Outlining
0utlining is helpful in both reading and writing—especially when you are working with
complicated material.
Outlining What You Read
If what you read is organized on strict expository lines, it's easy.to follow and thus easy to
outline. But for various reasons many writers break the pattern. Many will start their articles
with examples, anecdotes, or other attention-getting devices and may not state their thesis until
the third or fourth paragraph, the end, or not at all. Sometimes they merely present the evidence
and expect the reader to derive the main idea by inference. Some writers catch the readers'
interest with one idea and lead them gradually to the real point, which is stated in the
conclusion. And some writers may be geniuses in their fields but poor writers. In such cases,
the student must literally search out the main idea and supporting points and reorganize the material by outlining it (mentally or on paper) in order to understand it. The ability to outline has
much to do with the ability to comprehend—to differentiate between details and the ideas they
support. If you cannot do this, you aren't reading; you are merely looking at words.
The amount of detail you include in your outline depends on its purpose. If you are merely
trying to gain a general understanding of an article, you may need to find only the thesis and the
major supporting points. If you are studying for an intensive test, you may need a highly
detailed outline.
OUTLINING WHAT YOU WRITE
Simple ideas and subjects you know well may be easily organized in your mind as you write.
However, once you get into more complicated papers, an outline can serve as an aid in thinking
your paper through, as a guide to follow in class (if your instructor allows you to bring one), as
a method of checking on the length of a paper (Is it too long or too short? Is there enough
support for your thesis?), and as a way of knowing where you're, going before you get there.
You can't compose an outline until you've brainstormed your idea, arrived at your thesis, and
gathered some supporting points. Constantly ask yourself, "Am I sticking to the point?