How to Improve an Outline

An outline is a map through your essay, book or thesis.

An outline is a valuable writer's tool that will help you map out the information you wish to present in a brief, organized manner. How effective the tool will be depends on how effectively it is organized, and as you work with outlines, you will learn what needs to be included and how. Generally you will start with topics and subtopics that follow the overall theme to your work. In the case of a book, for instance, you will want to break this up into major acts, such as first, second and third, as section that support your main topic, or theme/plot. What needs to happen in each part will follow as a subtopic.

Instructions

1. Decide your ultimate goal in whatever you write. Often this is a matter of asking and then answering one major question. This will teach you how to break the topic into supporting sections.

2. Decide what points you wish to include to support your main idea. This will give you an idea what research will be needed, or what research you've already done.

3. Group similar ideas together. In the case of climate change, for example, group together scientific evidence versus political philosophies and finally controversial topics.

4. Organize your points to logically flow from one idea to the next to create momentum in your writing. Rearrange as needed to keep the order as organic as possible. Some even use smaller pieces of paper, such as index cards, to keep this easier to organize.

5. Place these components in order, separating the main idea into its subparts. For the subparts, include at least two bullets, or points, to support it. This will flesh out your writing and prevent your evidence from being too thin.

6. Make sure that you have answered the original question, which was posed either directly or indirectly by your main idea. Establish each subpoint to deal with this directly, so as not to veer off course.

7. Establish a cohesive introduction and a comprehensive conclusion to pull together all the parts of your outline.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember an outline is not written in stone. Writing is never finished, it's merely abandoned. If you run into dead ends even after you have completed your outline, you may have to change the order or even some of the subplots to further benefit your main idea.

References

• Owl Writing Lab Purdue: Why and How to Create a Useful Outline
• Los Angeles Valley College: How to Write an Outline
• Write Express: Writing an Outline
• San Francisco Edit: Eight Steps to Developing an Effective Outline