How to……OUTLINE
Research Paper
What is an outline?
 An outline in your paper’s blueprint. It includes your thesis, major topics included in the
paper to support the thesis, and the specific points (source information) that you will use
to support your main points.
 An outline starts with general information about your topic and moves to specific reasons
and evidence that you will use to support your main point. For example a paper about
preventing teen pregnancy might begin with general information on teen pregnancy (who’s getting
pregnant, pregnancy statistics, why it needs to be prevented), then move to current prevention methods that
are not working, prevention methods that would be the most effective, and counterarguments addressing
those against those methods.
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Your outline should be written in sentences and should include your THESIS, the main
sections of your paper, points within each section, and the research to support those
points.
What you are not required to include in the outline is your elaboration and explanation of
the research you use. You will include that as you draft your essay.
How is the outline set up?
Start with your THESIS---the opinion you plan on PROVING in your paper
Ex: Thesis: Because is ineffectual, barbaric, and rarely enforced the death penalty should be abolished.
Thesis: Abortion rights should continue to be legal in the United States.
Thesis: Video games do not isolate gamers; they better connect them to others and the outside world.
I. Use roman numerals (I, II, III, IV…) to represent the main TOPICS or SECTIONS of
your paper—your sections represent your MAIN POINTS (not the individual facts you
will use to support your main points. There is no prescribed length to a section, and lengths
of sections may vary. Most five page papers will have three to five sections.
Ex: I. The death penalty does not deter crime.
I. Legalized abortions are typically saff for women.
I. Video games can prepare gamers for the real situations simulated in the games.
A. Use capital letters to represent the specific points that support that specific topic.
Each main topic should have at least two supporting points, though some sections
may have many more. Your points represent paragraphs within a section.
Ex: A. In the midst of committing a violent crime, the perpetrator is not
thinking about the possible consequences of his actions.
A. Before abortion was legal, may women were injured or even killed from
complications caused by “back-alley” abortions.
A. Driving games have been linked to better driving skills
1. Use regular numbers to list your specific research. Insert information
from your notes: the specific facts, statistics, etc. found in your sources. Be
sure to include parenthetical citations and remember to keep the source’s
words in quotation marks! Abridged quotes are fine in the outline.
Ex: 1. After the death penalty was abolished in Canada violent crime
rates actually decreased (Grouper 245).
1. Before abortion was legalized “three thousand women per
year died after receiving back-alley abortions from unqualified
physicians” (Vole 99).
1.. One study by the Pennsylvania DMV proved that those who
played driving video games were twice as likely to be able to
maneuver their vehicle around road hazards (“Study Links
Gaming to Better Driving”)
Layout:
Thesis:
I.
A.
1.
2.
B.
1.
II.
A.