1. University of the Sacred Heart
Center for Language Development Across the Disciplines
CREATING YOUR OUTLINE

2. Reasons for Making an Outline
 Helps the writing process
 Identifies boundaries between topics
 Helps organize important ideas
 Helps present those ideas logically
 Makes comparisons and contrasts easier to
understand

3. Explaining Outlines
 Outlines:
o Topic outlines -
used when discussing general topics
o Sentence outlines -
used when explaining complex details
 All outlines need a title, thesis statement,
introduction, body, and conclusion.

4. Creating the Outline
 After selecting a main topic, divide categories and
subcategories.
 Outlines use:
o Roman numerals for major topic divisions (I)
o capital letters (A)
o Arabic numerals (1)
o lower-case letters (a)

5. Outline Examples
Topic Outline

6. Outline Example
Sentence Outline

7. The Marketing Plan Outline
 Provides direction for marketing activities.
 Details what you want accomplished with your
marketing strategy.
 Helps you meet your objectives.

8. Remember
 Decide whether to use the Topic Outline or
the Sentence Outline.
 Make sure your outline is clear and concise,
and in a specific order (intro-body-conclusion).
 The outline should be divided with Roman numerals,
capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lower-case
letters.

9. Remember
 It should also include the title and
the thesis statement of the work.
 This is the perfect time to write the
first sentence of your essay (attention getter).

10. References
 Capital Community College. (n.d.). Guide to Writing Research Papers: MLA-Style. Retrieved on
August 2010, from webster.commnet.edu/mla/outlines.shtml
 Tardif, E., Brizee A. (2010, 04, 17). Purdue OWL: Developing an Outline. Welcome to the Purdue
University Online Writing Lab (OWL). Retrieved on August 2010, from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/.
 Writing Tutorial Services. Indiana University, Bloomington. (2004, 4, 2010). Using Outlines.
Retrieved on November 2010, from http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/outlines.shtml.
 Lakewood Public Library. Lakewood, Ohio. (n.d.). Student Guide to Research Papers. Retrieved on
August 2010, from www.lkwdpl.org/study/research/outline.htm.
 Baker University. Baldwin City, Kansas. Sentence Outline Template. Retrieved on December 2010, from
www.bakeru.edu/faculty/aspencer/.../101_outline_plan2.doc
Prepared by L. Ávila
Revised by LAD professors in May 2012.