by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: August 10, 2009   Last Updated: November 16, 2010

An outline will consist of the main points of your article. These then will be A, B, C, D, E, and under these points, you will create subheadings and these will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or whatever is appropriate. Under these subheadings will be further points that will expand tgheir knowledge and these will be a, b, c, d, e, and so on. This guideline will keep the writer from getting lost and will allow them to follow through with the first draft with out detours.

The subject matter will suggest the outline once you have decided on the slant. When you are not sure exactly how to outline and you have nothing to go on except the title and the research you will be doing, outline as you research. In researching titles where you need to do a lot of research to get a better picture of your subject matter, you tentatively outline as you read several different online or offline sources. As you do this, you have a notebook and pencil in hand but you do not copy any thing other than your own one or two words that serve as a subtopic for points when you begin to write. This word or several words will be an idea you have while you read the works of others.

You read until you begin to grasp the idea and the way you want to present your article. You are not so much mindful of what others say about the subject as you understand the process yourself. In order to outline you have to know what you are talking about in an article. This will allow for the free flow of ideas and the finished product will not several pages of unrelated and unconnected ideas. I reiterate you must grasp the whole picture before you can begin to finalize your outline. Once you have gotten the picture, you begin to gather the facts needed. The dates of course you will need and you must get them from public sources. You don't necessarily need to show where you get the dates, etc, but if you incorporate an idea you gleaned from another into your article, you must show give credit.

As an example, You are going to a lecture and you are being asked to sum it up for your local paper. Of course you will not be able to retain all the facts or the points, so you will need a copy of the talk or a tape where you can later recall the facts that will allow you to summarize the highlights of the lecture. But while listening intently to every word, you can essentially do what you do online, and that is make these one or two word outlines that will serve as place markers for important ideas when you begin to write. You can rearrange them later but the idea is to give each one of these important words a subtopic.

An example of an outline for this article on outlining could be as simple as following the what, when, where, who and how outline. What is the subject under discussion, When did it happen, where did it happen, who it happened to, and how it was done. Your outline happens while researching, and it is done as you begin to see the whole picture. You may not need all the words you have created as the outline shrinks as it begins to take shape. As other words come into view they can take the place of who, what, when, where and how. You may need several words under these heading. As you write you will automatically remember where word sub-topic fits. In essence, when you outline in this way, you are fitting together the puzzle pieces of your article, essay or presentation.

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