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Outline

Adjusting the direction and mapping It out

This section on płanning comblnes the "boncs" of your thests or gnestion with the "flesh" from your research and insights to construct a unłfied essay body.

An outline is the organlzatlonal plan for your paper. You know your startlng point: your introductlon and thesls/research question. You know your destinatlon: some sort of summatlve and thoughtful condusion. But how are you going to get from one to the other? Whafs your vehlde? See, an outline doesn't Just help you artlculate what you plan to say, but also how you're going to move from supporting paragraph to supportlng paragraph, how you're going to gct where you want to go.

The importance of outllnes UfflSL

Helpful Unks

The importance of outllnes:

•    If you can’t artlculate your paper even In point form, you won't be able to do it effectively In prose and It will take you much longer to wrłte an łnferior draft

•    If you do flnd structural proWems or gaps os you outline, H*s casier to fix them now than to try and totally revamp a 3* draft. Face it, łt*s ałways easier (transiation: less intcllectualy painful) to scrap a notę than a paragraph or w hole essay

•    any teacher will tell you that you will lose morę points for lack of substance than for lack of writlng style; outllnes are all about the crux and direction of substance

•    shoułd things cłłck kito place, an outline głves you confidencc. It hełps you to realize that, yes, you reaBy do know what you‘re talking about!

•    stream-of-consdousness writing can be publłshed and fasdnabng as creatfre writing, but not as a research paper. Markers dont appredate mental diarrhea or what Kevin B. Bucknali from Grtffith University calls The Shotgun Tcchntque: *This is putting down everything you know about the subject, and is a common fault. It łs Rke ftrlng a shotgun and hoping that some of the many peWets hit homo." So have some respect for your readers

•    outlines make drafting less stressful not only by dcsalbkig the rełationship of your ideas to each other and to the thcsis or question, but because you now have smak manageable chunks to tadde

•    many professors will be defighted to make an appointmcnt with you to go over an outline but not a draft

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How to construct your own

The first step to constmctlng an outline is to take a deep breath.

You're probabiy intimidated by the research materials and notes amassed in front of you -not to worry.

Carefully read the notes you took from the last step. Try to find classifications for your findings that relate to your thesis or research question. Look for common trends. They’re going to be separated from each other but gather them together. It doesn't really matter how you dassify. For a 5,000 word paper, you may flnd two huge headings. Great, now see what could fali under each. And don't forget to look back at the origlnal assignment for dues about sub-groups your professor might be looklng for.

You can dassify using a variety of technląues. If you like putting notes on index cards, then paper-dlp oncs that go together and shuffle them around to achieve the best order of łdeas. You can also do this on paper: use different-cołoured symbols or highlighters or cut your sheets into strips (If you w rotę on onły one side of the page).

With several piles of related concepts before you, think of other ways of grouping that might make equal sense.

Once youYe happy with what you've got, you may find that some sections are strong and fleshed-out whereas others are weaker. Oo some morę research where needed or see if two "weak" sections Just couldn't flt under one stronger heading. Perhaps as hard as you try, your points fit together but not with the overarchlng argument you're making. In that case, don't be afrald to re-evaluate your thesis; It may Just need a quallflcatlon. Your evidence may bo great but if It supports a different thesis, your readers won't see how great It Is because they'11 be expectlng something else.

Now that you have thesis and support (or research question and answers) flttlng together, give yourself a pat on the backA.the really hard work Is done!

What should an outline look like?

It doesn't really matter. Unless you have to hand It In for marks or you really do like the process, don't feel you have to got bogged down in the formal, "roman-numeral" structure. If webblng or point form does It for you, then that's what you should uso.

Check out this posslbłe template for an argumontatlve paper and this one for an analytical paper. Remember that thoy aro Just posslbłe structural Ideas. Now that you're an cxpcrt crltlcal problem-solver, we’re surę you can modlfy them to suit the neuds of your partlcular paper.