PELHAM HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER

The mission of Pelham High School is to educate students so that they may pursue life goals, 
participate fully as active citizens, and become socially responsible community members.

Writing Your Outline

Why should you make an outline?

An outline is the tool you use to "restore order" to your research, to turn your months of hard work into an organized, coherent, cohesive finished product. It is like a blueprint for the report or presentation you are going to build.   It helps you to sift through the facts you have gathered and sort them into a logical sequence that will make sense to your audience and do your subject justice. 

Outlines can be organized linearly, starting with a general introduction, then history or background, present status, and future trends.  It can also be organized thematically, using a theme (such as social injustice) across a variety of contexts. It can be organized  topically by heading (for instance the various types of diabetes). Looking at your project topic, decide what type of outline will work best for you based on the focus of your research.

Use standard outline symbols to create major categories and then subtopics:

I.                  Major heading - Introduction

A.    subheading - 1^st degree

1.    subheading- 2^nd degree

a.    subheading -  3^rd degree

b.     

II.              Major heading -  Main Body

A

B.

C.

D.

E.

    III.        Major heading- Conclusion

To make it easier for you to create this outline, use the Microsoft Word outline template:

 Open word

Go to Format

Go to Bullets and Numbering

Go to Outline Numbered

Select the template you would like to use

Elizabeth Strauss, Media Generalist
Pelham High School Library Media Center
bstrauss@pelhamsd.org