English 2

• Outline


  A map of your essay that shows what information each section or paragraph will contain and in what order. It is the general plan of what you are going to write. Most outlines use numbers and/or bullet points to arrange information and convey points.
• Outline


  • Provides a summary and shows the logical flow of a paper
  • Helpful for research papers to keep track of large amounts of information
  • Helpful for creative writing to organize plot threads and character traits
  • Helps organize an oral report or presentation
• Reasons for creating an outline

  • Aids in the process of writing
  • Helps you organize your ideas
  • Presents your material in a logical form
  • Shows the relationships among ideas in your writing
  • Constructs an ordered overview of your writing
  • Defines boundaries and groups
• Linear style


  Ranking arguments in order of their importance from major to minor ones
• Outline structure

  1. Main topic (Roman numerals)

  2. Subtopic (Capital letters)

  3. Supporting details
• Primary sources


  Provide immediate first-hand accounts of a topic or evidence that originally and directly comes from the main source of information. Examples include artifacts, original research, autobiographies, emails, diaries, speeches, interviews, letters, surveys, artwork, performance, poems, newspaper reports, photographs, video, or audio.
• Secondary sources


  One step removed from primary sources, though they often code or otherwise use primary sources. They can cover the same topic but add a layer of interpretation and analysis. Examples include biographies, commentaries, dictionaries, documentaries, history books, literary reviews, textbooks, and scholarly or other articles about a topic.
• There are two main types of outlines: topic outline and sentence outline
• Topic outline

  • Uses words and phrases to present ideas
  • Reveals the logic you will follow in your paper
• Sentence outline

  • Uses complete sentences
  • Helps ensure you become sufficiently specific about your subject rather than generalizing
• Rules for outlining

  • Do not mix topic and sentence outline methods
  • Indent properly
  • In a sentence outline, begin each point with a capital letter and place a period after each division number or letter and at the end of the sentence
  • In a topic outline, begin each point with a capital letter and place a period after each division number or letter, but do not place periods after ideas
  • Strive for parallel wording among outline topics and subtopics