How to do an outline for an essay: a complete guide to giving your essays a logical flow

“I’m a big fan of outlining. Here’s the theory: If I outline, then I can see the mistakes I’m liable to make.”  -  Cynthia Voigt.

Academics as well as professional writers embrace outlining as one of the primary steps in the writing process. According to experts, outlining doesn’t just give more structure to your workflow but can also help you include more detail in your work while maintaining the logical flow and ensuring a lasting impression on a reader.

For students, in particular, knowing how to create different kinds of outlines is crucial for excelling in their studies and earning good grades. Of course, getting started can feel confusing. But we are here to help! 

Here at AssignmentHelp, we are committed to helping students excel academically. In this guide, we’ll look at the concept and importance of an essay outline and share practical tips and examples that will help you write better!

What is a essay outline?

Before we delve into specs and give you essay outline examples, let’s answer the main question first: What is outlining? Basically, an essay outline is your paper’s visual map. It is used to organize ideas and have a detailed plan of the paper’s structure before you begin writing. A good outline visualizes what every paragraph in your essay will contain, including the key arguments and supporting details, typically organized in the form of a plan with Roman numerals for main sections and brief bullet points covering the main ideas that should be included in each section.

Another word for outline in an essay is a structure or map. Although many students tend to skip it, outlining is an essential stage of essay planning. It’s needed to help you see the big picture of how your ideas and arguments fit together. It also helps you notice errors and gaps. Lastly, outlining helps simplify the writing process by helping you stay on the right track.

Basic essay outline: the key elements to include

As we all know, essays can come in many different forms. According to Gallaudet University, there are eight common types of papers, which include descriptive, cause/effect, definition, narrative, critical, compare/contrast, process, and argumentative or persuasive essays. Apart from these, students might be facing other, purpose-specific paper types, for example, a literary analysis essay. Of course, every assignment type has its own specs and requires a distinct approach. Yet, an outline typically consists of three main elements, regardless of essay type.

How to plan an essay step by step

Now that it’s clear why you need to create an outline before you start writing, let us clarify another important point: writing an outline consists of more steps than actually putting your ideas together in a clear map. It takes several preparatory steps to do it right.

Here is a brief guide on how to prepare an outline in four steps:

1. Identify your topic and do preliminary research. You need to have enough data to work with before you can develop your outline. So you need to start with topic selection and analysis first. You need to select a relevant and manageable topic by narrowing down your ideas. After you choose a subject, you need to research background information on it. While researching, take notes on important details and arguments that can help you support your ideas.
2. Develop and hone your thesis statement. Once you have background data, you need to develop a compelling statement that reflects your stance on the topic. A good thesis should be brief and specific. It needs to be debatable, and you should be able to prove it using your key arguments.
3. Decide on your key points and supporting details. Once you have a thesis, get back to your research to identify the ideas you will be presenting in each section of your essay and the evidence you will use to support your thesis statement. Creating categories of evidence can greatly help while researching and dividing your evidence based on its relevance and validity. This will help you see which supporting points should be your primary ones (because they are the most powerful) and which you will be using just to add more detail. 
4. Create an outline according to the general template. Use Roman numerals and bullet points to organize your paper with an outlook on your thesis statement, main argument, and supporting points.

Example of an essay outline

If you’ve never dealt with writing an outline before, getting started can feel somewhat hard. However, if you check out some clear essay outline examples, they can help you understand the proper format and organize your ideas logically. Here is an example of an outline for a standard five-paragraph essay that should help you get started:

1. Introduction
   
   1. A hook that gets the reader engaged. For a hook, you can consider using quotes, statistics, expert phrases that state a fact, thought-provoking questions, etc.
   2. A brief topic analysis that provides background info and helps readers understand what your essay will be about.
   3. A thesis statement that demonstrates the main idea you are going to support with evidence.
2. Body paragraphs
   
   1. Paragraph 1
      
      1. An “introduction” sentence that communicates the main point of the paragraph.
      2. Analysis of the main point plus evidence to support it.
      3. A brief conclusion and a smooth transition to the next section.
   2. Paragraph 2
      
      1. An “introduction” sentence that communicates the main point of the paragraph.
      2. Analysis of the main point plus evidence to support it.
      3. A brief conclusion and a smooth transition to the next section.
   3. Paragraph 3
      
      1. An “introduction” sentence that communicates the main point of the paragraph.
      2. Analysis of the main point plus evidence to support it.
      3. A brief conclusion and a smooth transition to the next section.
3. Conclusion
   
   1. Transition sentence that refers back to your thesis and restates it.
   2. A brief summary of the main ideas and points (without introducing new pieces of argument).
   3. A final concluding statement that leaves some food for thought, reinforces your argument or suggests further research.

Finally, when you have an overall structure and a plan to follow, let us give you a few bonus tips for writing your essay outline effectively:

• Look for more examples to have a better idea of what your essay outline should look like. It can be especially helpful to check out examples of the specific form of essay you’re dealing with. For example, before you begin writing an argumentative essay, look for argumentative essay outline examples, etc. Also, consider looking at pre-written examples of completed essays. This will give you an idea of how to formulate your argument, support your points, and organize your paragraphs even more efficiently.
• Don’t hesitate to include more details and write your points in full sentences. This can further simplify the writing process as you will have full sentences that you can directly insert into your paper.
• Consider writing your introduction and conclusion at the end of the process, after you have already created your body paragraphs.
• Don’t hesitate to adhere your structure to the given word count. You can change the number of paragraphs according to your limits and possibly include more points to support your thesis.