Research Writing – Outline Organizer
Introduction/Thesis Statement (Subject + Opinion):

Opening Anecdote (Question, Story, etc.): Author JK Rowling
mesmerized graduates and honored guests with her commencement
speech at Harvard University in May 2008. This author of the Harry Potter
books provided insight based her life story.

Thesis Statement: One of her quotes stuck out: “We do not need magic
to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves
already: we have the power to imagine better.” This quote was a
reflection of the events that happened in Rowling’s life and has since
impacted the lives of many people.
Body Paragraph 1:

Topic Sentence: These were many moments throughout JK Rowling’s
life that greatly impacted her and her path as a writer.
o Point One: Even as a child, JK Rowling showed a very strong
imagination – an inner magic that would influence her later in life.
o Evidence: According to JK Rowling’s official biography from her
website, Rowling loved playing make-believe with her sister Di.
They would put on murder mystery plays. Rowling would be the
stage manager and set her sister’s scenes.
o Point Two: As she grew up, Rowling had a dream and confided in
one person. These experiences became an inspiration for an
important part of the Harry Potter series.
o Evidence: According to Rowling’s official website, in high school,
Rowling would ride in a Ford Anglia with her friend Sean Harris.
She confided in him on how much she wanted to be a writer. This
car was an important piece in Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets. The dedication in the book was to her close friend.
o Point three: Happy events were not the only ones that impacted
Rowling as a writer.
o Evidence: While JK Rowling was an adult, her mother was
diagonised with Multiple Sclerosis. In 1990, she passed away from
complications from the disease.

Concluding Sentence: These moments, both happy and difficult, led
Rowling to become the woman she is now.
Body Paragraph 2:

Topic Sentence: When JK Rowling spoke at Havard University’s
commencement in 2008 and gave her words of wisdom, it was not
without many events that tested her “inner magic” that led up to that
moment.
o Point One: The road to becoming a famous writer to speak at
Havard University was a difficult one for Rowling. Things were
hard before Harry Potter.
o Evidence: According to JK Rowling’s official website, Rowling had
her daughter and wrote at any point she could. The book was
rejected numerous times. Christopher Little Publishing eventually
accepted the novel.
o Point Two: While speaking to the graduates, Rowling made sure
not to sugarcoat any of the difficulties she faced while waiting for a
publisher to take the Harry Potter series prior to her success. She
showed what “inner magic” she needed to head towards her goals.
o Evidence: Ode magazine covered the 2008 commencement
speech and pulled this quote particularly from Rowling’s speech: “I
was jobless, a lone parent and as poor as it is possible to be in
modern Britain without being homeless.”
o Point three: Again, Rowling broke all misconceptions of her life
prior to the success of Harry Potter that have been seen to some as
a fairy tale.
o Evidence: Rowling stated during her speech: “Now, I am not
going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of
my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to
be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale
resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for
a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a
reality.”

Concluding Sentence: Rowling’s background and experiences provided
her with the ability to serve as a “living example” of what finding magic
inside oneself truly looks like even in difficult times.
Body Paragraph 3:

Topic Sentence: JK Rowling’s advice of finding the magic within a
person’s self has greatly influenced many, not only the students present at
the speech, but herself.
o Point One: The people who witnessed that speech at Harvard
University learned an important lesson that day: Failure does not
mean that something cannot be done. Rowling’s quote showed that
through her many failures before being published. It just means
that a person must try again because the ability exists.
o Evidence: A reporter from Ode Magazine wrote: “That’s not a
message we hear a lot about these days. Saunter into the self-help
aisle of the average bookstore and it’s clear just how successobsessed we are. The shelves are crammed with books purporting
to reveal, in flowery language and pastel colors, how we can lose
weight, make money, go green.”
o Point Two: Even those who did not get to hear Rowling’s
commencement could take a lesson from her about being a failure
and finding the ability to keep going.
o Evidence: Through the article about Rowling’s speech in Ode
Magazine, readers were able to see that failure comes to many
successful people: “The stories of the world’s most successful
failures suggest that what matters most is not whether you win or
lose, but how you fail.” The article also provided examples of wellknown stars like Michael Jordan.
o Point three: In the closing of her speech, Rowling shows how she
lives by her own principles.
o Evidence: Rowling closed her speech with her own words in mind:
“That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times
every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable
connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other
people’s lives simply by existing.”

Concluding Sentence: Rowling’s quote has influenced others to
understanding that it takes time to find the magic inside of each person.
Concluding Paragraph: JK Rowling’s words have impacted many through the
Harry Potter books. It is not just her written words that have done so.
Rowling’s quote from her 2008 commencement speech, “We do not need magic
to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already:
we have the power to imagine better,” has done so as well. Without her
sometimes difficult life story, Rowling may have not had the ability to effectively
say this same message.