within your thesis statement 1. When you begin to develop your outline, you will place each main point from your thesis statement into your outline in the exact order that they appear. 4
- 5. 5 Overview Your paper will be an elaborative extension of your outline. • The paper’s order will mirror the outline’s order exactly • There will be no new concepts introduced in your paper but there will be greater explanation through examples from expert sources and your own analysis of those concepts.
- 6. 6 Overview What does this mean? • The outline sets the blueprint (or path) for the paper • Your instructor may be looking to the outline to ensure that you follow the exact order set within • They may check that you do not eliminate any content that you had promised within the outline or added any new content within your paper that was not identified within the outline.
- 7. Checkpoint 1. At this point, you may want to consider which note-taking method you use 1. Our favorite method is to create a working copy of your outline and note-take within. This is modeled in this slideshow. You might prefer a hands-on method. 7
- 8. 8 Formatting What does MLA mandate? • There is no specific format required by MLA but they do suggest students use an alphanumeric format. • You may be celebrating that there is no required format, but be careful. This means that your instructor’s expectations may be more vague or unclear and you cannot point to set guidelines to justify your work.
- 9. 9 Formatting What does this mean? • An alphanumeric format begins with Roman numerals, switches to capital letters, switches to Arabic numerals, then lowercase letters and eventually leads to parentheses within its hierarchy and divisions. • There are also various styles: topic outline formats use keywords and phrases and sentence outlines use full sentences within each outline element.
- 10. 10 Formatting What does my instructor want? Great question!!!! That’s up to you to find out! • While it is somewhat safe to assume that they want it presented alphanumerically (and in Times New Roman 12 point font, double- spaced), it is not so safe to assume whether they prefer topic or sentence style. They may also expect various elements included or omitted such as an introduction and conclusion or thesis statement. They may have forgotten to make each expectation clear so be sure to ask, as needed. • Remember that your grade depends upon your understanding and performance of these expectations.
- 11. Example This an alphanumeric topic outline example from Purdue OWL 11
- 12. Checkpoint 1. Locate an outline template that matches the style your instructor requires 1. Ensure that the template includes an introduction, main body, and conclusion section if you need these sections 1. Save your own copy 1. Begin by making comments within to remind yourself of each additional requirement that your instructor communicated 1. At this point, you can also insert your main points within the main body section of the outline 12
- 13. 13 Structure “Points” direct toward “sub-points” and “sub- points” direct toward “sub-details” • Terms such as these are often interchanged and not used consistently. • You may hear it as “main idea, sub-idea, and details” • You may even hear the words interchanged by the same person • No matter the term, they indicate a hierarchy
- 14. 14 Structure What is a hierarchy? • Definition: “a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.” • This means that your outline will indicate rankings from broad concepts to specific examples. • These are likely to be represented in the alphanumeric structure that we talked about earlier.
- 15. Checkpoint 1. When you were brainstorming your topic or brainstorming your thesis statement, you may have jotted down keywords or ideas that you wanted to cover in your paper 1. Look to these or jot some down now 1. Arrange them into the main body section of your outline as sub-points and details, accordingly 1. Remember that, the more sub-points and details you add, the longer your paper will become. You can do a quick calculation to estimate length and adjust as needed. 15
- 16. 16 Structure Parallelism matters... • The grammatical order of your wording should be consistent (parallelism) Example from the University of Toronto:
- 17. 17 Structure Coordination matters... • Importance of elements within each hierarchy should be equal. Example from the University of Toronto:
- 18. 18 Structure Subordination matters... • Arrangement should be major to minor/general to specific/abstract to concrete • Example from the University of Toronto: The example displays poor work and then a correction
- 19. 19 Structure Division matters… • Divisions of sections must always include at least two parts (do not include an A without a B or a 1 without a 2, etc.) • The best explanation that I can think of for this is that if you have only one element and there are no divisions, then the hierarchical element above this section should be made more specific to include these keywords or phrases because that is the only concept that you plan to explore within this section.
- 20. Checkpoint 1. At this point, you probably want to edit your introduction and conclusion sections 1. It is likely that you will want a hook, brief overview and thesis statement within the introduction 1. It is likely that you will want a summary of information, reworded thesis statement, and prediction or commentary on the legacy within the conclusion section 20
- 21. 21 If overwriting an example outline, remember to check that it has all become your own! Clean up any extra notes or examples Remember to use vocabulary that mirrors that which you have seen in formal publications. Watch your capitalization - ensure it is consistent!
- 22. 22 Thanks! Any questions? You can find me at khornberger@palisadessd.org
- 23. Credits Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free: • Presentation template by SlidesCarnival • Photographs by Unsplash 23