Outlines: Home

It is helpful to create an Outline for the following reasons:

1) Organize your thoughts/ideas better

2) Understand information flow - logical ordering of information

3) Shows relationships between ideas

4)  Ensures that you include everything - helps to keep track of a large amount of information

5) For creative writing - organize plot threads and keep track of character traits

6) For oral presentations - helps you speak more effectively

OWL at Purdue Online Writing Lab
Purdue Owl - Developing an Outline

• Components
• How to Outline
• Types of Outline

• Place your thesis statement at the beginning
• Review all the ideas/points that you have found
• Group related ideas together
• List the major points that support your thesis and discard anything that is irrelevant.
  • Label them in Roman Numerals (I, II, III, etc.)
• List supporting ideas or arguments for each major point. ​
  •  Label them in capital letters (A, B, C, etc.)
• If necessary, continue to sub-divide each supporting idea until your outline is fully developed.
  • Label them 1, 2, 3, etc., and then a, b, c, etc.