Creating an Effective Outline

What is an Outline?

• A summary that provides essential features of a text, showing how parts are related to each other
• A tool for organizing ideas

Creating an Outline

• Label main topics with Roman numerals (first level)
• Identify subtopics, label with uppercase letters (second level)
• Identify supporting points, label with Arabic numbers (third level)
• Identify details, label with lowercase letters (fourth level)

Types of Outlines

• Reading Outline: used to get main ideas of a pre-written text
• Writing Outline: a skeletal overview of a draft, containing fundamental points and supporting ideas

Purpose of an Outline

• Works like a map, showing the placement of ideas in writing
• Helps determine boundaries of a draft, ensuring adequate coverage of the subject without excess or lack of detail

Outline Basics

• An outline is a summary that highlights the essential features of a text, demonstrating how the parts are related to one another.

Creating an Outline

• Use Roman numerals to label main topics (first level).
• Classify subtopics under main topics and label them with uppercase letters (second level).
• Identify supporting points (e.g., illustrations, examples) and label them with Arabic numbers (third level).
• Classify details (e.g., statistics, quotes) under supporting points and label them with lowercase letters (fourth level).

Types of Outlines

• Reading Outline: used to extract main ideas from an existing text.
• Writing Outline: a skeletal overview of a draft, containing fundamental points and supporting ideas.

Outline Functions

• Acts as a map, showing the placement of ideas in a writing.
• Illustrates how ideas fit together and lead to the central idea.
• Determines the boundaries of a draft, ensuring adequate coverage of the subject without excessive detail.