Preview Outline For Writing Paper

JohnB.CadeLibrary

ReferenceDepartment(225)771‐2875

Website:http://www.lib.subr.edu

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Createdby:M.Payne9/08

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How to write an Outline for a Paper

What is an outline?

Anoutlinecanbedefinedasanorganizationalplantohelpyoudraftapaper.Writingan

outlinebeforebeginningapaperisthemosteffectivewaytoorganizeyourthoughts.An

outlinebreaksdownthepartsofyourthesisinaclear,hierarchicalmannertohelpyouseethe

overallformatofyourpaper.

Remember:Thethreepartsofapaperincludedinyouroutlineare:anINTRODUCTION,aBODY,

andaCONCLUSION.

INTRODUCTION‐Stateyourthesisandthepurposeofyourresearchpaperclearly.Whatis

thechiefreasonyouarewritingthepaper?Statealsohowyouplantoapproachyourtopic.Is

thisafactualreport,abookreview,acomparison,orananalysisofaproblem?Explainbriefly

themajorpointsyouplantocoverinyourpaperandwhyreadersshouldbeinterestedinyour

topic.

BODY‐Thisiswhereyoupresentyourargumentstosupportyourthesisstatement.

RemembertheRuleof3,i.e.,find3supportingargumentsforeachpositionyoutake.Begin

withastrongargument,thenuseastrongerone,andendwithstrongestargumentforyour

finalpoint.

CONCLUSION-Restateorrewordyourthesis.Summarizeyourarguments.Explainwhyyou

havecometothisparticularconclusion.

What is a thesis statement?

Athesisstatementdeclareswhatyoubelieveandwhatyouintendtoprove.Agoodthesis

statementmakesthedifferencebetweenathoughtfulresearchprojectandasimpleretellingof

facts.

Agoodtentativethesiswillhelpyoufocusyoursearchforinformation.Butdon’trush!You

mustdoalotofbackgroundreadingbeforeyouknowenoughaboutasubjecttoidentifykeyor

essentialquestions.Youmaynotknowhowyoustandonanissueuntilyouhaveexaminedthe

evidence.Youwilllikelybeginyourresearchwithaworking,preliminaryortentativetheses

whichyouwillcontinueto

refineuntilyouarecertainofwheretheevidenceleads.

Thethesisstatementistypicallylocatedattheendofyouropeningparagraph.(Theopening

paragraphservestosetthecontextforthethesis.)

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