An essay outline is a roadmap for a prose essay. It provides a structure for what you will articulate in every section and every paragraph of your essay. Making outlines is a very important step for writing cogent persuasive essays, argumentative essays, expository essays, compare-and-contrast essays, and research papers.
Writing an outline is a big step when it comes to essay writing as it helps to get your thoughts well-organized and makes the writing process simpler. An outline anchors an essay’s main idea, called the thesis statement, which guides the essay writing process. It also lays out the body paragraphs that form the bulk of your essay and brackets those body paragraphs with an introduction and a conclusion that guide your reader into and out of the essay. An outline helps the writer to write an essay in a complete manner. Include all the main points and create a well-written essay.
Why Should You Use An Outline For Everything You Write?
Have you ever heard the phrase “great ideas take time”? No amazing writer in the history of the universe just started typing one day and then had his or her writing magically turned into a book. Great writing requires great planning. Even if a writer didn’t physically write down her timeline, she had a general idea of what she was going to write about before she started typing. Of course, there is such a thing as being inspired and acting on that inspiration (but let’s be honest, your history essay isn’t probably going to spark that kind of creativity in you).
Thus, because we are writing a very structured piece with a somewhat predictable layout, it’s always best to use an outline. After you undertake the necessary research on your topic, an outline will help you keep all of the points you want to make organized. This will ensure that you don’t skip any important pieces of information so you can stay on track.
How Do You Write An Outline?
The good thing about having an outline is that no one will be seeing it unless your teacher is making you turn it in beforehand so that he or she can review it before you turn in your paper. In case your teacher is reviewing the outline before you turn in your essay, it’s doubtful that he or she will grade too harshly on how you organize your thoughts. The main idea is that your teacher wants to see that you’re putting in some thought before you start writing your essay.
There is not much pressure on you to make an outline sound “nice” and be grammatically correct and thus you can get out your thoughts quicker and easier. You can use a piece of scratch paper for an outline and just jot down a few points or you can get intricate by creating a writing outline on the computer. Whatever way you want to write your outline is fine just make sure you’re doing it. When creating an outline, you must have an idea of what your thesis statement will be, how your body paragraphs will support your thesis statement, and how you are going to wrap everything up in a conclusion at the end
3 Benefits Of Outlining An Essay
An essay outline or research paper outline keeps you organized and focused on your main topic as you push ahead in your writing process. Here are the three main benefits of writing an outline before you start writing your essay.
- It keeps your research organized. By crafting an effective outline, you can sort through your research or reasoned points and find the perfect place to insert them in an essay. Organizing your information this way allows you to test the strength of your thesis statement. If you find yourself packing your outline with supporting evidence for your main point, you have probably picked a strong thesis. If not, you may need to reconsider.
- It maps a logical flow from points to sub-points. Most outlines have an alphanumeric structure. This means that they alternate between Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters to make points and sub-points. Other essay outline templates include decimal outlines and staggered bullet points.
- It allows you to be flexible. You can write full sentences in your formal outline, or you can write shorthand. The outline is not the final product as it acts as a tool for developing the content of your essay and finding a logical order. Thus, it only has to make sense to you.
Basic Guidance for Creating an Outline Quickly
There are many approaches on how to outline an essay. We will share some tips to give you an idea about the essay writing process. The process of writing an essay outline required by any university involves several simple steps which are as follows:
- Conduct Research on the Topic
You have to understand your topic well to write the best essay. Some preliminary research and consideration of this topic are necessary. Google search by keywords may help find articles and other publications on this topic. If you’re writing a research paper, create a list of recommended literature as well. This will help form your own opinion regarding this matter.
- Identify Essay Objective
Once you have developed your opinion about the topic, write down the main research objective. This can be a thesis statement or a question that can help you start a conversation with the readers. Your discussion should support your main objective with detailed evidence. The objective helps you stay focused and stick to the main point.
- List Main Research Points
At this stage, you are expected to make a sketch of your future paper. List all the points you intend to discuss in your paper, but don’t go into much detail. A quick brainstorming will help find several main points of your essay to further use these points as an essay frame. You can polish your ideas in the writing process. You don’t have to disclose all points that were outlined in the beginning as new information may help expand or shrink the topic or change some points.
- Organize Ideas
By organizing all the points you want to discuss in your paper, you will polish the structure of your essay outline. Just put them into order and summarize each point to ensure you don’t forget what you wanted to dwell on in each section.
- Revise and Remove Redundant Paragraphs
Revise all points and check each for relevance to the objectives of your essay. This will help to disclose the main ideas of your essay and stick to the main points. When revising remove all redundant paragraphs that don’t help disclose your idea and paraphrase those which seem to be irrelevant. If this task is complicated for you, then you can use our help when it comes to editing and proofreading your work. Contact Assignment Essay for any help with your outline and essay.
Essay Outline Structure Template
The major goal of using an essay outline is to frame your future work and maintain a proper flow. As a rule, an essay outline consists of three parts which are typical for any paper: introduction, body, and conclusion. We want to give you an idea of how to write an outline for an essay and we have created a template, which is in line with the requirements in most universities:
- Introduction.
In the introduction, you are expected to form a catchy sentence or question to attract readers’ attention followed by a thesis statement. The thesis statement should be an arguable claim that you will discuss in your paper and support with evidence
- Body
Main Point 1:
- Topic sentence — brief introduction of the paragraph
- Argument to support the thesis statement
- Evidence from outside sources
- Concluding sentence — summarize the paragraph
Main Point 2:
- Topic sentence — a brief intro of the paragraph
- Argument to support the thesis statement
- Evidence from outside sources
- Concluding sentence — summarize the paragraph
Main Point 3:
- Topic sentence — brief intro of paragraph
- Argument to support the thesis statement
- Evidence from outside sources
- Concluding sentence — summarize the paragraph
- Conclusion.
In the conclusion, you restate your thesis and summarize the main ideas mentioned in the body of your essay. Do not introduce any new information in this section.
A catchy introduction is a must for any essay as many readers will decide whether to proceed with reading or not by having a quick look at the first lines of an essay. You can use more key points in the body section if needed. In this way, you can provide more evidence to support the main statement. A strong conclusion helps to make your essay memorable by restating its main ideas in short. There’s no need to add any new information in this section.
How To Create An Essay Outline
You can use this sample outline structure in most forms of academic writing. Different types of essays call for different lengths, but the outline example below is for a five-paragraph essay.
- Introduction: The introductory paragraph of your essay should outline the topic and provide the background information necessary to understand your argument. It should also outline the evidence you will present and include your thesis statement. Your thesis should be a concise summary of the main point of your essay.
- First body paragraph: Each body paragraph should cover a different idea or piece of evidence that supports your thesis statement. Begin the paragraph with a topic sentence that clearly and concisely ties up the paragraph and links it to the thesis statement. Body paragraphs are where you back up your claims with supporting points, examples, research, statistics, studies, and text citations.
- Second body paragraph: This paragraph should mimic the format of your first body paragraph, but it should anchor around a different piece of information. Ensure the first sentence of this paragraph functions as a topic sentence that ties into the global essay topic. Continue to prove your major point with supporting details and related ideas.
- Third body paragraph: Use this paragraph to acknowledge opposing points of view that might go against your thesis. In most cases, you’ll want to briefly make a case for any counterarguments before explaining why your thesis is stronger. Presenting facts and considering a topic from every angle adds credibility and will help you gain a reader’s trust.
- Conclusion: End with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis and summarizes all of the arguments made in your body paragraphs. Rather than introducing new facts or arguments, a good concluding statement will tie up the ideas of the entire essay in a memorable way.
Guidance In Writing An Outline
Outlines are easy to create if you are an experienced writer. Otherwise, this process may take much of your time. Here we offer some guidance regarding the core points to consider when writing an outline:
- Make notes
When examining literature relevant to a chosen topic, make sure you assemble notes as it helps to remember the ideas arising from the materials analyzed. Further, this will aid in developing evidence and providing readers with supportive facts. At this stage, you may paraphrase the ideas that caught your attention, write down quotes you liked, and memorize historical facts that are important when developing evidence or statistics to prove a certain statement. This is a good approach to making your final draft more informative.
- Examine the intended audience
As a student or a writer, you can use an outline to further complete a college assignment or an article. If you are writing a high school essay or an academic paper, you just need to use briefs sent by your teacher. It is important to observe the language and style because academic papers require a more formal style compared to blog posts or articles. Formal language and clear structure are also used in research articles or other publications. You can use more informal language when writing articles or blog posts.
- Identify the main argument
Write down ideas and other important information related to your research topic. In a word, you should outline all materials you would like to include in your paper or ask questions to be answered in the course of narration. You can prepare a mind map and then jot down thoughts or ideas as soon as they come to your mind.
- Divide all ideas into groups
In the first stage of preparing an outline, it’s good if you can collect as much information as possible. Don’t worry as you can eliminate any unnecessary materials later on if you don’t need them. These groups will form the framework of your future essay. Often writers develop three main sections in the body part of an essay. Sometimes, the number of sections can be four, five, or even ten sections depending on the volume of your work.
- Develop broad ideas with specific details
Main ideas serve as main arguments. The objective of specific details is to support your ideas. It’s optimal to create one, two, or three ideas in one essay and divide them into respective sections. Each section will contain an argument, evidence, and supportive facts.
How To Compose A Proper Outline: Stepwise Tutorial
The outlining must include all the necessary details of your whole essay in a short and coherent manner. It should be comprehensive while remaining brief. Students and writers must acquire this skill with practice and knowledge. We will take you on a small journey of this process!
- Step 1: Research and preparation.
The first step in any assignment must be your research. You should go through your guidelines carefully and strictly follow them. Find the right resources for your paper, do a survey, field research, or lab experiment, and check word limit, essay format, number of resources, and citation style.
- Step 2: Think about the topic.
You will be provided with a topic, or the ability to choose a topic on your own. Research may give some bright ideas that you would like to use when coming up with a topic for your research paper. Try to select the best one depending on your interest and the availability of information to use in your research on the internet.
- Step 3: Find the purpose.
Usually, you know the purpose of your assignment, but it is easy to forget that in the flow. Figure out your purpose beforehand. The purpose should be to prove something or prepare a report.
- Step 4: Know your audience.
The audience plays an important role in writing an outline for your essay. We would suggest you recognize a purpose of an assignment intended for business professionals, colleagues, classmates, or the general population. Being aware of the audience helps you to create the necessary effect, choose the correct terminology, and come up with an appropriate title for your essay. It also helps you determine the following.
- The kind of terminology to use in your outline.
- Good title for your essay.
- The style and essay structure to use.
- The kind of resources you can do your research from.
- If you need to convince your readers or not.
- The reaction that you will receive after your audience read your paper.
- Step 5: Compile your thesis.
Once you have fully understood all the steps above, it means you are ready to complete a paper that will get you the highest grade. It is time to get down to work. Start with a thesis statement that should be written in a separate paragraph. It basically tells everybody what your paper is going to be about and its purpose.
General Outline Format
Here is an outline format that you can use when creating an academic essay.
Title Page
- Essay Title:
- Student Name:
- Professor’s Name:
- Class (Optional)
Introduction
- Opening Paragraph.
Thesis
- Brief Description of the Entire Paper.
- Link the Sentence to the First Body Paragraph.
Body Paragraph 1
- Evidence/Reference.
- Explanation (Related to the Thesis).
- Link the Sentence to the Second Body Paragraph.
Body Paragraph 2
- Evidence/Reference.
- Explanation (Related to the Thesis).
- Link the Sentence to the Third Body Paragraph.
Body Paragraph 3
- Evidence/Reference.
- Explanation (Related to the Thesis).
- Link the Sentence to the Conclusion.
Conclusion
- Summary of the Entire Paper.
- A Conclusive Sentence.
Citations
- Footnotes or Bibliography
The Major Types Of Essay Outlines
In case you are going to attend a Research Paper writing class, you will learn how to write essays and you will also see outlines for different types of essays. The first thing you will learn in this class is how to gather research and organize it into an essay outline. Your teacher will give you an essay outline rubric that depicts the essay outline format. There are different types of essays and each of them has its own purpose. Always remember that outlines for essays stay true to the format.
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Argumentative Essay Outline
The argumentative essay is as old as writing is. The idea of an argumentative is to establish an argument and provide evidence of why your claim is correct. You will collect evidence in defense of your argument and evaluate it.
Here is a sample of what an argumentative essay outline might look like:
- Introduction
- General background information about your topic
- Thesis statement
- Body paragraphs
- Argument 1 in support of your thesis
- Supporting fact
- Supporting fact
- Supporting fact
- Argument 2 in support of your thesis
- Supporting fact
- Supporting fact
- Supporting fact
- Argument 3 in support of your thesis
- Supporting fact
- Supporting fact
- Supporting fact
- Argument 1 in support of your thesis
- Opposing arguments and your response to these claims
- Opposing argument 1 to your thesis
- Your response to this claim
- Opposing argument 2 to your thesis
- Your response to this claim
- Opposing argument 1 to your thesis
- Conclusion
- Reiterate arguments made in thesis statement
- Why this essay matters (ideas for future research, why it’s especially relevant now, possible applications, etc.)
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Expository Essay Outline
Expository essays often get confused with argumentative essays, but the main difference is that the writer’s opinions and emotions are completely left out of an expository essay. The objective of an expository essay is to investigate a topic and present an argument in an unbiased way but to still arrive at a conclusion. Because of this subtle difference, it’s important to have a solid outline to get you started on your writing.
- Introduction
- The presentation of the topic
- Your thesis statement
- Body paragraphs
- Topic sentence 1
- Supporting evidence
- Analysis
- Transition sentence
- Topic sentence 2
- Supporting evidence
- Analysis
- Transition sentence
- Topic sentence 3
- Supporting evidence
- Analysis
- Transition sentence
- Topic sentence 1
- Conclusion
- Reiterate the points with an overview of the main points you discussed throughout the paper.
- Offer solutions, insight into why this topic matters, and what future topics could be expanded upon in a future paper.
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Reflective Essay Outline
Reflective papers are a fun exercise where you get to write about a particular experience in your life and discuss the lessons you learned from it. First-person essays are a really popular genre right now and are designed to make people from all different backgrounds reflect on a common human experience like receiving your first kiss, failing at something, or triumphing over obstacles. Because reflective essays are a little bit less rigid writing than traditional classroom essays, the structure is definitely not set in stone. Feel free to play around with what makes sense for your particular story and experience.
- Introduction
- A great hook that will have the audience want to keep reading on.
- A brief little tease of what the story is going to be about. You’ll probably need one to two sentences.
- Body paragraphs
- Act I of your story
- What happened initially?
- Who were the key players?
- What obstacle did you have to overcome?
- Act II of your story
- Describe the obstacle/problem in more detail
- What role did the key players have?
- Act III of your story
- What happened at the end?
- Was everything tied up neatly or not?
- Act I of your story
- Conclusion
- Summary of the events
- What lesson did you learn? Or, maybe, what was the lesson you learned much later on in life?
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Persuasive Essay Outline
In a persuasive essay, the writer uses logical facts and solid arguments to prove their point of view. Convince the reader on a specific topic or idea. The essay should be logical and structured.
A standard persuasive essay structure is quite similar to other types of essays and consists of three main elements: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Each element plays its own role in the paper. You will be required to follow the persuasive essay format and cite it according to one of the common citation styles, such as APA or MLA.
- Introduction
- Hook: Grab the reader’s attention with a quote, scenario, question, vivid description, etc. Must be related to your topic.
- Thesis statement: Simply and clearly state your position on the issue
- Three arguments. Choose three arguments you can use to convince your reader of your position. Briefly state these arguments here.
- Paragraph 2
- Go back to paragraph one and find your first argument. Then write a paragraph about it.
- Use specific examples to support your argument
- Write a transition sentence.
- Paragraph 3
- Go back to paragraph one and find your second argument. Write a paragraph about it.
- Use specific examples to support your argument. You should use authoritative websites to give facts, statistics, supporting quotations, studies, research, etc.
- Write a transition sentence.
- Paragraph 4
- Go back to paragraph one and find your third argument. Write a paragraph about it.
- Use specific examples to support your argument
- Write a transition sentence.
- Conclusion
- Summarize and restate your thesis statement and the three arguments in different words
- Make a closing statement. Tie your closing statement back to your opening hook.
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Compare-And-Contrast Essay Outline
We compare and contrast things all the time in real life. We analyze what kind of healthcare plan we want, what major to pick, what phone we want, what career we want to pursue, etc. Having the skills to analyze two (or more) items and discovering what the facts are about them so that you can make an educated decision on which to pick is very important in our day-to-day life.
A compare and contrast essay gives us the building blocks to understand how to make these decisions with real-life applications and they can be pretty fun too. Although these compare-and-contrast essays don’t have as complicated of a structure as an expository or an argumentative essay, it’s still important to plan out how you’re going to tackle this type of essay. Here’s an idea of what a compare-and-contrast outline might look like:
- Introduction
- A brief introduction to the topic and what Point A and Point B are
- Your thesis statement (which will contain some sort of equivalence or dissonance between Point A and Point B)
- Body paragraphs
- Topic sentence 1 about Point A
- Claim 1 about Point A
- Claim 2 about Point A
- Claim 3 about Point A
- Topic sentence 2 about Point B
- Claim 1 about Point B
- Claim 2 about Point B
- Claim 3 about Point B
- Topic sentence 3 that connects Point A and Point B
- What is similar between these two points?
- What is dissimilar?
- What comparisons can be made?
- Topic sentence 1 about Point A
- Conclusion
- What conclusions can we draw about comparing these two points?
- Is any further research required or suggested for the future?
- Is there a third thing that we should be comparing these two points to?
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Five-Paragraph Structure
The five-paragraph structure is a common essay structure used by almost all types of essays. Here, the essay content should be presented in 5 paragraphs by including the main components such as the introduction, body, and conclusion.
Mentioned below is the 5-paragraph essay outline structure.
Introduction
- Essay Topic Introduction
- Thesis statement
Body Paragraph 1
- Topic sentence
- Evidence and Example
- A conclusion that connects to the thesis
Body Paragraph 2
- Topic sentence
- Evidence and Example
- A conclusion that connects to the thesis
Body Paragraph 3
- Topic sentence
- Evidence and Example
- A conclusion that connects to the thesis
Conclusion
- Essay Summary
- Thesis restatement
- Call to action
Essay Outline In APA And MLA Styles
Creating an outline is a form of organization that is used by authors in all writing styles. The common organization method allows writers to list all of their research ideas in one place before the writing process starts. Understanding how you can create a great essay outline in any writing style is very important as it will make sure you write your essay in the right style.
Although it might be difficult to differentiate between an MLA and APA outline, please note that both methods depend on the referencing styles. APA outlining makes use of abstracts while MLA uses sentence citations. In an MLA outline, a title page is not important. The APA referencing style requires a title page which should be included in the outline.
MLA outline
Introduction
- Introductory sentence
- Link sentence to the thesis
Thesis
- Description of the paper.
- First argument/claim
- Second argument/claim
- Third argument/claim
Body paragraph 1
- Reference
- Explanation/claim
- Link sentence
Body paragraph 2
- Reference
- Explanation
- Link sentence
Body paragraph 3
- Reference
- Explanation/claim
- Link sentence
Conclusion
- Summary of the paper
- Conclusive sentence
References
- Footnotes or Bibliography
APA outline
- APA title page
- Title
- Student name
- Professor’s name
- Class (optional)
- Introduction
- Introductory paragraph
- Link sentence to the thesis
- Thesis
- Description
- First argument
- Second argument
- Third argument
- Body paragraph 1
- Evidence/reference
- Explanation/claim
- Link sentence
- Body paragraph 2
- Evidence/reference
- Explanation/claim
- Link sentence
- Body paragraph 3
- Evidence/reference
- Explanation/claim
- Link sentence to the conclusion
- Conclusion
- Summary of the entire essay
- Conclusive sentence
- Citations
- Footnotes or Bibliography
Despite the writing style, the main essay format acts as a helping hand in multiple ways to any person writing an outline. Knowing the general format of writing an essay can help you when writing an essay or dissertation by ensuring all ideas and references are on your outline. For instance, a persuasive essay outline is not different from a research paper outline. Thus, knowing the general outline format can make writing an essay much easier by simplifying the entire writing process.
Points To Remember When Writing An Essay Outline
When writing the essay outline, keep the following points in mind.
- It is not necessary to write a complete sentence while preparing the essay outline.
- As it is an outline, format the arguments and evidence in a way that is understandable and comfortable for you.
- Present the important points in a visually clear manner.
- Avoid duplication or repetition of the content in your essay.
- Arrange the arguments in a logical order.
- Organize the outline in a decimal structure or alphanumeric structure
Keys To Self-Improving Any Outline
If you are big on self-improvement, especially when it comes to the cornerstone of the paper such as its outline, here are some general tips to keep in mind while trying to perfect it.
- All outlines will usually still contain the general essay structure composed of a thesis statement, introduction, main body, conclusion, and bibliography.
- Decide whether you will detail each of your sample paper outline steps and headings as catchy accurate phrases or full sentences.
- Make sure to keep all your headings and subheadings related and organized accordingly to keep the essay outline format looking sharp
- Avoid overcrowding your information by dividing it appropriately into logical segments. This part can get slightly confusing and in case you are having trouble, feel free to contact Assignment Essays for assistance.
- Try presenting your outline to a classmate, friend, or family member. As many times as you might have heard this before, it is helpful in providing feedback on whether the information is straightforward and concise in terms of the topic and structuring.
- If you find yourself adding extra information while presenting it, then it means you should maybe add another subheading or rephrase a few.
We hope this has raised your understanding of the roles of outlines in the academic field as well as everyday life. Using the internet as an educational tool has become a part of our modern times. Hence it is why we place such a large emphasis on giving back to our community in the form of the free blog section. Whenever you find yourself wondering “How could I do this?” or any form of academic inquiry feel free to visit the Assignment Essays. Blog section. Or you can choose the easiest option. Just order your essay online from Assignment Essays
Need Help With Your Outline?
In case after reviewing these guidelines or examining these outline templates you’re still a little bit unsure about how to incorporate an outline into your particular essay, be sure to ask your instructor for more guidance.
And, if you need another pair of eyes to look over your paper after it’s been written, be sure to check out the services of our professional editors. Our expert editors can help you to polish up your paper, ensure that all of your citations have been made according to the style guide, and give you direction if the essay needs to be revised or rearranged in any way. Assignment Essays can also write your paper from scratch ensuring they deliver something that matches your assignment instructions fully.
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