What Feature Is Used to Create a Conventional Outline?

A conventional outline breaks down a paper's purpose.

Whether it's the rundown for a school essay or quick notes to pitch an idea to your boss, creating an outline highlights the key points of a longer document and breaks it into easy-to-read text. Word processing software such as Microsoft Word is one of the best tools for this task, because it can create a conventional outline automatically with information that you supply.

Conventional Outlines

A conventional outline uses a combination of topics, subtopics and sub-subtopics to outline a presentation, paper or report. Its purpose is to drill down the purpose of a report for the reader, give a general idea of the paper's construction and help you organize your thoughts. Conventional outlines use levels to discern between the various topics and subtopics, so the reader -- and the writer -- knows how to classify specific pieces of information. The levels are outlined using indentation and font changes to create a clear delineation between topics and related subjects.

Outline Tools

Microsoft Word has a menu specifically for outlining topics. Open a new document in Word, then click the "View" tab and select the "Outline" option from the left-hand side of the panel. Here you are offered the ability to change different levels to start your conventional outline.

Outline Features

What makes the Word version of a conventional outline so simple is that Word automatically formats each topic and subtopic with different indentation and fonts, saving you the trouble of doing so manually. For instance, if you're writing a report on Shakespearean themes, the report covers the entire topic, but your outline could start with each play. The play is a level one topic, with each of the explored themes being a level two subtopic. Deeper explanations on each theme is a level three sub-subtopic, while each new theme returns to a level two. The outline breaks down the basic information and organizes it, so that when you write your paper, you already know which topics to cover and how they relate to one another.

Automatic Outlines

If you've already made a basic outline without formatting, you can create a conventional outline after the fact by using the "Outline" tool and the drop-down level menu to specify each topic and subtopic, as well as change any fonts. You can then copy your formatting changes into a new document, and save and print it for future reference.

References

• SmartTech: Outline View Overview
• Jolley-Mitchell: Outlining Your Paper Using Microsoft Word
• The Speaker's Handbook: Jo Sprague, et al.