Formal Sentence Outlines Rubi Vasquez Lizette Gonzalez Richard Nieto Modified by Pamela Fox

What Is an Outline? An outline is a summarizing list: it reduces a body of material to its essential parts An outline reflects logical thinking and clear classification.

More about Outlines… Outlines are: A logical, general description A summary An organizational pattern A visual and conceptual design of your writing.

And still more… Outlining is not just busywork; it is a way of thinking. An outline is not a separate step in writing a research paper; it should influence every decision from the choice of topic to revision of the final draft.

How are outlines helpful? Judge the relevance of facts and opinions Organize ideas in a paragraph Determine most effective order Show relationships among ideas in your writing Construct an ordered overview of your writing Define boundaries and groups

Outlining Process Brainstorm: List all ideas that you want to include in your paper. Organize: Group related ideas together. Order: Arrange material in subsections from general to specific or from abstract to concrete. Label: Create main and sub headings.

Types of Outlines There are two main forms of outlines: Informal outlines Formal outlines Our focus is on the formal sentence outline.

Steps to Writing an Outline Write the title of your paper (centered) at the beginning of your outline. Following the title should be your thesis statement The words “Thesis Statement” in italics should be written before the actual statement with colon marks following it.

Correct Format Continued… Use complete sentences for all parts of the outline. (Make sure you use a period) Use Roman numerals for main topics followed by a period Use capital letters for subtopics, followed by period. Symbols should appear in pairs. Ex: Where there’s an A there should be a B, a 1 there should be a 2…etc. IMPORTANT: NO Questions should be asked in an outline!!!!

Grammar and Punctuation Tips Be consistent! Use parallel and consistent grammatical structure throughout outline. Capitalize the first letter of every word that follows a number or letter. All symbols should be vertically aligned. Outline must be double spaced!!

Correct Example Thesis Statement: I.  First main idea (topic sentence for first body paragraph)       A.  First subdivision of the main idea            1.  First reason or example            2.  Second reason or example                 a   First supporting detail         b.  Second supporting detail       B.  Second subdivision of the main idea II.   Second main idea (topic sentence for second body paragraph)