An outline is a way to keep track of all the topics and ideas you want to write about in a piece. Knowing how to write an outline is very helpful for any kind of writing, from research papers to creative writing.
But many authors and students don’t know how to write an outline or what the right format for an outline is. Hence, they take help from
professional assignment helpers online to get it done. But for those who want to do it themselves, in this blog post about how to write an outline, we’ll explain what an outline is and show you an example of a formal outline. But let’s start off with a simple question: What does “make an outline” mean?
What does it mean to have a written outline?
An outline is a kind of outline for writing. The topics you want to talk about and the order in which you will talk about them are laid out. Most of the time, paragraphs are used to separate the outline and the facts they support, like statistics or logical proof. Then, when writing the first draught, the writer follows the outline so they know what to write about and in what order.
Why should you make an outline?
Using topic outlines, you can focus only on how everything is organised and where it goes. This way, you won’t have to waste time thinking about how to finish the work. Instead, it helps you focus on details like sentence structure and clarity.
Knowing how to write an outline for a paper is important if you want to keep track of your past research. When you know how to write an outline, you can choose the best way to break your research up into parts and paragraphs. The plan then helps you organise your research and makes sure you don’t forget anything when you’re writing the first draught.
How to Write an Outline: Five Steps
Do you need help making an outline for an essay, a research paper, or something else? Here is a list of five clear, easy steps for writing an outline.
1. Do research and gather sources
Preparation is the first step in any writing process. For academic writing, it is important to do research and collect data to back up your thesis. It also helps come up with ideas and think of new ways to write creatively.
Once you know what you want to write about, you can start making an outline. You can always add more content if you think of something else later, but in general, all the content should be ready at the start. This will make it easier to write.
2. Make a list of the things you want to talk about
The second step is to organise what you want to write, whether it’s a well-researched argument or original content. The most common and useful way to organise topics is by paragraph.
Group your research findings or ideas into separate topics. Remember that each paragraph should only talk about one main idea, so group your ideas based on how they relate to each other. Don’t forget to connect facts, figures, and other details to the most important topic of the paragraph.
3. Think about what order to cover the topics in
You should now have a list of topics that are not in any particular order, preferably broken up into paragraphs. The next step is to decide how the paragraphs should be put together.
Think about whether the reader will understand a topic right away or if they need more background information. Some ideas should be talked about early on so that the reader is ready for more complicated ideas later on. If you’re having trouble choosing, you can also put things in order of when they happened.
4. Tell us what you know
When you’re happy with how your paragraphs are put together, you can start adding details like quotes and citations to back up what you’re saying. As you may have noticed from the standard outline structure above, it’s helpful to use direct quotes and links to the sources right away in the outline. Writing the first draught makes it easier to find the sources and makes you feel less stressed.
Put the topics in the order you think will work best to make the outline’s framework. Think of this as the first draught of your outline. If you don’t like how it’s set up, you can change it later.
5. Revise
You can look at your working outline to find ways to make it better. For instance, you might find some trouble spots in the way the paragraphs are put together. Maybe you don’t have enough evidence to back up some of your points, or maybe moving the paragraphs around would make your
writing flow better.
Even if it’s not always necessary, having someone else look over your outline could help you catch things you might have missed. Getting some sleep on it or going over your outline after a break can help you find problems you had missed before.
