Creating an Outline
Outlining is one of the most useful strategies for organizing ideas and preparing to write your
essay. The outline can take many more forms but one basic format looks like this:
Thesis:____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Main Idea #1:___________________________________________________________
Support_____________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Main Idea #2: __________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Main Idea #3: __________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Support: ____________________________________________________________
Conclusion (a summary of points, restatement of thesis, and closing thoughts):
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
The outline example above is one of the most basic and generic formats. Feel free to customize
your outline to better fit your paper. You may have more or fewer main points or pieces of
support. The outline is just a space for you to begin distinguishing the different elements of your
argument and see how they might flow together.
Writing Resource Center