Organizing Your Essay
Organize Your Propositions
The Body of the Essay
–
Topical Pattern
–
Temporal or Chronological Pattern
–
Spatial or Descriptive Pattern
–
Problem-Solution Pattern
–
Cause-Effect Pattern
–
Comparison-and-Contrast Pattern
–
Pro-and-Con (Advantages-Disadvantages)
Using an outline
The Body of the Essay
–
can help you organize your material
–
can also help you discover connections between
pieces of information that you weren't aware of
when you first conceived the plan of your paper
–
can also make you aware of material that is not
really relevant to the purposes of your paper or
material that you have covered before and should
therefore be removed
The Main Points

The Main Points of the outline of an essay can be written
as
– a topic outline, in which you use only short phrases to
suggest ideas, or
– a sentence outline, in which you use full sentences
(even very brief paragraphs) to show the development
of ideas more fully.
The Main Points
Select and carefully phrase your main points
–
Main points should be separate and discrete
–
Select most relevant and interesting points
 Eliminate least important points, if necessary
 Combine common points
–
Use two to four main points
 Phrase propositions in parallel style
– Note comments on outlining
The Outline



A Working Outline might be only an informal list of topics
and subtopics.
– It is also sometimes called a Skeletal Outline
– These topics or subtopics are often recorded as key
words or phrases or ideas
The working outline can easily be revised
– discover new material and
– get new ideas
It is recommended to keep copies of old outlines in a
computer folder in case new versions of the outline lead
you in false directions that you will later have to abandon.
The Outline




A Final Outline should enhance the organization and
coherence of your essay.
The final outline is also called the Preparation Outline.
– outlines the essay parts as separate units
– uses consistent set of symbols
– uses complete declarative sentences
– appends a list of references
Irrelevant material should be excised from the outline and
the essay
If portions of your outline seem weak in comparison to
others, more research may be required to create a sense of
balance in your argument and presentation.
 Outlines can be organized according to your purposes.
The Outline
–
Are you attempting to show
 the chronology of some historical development,
 the cause-and-effect relationship between one
phenomenon and another,
 the process by which something is accomplished,
or
 the logic of some position?
–
Are you
 defining or analyzing something?
 comparing or contrasting one thing to another?
 presenting an argument (one side or both)?
Alphanumeric Outline
I. Start with Roman numbers for main headings
A. Then use capital letters for the subheadings
1. Then use Arabic numbers for further subdividing
a. Then use lower case letters, and so on
B. Use the next capital letter for the next subheading
1. Then use Arabic numbers, and so on
2. Now you have a second main heading
A. Then use capital letters
1. Then use Arabic numbers again
2. And again
Each entry in the outline can be used to identify a topic, a key
word, a sentence, or even a paragraph
 For the parallel outline, if there is a “I" in the outline, then
there needs to be a “II," and an “A" requires a “B," and so
forth. Thus, each category has at least two subcategories.
–

In a logical outline, the “rule” does not always hold true, and
while there is a good rational for the rule to create the
appearance of balance, sometimes that is not the appearance
that the writer wants to create.
Some call the Roman numerals above “a-heads,” the
capitalized letters “b-heads,” and so on; some writers also
prefer to insert a blank line between the a-heads and bheads
Decimal Outline
1. Start with Arabic numbers for main headings
1.1 Then use a set of Arabic numerals
1.1.1 Then use Arabic numbers
1.2 The second subheading
1.3 And so on
1.3.1 Then use Arabic numbers
2. Continue in this fashion until the outline is finished
2.1 Then use a set of Arabic numerals
2.1.1 Then use Arabic numbers
2.2 The second subheading, and so on

A less common type, the Decimal Outline uses numbers,
and each sub-heading has the number of the heading as
part of it.

This outline is used if you have a long, complicated outline
and need to instantly be able to tell exactly where each
section goes in the whole picture.
Outline Characteristics

Parallelism – preserve the qualities of any parallel
structure
–
Part 3, Chapter 16, LB discusses the concept of
Parallelism relative to writing, particularly in
sentence structure, but the concept is applicable
to outlining as noted in 16d, “With lists, headings,
and outlines.”
Outline Characteristics

Coordination – all the information in like headings
should carry the same significance
–
Part 3, Chapter 15c, LB discusses the concept of
Coordination relative to writing, but the concept is
applicable to outlining, too.
Outline Characteristics

Subordination –
– the information in subheadings is subordinate to
the main headings
– the subordinate headings indicate increased
specificity or detail or indicate evidence to support
a main heading
–
Part 3, Chapter 15d, LB discusses the concept of
Subordination relative to writing, particularly in
sentence structure, but the concept is applicable
to outlining, too.
Outline Characteristics

Division –
– each heading should be divided into two (or
more) component parts to maintain appropriate
 parallelism,
 coordination, and/or
 subordination
– technically, there is no limit to the number of
subdivisions for your headings

Note the sample outline, Part 1, Chapter 3b LB, p.
21-22
Organizing Your Essay
Finis