How to make a research paper outline using MLA style
Thesis: The first statement of your outline is your thesis statement, describing your research.
This will be the basis of your introduction.
I.
What is the topic for this paragraph? All the Roman Numerals will represent a
paragraph of your essay.
A. Capital letters represent the support for your topic.
i. Lowercase Roman Numerals are for more specific details.
1. If you have even more information, use a number.
2. It’s not usual to go into another level.
a. If you do, use lowercase letters.
B. You may have several pieces of support information.
i. You may or may not have little Roman Numerals for each capital letter.
C. It is good to limit yourself to three pieces of support for each paragraph
i. More than three supporting details probably indicates the need for a new
paragraph.
II.
This outline is written in sentence form.
A. You could also use a topic form, just listing the topics.
B. Sentence form does require complete sentences.
i. Personally, I find this format makes my paper easier to write.
1. Sometimes my outline sentence goes right into the paper.
III.
Creating an outline in this format is very likely to strengthen your paper, whether
your task is to present an argument, a literary review, or an explanation.
A. Get your thoughts in order with an outline.
B. Use the outline to prevent including extraneous information
i. You may have to leave out that really awesome quote, if there is no place
for it in your outline.
IV.
In this section I’ll tell you how using an outline can make writing the whole paper
easier.
A. Use notecards, either digital or actual index cards, for each paragraph topic.
i. Use index cards to physically lay out your paper.
ii. Also use notecards for each quote.
1. The old school practice was to write the quote on one side of the
card and the source on the other.
B. Organize your notecards using the numbering from the outline.
i. For example, the note card for this item would be labelled IV. B. i.
ii. If you find a quote or have a new thought, you can insert it with a
notecard with the appropriate label.
C. The combination of outline and notecards might seem like too much work.
i. It is really worth it.
ii. You will write a much better research paper.
V.
Conclusion: I just realized that I wrote this outline so well, that I could remove the
formatting and almost have a complete essay.