Why Outline?
Outlining your paper before you begin writing may seem like an extra step or a waste of time. However, it is an essential part of the writing process that can actually save you time as you draft your essay and will help strengthen your final product immensely.
First, outlining can help you to avoid the terror of the blank page by taking a big task and breaking it up into smaller tasks. When you feel lost in terms of what to write, an outline can give you guidance as to what should come next. Further, essays are not catalogues of information. They are organized around a central purpose, or thesis. An outline helps you to visualize, and stick to, this purpose. Finally, outlines help you to identify gaps in your reasoning or research and fix these problems.
Types of Outlines
An outline can take many forms:
As we go through each type of outline, consider what would work best for you.