The importance of creating an essay outline Grammar Girl The importance of creating an essay outline

How to Create a Strong Essay Outline Consider the following: What if you had a box of Lego without any pictures or instructions? Do you think you could construct something just as good as having clear diagrams or instructions? It’s likely that you’ll end up constructing something sub-par rather than something spectacular (Fogarty).

IKEA furniture… argh…. Has anyone had to assemble IKEA furniture before? Well, even with the vague instruction manual, it’s often one of the most frustrating things a person has to do… If there aren’t clear visuals and instructions, how is someone going to be able to effectively follow what to do in order to build the dresser, book shelf, or bed frame? Have you ever put together a bookshelf and then realized there were parts that should have been used that are left over…

So, how does this apply to essay writing? Well, that’s what it’s like when an essay is written without any thought as to the order the ideas should go in… that’s why it’s important to have a plan: an essay outline!

Organization is key to writing a good essay! Having an outline, even just a skeleton outline, helps you organize your thoughts and keeps you focussed. One of the first things you’ll do in an outline is figure out what your thesis, the central, controlling idea of your essay (also your argument) which will lead you to write down your three key points.

Doing this also helps you to repeating the same ideas over and over. It also ensures that you don’t forget that stellar idea that you had for your third body paragraph, but when you got there, you couldn’t remember what it was… so much for having a strong point to end the body of your essay with. ☹

“But, I don’t have time to write an outline?” So, you say you don’t have time to write an outline? I DO NOT want to hear this excuse. Having an outline will allow you to move from point to point fairly easily without sitting with your paper in front of you while you try and retrieve something… anything so you can write it down.

Grammar Girl’s three tips (with Ms. J’s ideas integrated): Know where you’re going Read the essay prompt/question very carefully before writing anything down! Ensure you understand what you’re being asked to do: Underline/write down key words. Rewrite the prompt in your own words to ensure that you thoroughly understand what you’re being asked to do.

Start with the basics The main sections of your essay are the intro, which includes a hook and thesis statement, the body, which includes the main points that support your thesis, and your conclusion.

Wow, I have a plan! By outlining your main points for your essay in your outline, you’ve essentially created your topic sentence for each of the body paragraphs Your road map for each paragraph will already be done.

Finally, the conclusion… should restate your main points in different words, with the knowledge of and development that has occurred through the process of discussion done in your essay. “Try to clearly demonstrate how your ideas fit together or why the argument you’re making is meaningful. Consider your thesis, then ask yourself, “Why is this important?” You’ll expand that idea into a few sentences to wrap up your essay” (Fogarty).

Get Detailed Outline two or more minor points that go under the heading/category of each of your main points. These will function as supporting arguments/details. serves the purpose of providing specific examples such as statistics and quotations. In your outline, write down a brief explanation of these, but when writing your essay, make sure to explain these examples and their importance.

It is not sufficient to state the “what” without explaining the significance of an example. Answer the “so what?” or “why should I care?” questions and this should help you show the depth of your knowledge and the significance of what you’re explaining to support your thesis.

Most of the hard work is done! When the outline is done, all you have to do is “weave all the pieces together in a more formal and detailed way” (Fogarty). “It may not be as fun as building with Legos, but you’ll be surprised at how much more easily the final essay comes together” (Fogarty).

Works Cited Fogarty, Mignon. “How to Create a Strong Essay Outline.” Quick and Dirty Tips, Macmillan Holdings, LLC, June 29, 2017,