An outline is essentially a road map for your writing project. It provides an organized guide for the main points you want to make. An outline helps you see how your points connect to one another and the best order in which to present them.
An outline can take many forms and can involve a wide range of detail. As an example, in my pre-writing for this section, I started with the following outline:
- Introduction
- Brainstorming
- Thinking on paper
- Identifying the theme
- Outlines
I then added some subpoints to provide further direction. For example:
- Introduction
- The benefits of planning your writing
- Steps in planning your writing
- Time constraints
An outline serves two crucial functions: 1. It lists the main ideas or points that we want to express, and 2. It provides organization–the order in which we want to present those ideas or points.
The main ideas that we list in an outline can serve as the basis for our topic sentences. From the example above, my topic sentences became:
- Planning your writing improves both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the writing process.
- While there are many steps in pre-writing, we will focus on only four of them.
- Time constraints, such as an in-class writing assignment, might limit your ability to use the entire pre-writing process.
The remainder of my writing consisted mostly of adding explanations and examples of these main points. The outline provided me with a clear and easy to follow guide.
Presenting our points or ideas in the proper order is an important aspect of writing clearly and communicating effectively. For example, if I talked about the steps in pre-writing before establishing the benefits of the process, the reader would be confused. He might understand the steps but wonder why he should follow the process. By explaining the benefits first, the reader has greater motivation to learn about the steps.
Each of the steps in pre-writing is important, but the outline ties it all together. Brainstorming, thinking on paper, and identifying the theme are about what we will present. The outline is about how we will present it.
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