Essay outline: What is an essay outline 

Essay outline: What is an essay outline 

The best-recommended way on how to write an essay outline: 

Chicago, MLA and APA styles

What is an outline in an academic paper?

Writing a plan of your academic paper, structure it, and organizing the main points into paragraphs to make it easier for you to write an essay is well known as an outline. An outline is a skeleton or an organizational tool used among authors in their academic writing style. An outline presents a foundation of an entire writing piece and is produced to highlight main ideas into a list of contents.

In other words, an outline allows writers to list their ideas and research in one place before beginning their writing process. It is crucial to know how to write a college essay outline since it goes a long way to get your thoughts structured. As a result, you will be able to get positive feedback from your tutor. Just take a look at this guide to learn the best way on how you can write an outline.

It is not possible to write an essay without outlining it. Fine, it would be ok for you to write your paper without an outline if a low grade is ok for you to get. However, for those whose main objective is to craft a paper worth A, it is essential to create an essay outline and organize the main points into paragraphs before starting the writing process.

Our guide here is essential to help you:

• Learn the best way on how to write an essay outline
• Understand what is a paper outline
• get paper outline templates and examples to use when crafting your outline as well.

• differentiate types of outlines;

What Is an Essay Outline?

An essay outline is a short plan of your academic paper such as; a research paper, term paper dissertation, informative guides. It is important to note that an outline should contain an introduction, body, and conclusion, and here you should write down the main points of your essay and make sure you structures all your arguments into paragraphs to ascertain that you won’t miss anything while writing. In college, MLA and APA are the main formats required for a college essay outline. As an academician, you can decide to write an essay without outlining it. However, you might find it challenging. Outlining forms an essential part of a writing process, and you should do it for your work to look impressive and earn high marks, if any.

Why do you need an outline before starting writing?

• An outline will be an essential tool since it will help you to organize your thoughts systematically. It is true that when you research data for your research paper, you get a huge amount of information that is not easy to memorize hence an outline comes in hand to save you
• with an outline, you will be able to understand the information flow enabling you to structurize it well accordingly.
• An outline also help you to avoid missing any of your relevant content as you are in the writing process since you will have a ready manuscript of your paper

With the information given out, an outline will indeed assist you in writing an academic essay better and a bit faster. Considering that our writers are always here ready to give a helping hand, it can’t be hurting when learning how to write an outline for an essay on your own.

How to Write an Essay Outline for an academic paper?

Considering that there are tons of college essay types, the most common structure for most college essays is a five-paragraph. So, the easy way of writing an essay outline is just thinking of writing it in 5 paragraphs. It is important to note that each essay needs an introduction, body{which contains paragraphs with an argument, and they should be at least three paragraphs}, and the conclusion{conclusion restates the main points of the essay}. Generally, your essay outline should entail all the mentioned components. As you prepare your essay outline, it is good to keep the main points in mind to avoid missing any argument, evidence, and, if any, for example, while writing your paper.

The main Key Parts of an Essay

Consider putting all the critical parts of your essay outline:

•       Introduction.The introduction part of your outline should outline the topic of your essay and its thesis. It is important to note that essays cannot live without a thesis. The importance of a thesis in your outline is that it will make sure that it in each paragraph of your essay.
•       Body paragraphs.The body paragraph should have a minimum number of three paragraphs, so it is essential to make sure you include each paragraph in the outline. In your outline, make sure that each paragraph you write the topic sentence with an argument which should be related to your thesis statement in the first paragraph of your outline. Also mention all the support: facts, data, examples, ideas, and other evidence you intend to use to prove the topic sentence of this paragraph.
•       Conclusion.Conclusion restates the main point of your essay. Here consider wrapping up your essay. Consider restating your thesis statement and summarize the goal of your paper

The general look of your essay will not be different from this one

Essay Outline: General

1. Introduction
2. a) Introduce your topic
3. b) mention your thesis statement
4. Body. Paragraph-1
5. a) Topic sentence (when writing the topic sentence, it should be the argument for your thesis)
6. b) consider Supporting this argument: facts, data, examples
7. c) as you conclude the paragraph consider explaining how they relate to your thesis.

III. Body. Paragraph-2

1. a) Topic sentence (when writing the topic sentence, it should be the argument for your thesis)
2. b) consider Supporting this argument: facts, data, examples
3. c) as you conclude the paragraph consider explaining how they relate to your thesis
4. Body. Paragraph-3
5. a) Topic sentence (when writing the topic sentence, it should be the argument for your thesis)
6. b) consider Supporting this argument: facts, data, examples
7. c) as you conclude the paragraph consider explaining how they relate to your thesis
8. Conclusion
9. a) The conclusion should summarize all the main points
10. b) you should restate your thesis here
11. c) consider adding a call to action, i.e., what you need the rear to do after reading the essay

The key elements to consider when preparing an outline.

•       Notes & research:consider finding credible sources and note them down in your outline before starting the writing process.
• Consider prioritizing your thesis: considering that the thesis statement is the summary of your paper, it is essential to prioritize it before working on the other parts of your outline. The thesis will guide you along the planning and writing process, and it is crucial to be in your outline.
• Note down your ideas: after writing down your paper heading in your outline, consider writing down all the main points as found in your sources in your thesis statement and body section

Perfect Outline Format

Generally, students should consider using the linear style as they format their essay outline. Remember to rank your arguments in order of their importance, starting from the major to the minor points. However, remember that your essay outline does not necessarily need to include complete sentences. It is good to remember it is only an outline. Consider formatting your arguments and evidence the way you feel more comfortable and understandable with you. The outline should be visually apparent, and you must be able to see, for instance, those sections which are repetitive, thus avoiding duplications in your essay.

Another essential point to consider when preparing your outline:

It is good to format your outline so that even your readers can familiarize themself with the content you finally write in your final paper. As you come up with the outline, assume that some of your readers know nothing about the chosen topic and arrange them in a logical order.

Best Essay Outline Template

The essence of an outline template is to allow the reader to understand the main idea of an essay outlining. Template presents a great way to organize your thoughts and decide which to write them down to make it easy for your readers to understand. Now, make a list of the sections in your essay and proceed to fill the related examples just depending on your essay type.

The best process of making an outline

An essay outline is bound to specify all the main points and arguments of their indented paper. The process of outlining sometimes is challenging for students o how to create it. Occasionally, your tutor may request you submit an essay outline for their review before writing your research paper, and this may sometimes trouble students so much that they end up confusing themselves. As a result, planning your essay before starting the writing process will come in handy. The critical aspect to know about outline writing is first to know what to do before outlining, the best type of outline structure, and how best to organize your outline, making sure the outline is as much information as possible.

Here’s we show you how to outline an essay:

What to Do Before Outlining

As a writer, you need to your writing assignment carefully before you start writing your outline. For an effective outline, take it upon yourself to understand what type of essay you are required to write, the number of arguments you will need to use, and the length of your essay as it is required to be.

Consider answering the fundamental question of your paper as you come up with your outline. For instance, it is essential to answer the purpose of your essay in your outline. Are you looking to inform the readers, entertain or just persuade them? The outline bases its point depending on the goal of the paper; thus, you will know the kind of thesis to consider, the kind of writing techniques to use, and, most importantly, the best way on how to visualize your research in your final paper.

Secondly, you should identify your audience. And yes, since it is your tutor who will read and evaluate your work, but to whom do you want to read your essay, is it the strangers, classmates, and what they know about your topic of choice? Consider asking yourself, would they agree or disagree with your thesis? How are they likely going to react to your information?

The outline will be perfect, and depending on that, you will be in a better position to understand what kind of argument likely to work for your essay. Such questions will help you decide on the resources to use for your research and evidence to select for your arguments. You should also consider credible sources such as Oxford Academic or Google Scholar to find references for your essay. Consider taking note of all of them to use in your outline too!

Pick and state your thesis statement so that you could see what topic sentence to outline for your essay. It is essential to know that a thesis should be arguable and provide adequate details to hook readers, making them emotionally involved in your writing.

The moment your thesis is ready, you can now start structuring your essay outline

Choose an Essay Outline Structure

An essay outline structure can either be a standard alphanumeric structure or a decimal outline structure. Many people prefer using an alphanumeric outline. However, you are ok if you decide using a decimal outline structure. It is important to use complete sentences or either brief phrases for each section of your essay outline. In such a time that you need to submit to your tutor for a review, consider using sentences. Sentences will help your professor understand your arguments and evidence in your outline and know what to expect in your final essay.

Consider Organizing Your Outline

It is now the perfect time to fill in each section of your essay outline as shown in this short video

As shown in the above video, start by outlining your introduction. You can write a sentence about your topic and introduce your thesis in the last sentence of your introduction.

In the second part of your outline is the essay body, and here you are supposed to write a topic sentence for each paragraph, just provide your supporting evidence you will be using when writing and state their relationship with your topic and thesis. Don’t forget that the more details you outline, the easier you will have an effective experience while organizing all the thoughts when writing your paper

you are supposed to write a transition for each paragraph so that it would be easy and you will structure and band your argument faster and efficiently

the final stage is to outline your essay conclusion. Here you restate your thesis and write a concluding statement ie, a statement that addresses the importance of your thesis and proposes solutions to the problem you have addressed in your essay.

It’s a Wrap and easy!

There are many varieties of essays that you need to write all of them in your school or college. Narrative, expository, and Persuasive, their basic structure is similar but has tiny differences, and one should identify their specifications and their knowledge of academic writing. You should grab your chance to craft a perfect essay by understanding such differences by outlining your writings accordingly.

As you better understand how to write an essay outline, you put yourself in a better position to create papers better and faster. An essay outline is the only tool you need to organize your information and not to miss anything while writing. With an essay outline, you keep in mind all essay components you had identifies and become a better writer.