The ESOL Essayist- How do we make an outline?

What is an Outline?

So far, we have done two things:

(1) Decided on a topic and
(2) Written a thesis statement.

Now, we can talk about how you will decide how to organize the parts of your essay that you decided to use when you wrote your idea map. We will decide how to organize your essay using an outline.

Think of outlines as bookshelves. They are the shelves on which you organize your ideas and sentences.

An outline can take many forms such as words, phrases, sentences and maps. We will talk about formal outlines here.

Formal outlines use Roman numerals for main topics. We alternate using letters and numbers for subtopics.

A.

B.

1.

2.

a.

b.

You cannot have a one without at least a two or an "A" without at least a B.
You should have an equal numbers of subtopics which are represented by A. and B., and 1. and 2. and a. and b.

Example
In module two, Sarah mapped out things that shelikes to do. Let's look at an example outline using what Sarah likes to do.

Title: Things Sarah likes to do

I. Sports

A. rock climbing

B. basketball

C. camping

D. hiking

II. Reading

A. Science fiction

B. Fantasy

C. Westerns

III. Writing

A. Children's books

B. Poetry

C. Fantasy

IV. Watching TV

A. college football

B. Seinfeld

C. CSI

1. But, what can we do with this outline?
2. What does it tell us?

Opportunity for class or small group discussion

What does Ms. Frescas say?
1. But, what can we do with this outline?
2. What does it tell us?

From this outline, we know that we need to eliminate one of the subtopics.
Which one should we eliminate?

Since we learned that we should have an equal number of subtopics, we may want to eliminate a subtopic under sports. Sarah likes rock climbing the least, so we will eliminate that detail. Now, Sarah's new and improved outline looks like this. Notice that the details listed under sports now begins with basketball.

If she wanted, Sarah could write a five paragraph essay from this outline. From the outline, we know:

Paragraph #1 would be the introduction.
Body Paragraph #2 would be about sports.
Body Paragraph #3 would be about reading.
Body Paragraph #4 would be about writing.
Paragraph #5 would be the conclusion.

If Sarah had not done an outline before her paper she would have had an essay that was poorly organized.