Outlines help you make sure that your paper is organized, and that the information you came up with in your brainstorm is enough to write a solid paper of at least four paragraphs (including introduction and conclusion).
Important info about outlines:
An outline should be legible for anyone to read and understand. I should be able to look at your outline and see what your paper is going to look like! Be sure to put effort into this step!
Time: 30 minutes
(At this point, I have worked a total of two hours on my paper without actually writing the paper itself. All of this pre-writing will help make the drafting and revising steps much easier! I've thought through the whole essay, found problems, and solved them!)
Important info about outlines:
- The only complete sentence should be the thesis statement.
- Information for the body paragraphs should be written in note-taking form.
- Each body paragraph should have a specific topic listed on the left-hand side of the paper.
- Topic sentences (T.S.) and concluding sentences (C.S.) should be clearly marked for each paragraph.
- Supporting details should go into the paragraph that matches their topic. If a detail doesn't fit, move it to another paragraph.
- If you don't have enough supporting details (at least four) for each paragraph, you need to do some more brainstorming or eliminate that paragraph.
An outline should be legible for anyone to read and understand. I should be able to look at your outline and see what your paper is going to look like! Be sure to put effort into this step!
Time: 30 minutes
(At this point, I have worked a total of two hours on my paper without actually writing the paper itself. All of this pre-writing will help make the drafting and revising steps much easier! I've thought through the whole essay, found problems, and solved them!)