1. Helping you say what you want to say…
Creating an Outline!
Helping you say what you want to say…

2. An outline is the written structure for a speech or paper.
Outlines are useful for speeches because they help guide you through each segment of your speech in an organized way, without prompting you word for word.
What’s an Outline?

3. Building Blocks of an Outline
HEADINGS
TOPICS
SUBTOPICS

4. Headings are major sections. A good speech has 3-5 of them
Headings are major sections. A good speech has 3-5 of them. Think BIG categories. Headings are represented by Roman numerals (I, II, III). Example: Types of Birds.
HEADINGS

5. Topics are supporting elements within a heading
Topics are supporting elements within a heading. These are indented one tab beneath a heading, represented by capital letters (A,B,C). Examples: Birds of prey.
TOPICS

6. Subtopics are details of a topic, indented two tabs below topics
Subtopics are details of a topic, indented two tabs below topics. They are represented by lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii). Example: Owls, hawks, falcons.
SUBTOPICS

7. Looks like this: Introduction: Types of birds
Birds of prey are birds that stalk and kill small animals
Owls - silent flyers
Hawks – deadly talons
Falcons – swift divebombers
Songbirds are beautiful and colorful backyard buddies
Cardinals – once rare, now flourishing
Goldfinches – attracted to certain flowers
Bluejays – known to attack smaller species
Looks like this:

8. Make sure…
Headings, topics, and subtopics should not be reduced to one word only… that’s not enough to prompt you while you’re speaking
Nor should they be full paragraphs. The idea is to give you enough to get started, not tell you word for word what to say.

9. Try to make an outline of the following speech as you watch:
_the_intelligence_of_crows.html
Reverse Outline