Transcript Research Paper Rough and Formal Outline

General Guide to Creating a
Basic Outline
Adapted from Spartanburg County School District, South
Carolina
The “Owen Meany” Outline
► I’ll




be looking for:
A thesis
Alpha-numeric divisions done correctly
Parallelism
Textual support for points parenthetically noted
with page number
► NOTE:
I don’t expect you to have more than
two or three subdivisions.
Starting my working outline…
My paper is about education. My big topics are going
to be as follows:
►
the history of why and how people educate the
public,
►
the development of new educational initiatives,
►
the changes that these have made in the system
(both intentional and unintentional),
►
the problems that have arisen through these
changes, and
►
the potential solutions for some of the problems.
Working Outline
► This
could be like an outline rough draft or a
topic outline. REMEMBER: The purpose of
THIS outline is to help you start organizing
your paper. First, look to your notes and
decide on your main topics. My main topics
are things like “History-Egyptian” and “No
Child Left Behind.” I’m going to set up my
working outline.
I.
II.
Working Outline as Outline
History
A. Egyptians
B. Puritans
C. Plantations
1. Boys
2. Girls
Curriculum Movements
A. Elitist Pool of
Knowledge
B. Basic Skills
C. International
Competition
D. NCLB
III.
IV.
Problems
A. Needs Change
B. Finances
C. Unrealistic
Expectations
Solutions
A. Choice
1. School
2. Course of Study
B. Finances
C. Accountability
1. Parent
2. Student
3. Teacher
Which number or letter do I use?
History
A. Egyptians
B. Puritans
1. Purpose in education
a. Productivity
b. Indoctrination
(1) Church
(2) Society
2. Institutions of learning
II. Developments
I.
Start by using capital
Roman numerals,
then capital letters,
and then numbers.
Start over again with
lower case letters
and then subscript
numerals in
parenthesis. See me
if you want to
subdivide further, but
if you keep
subdividing, it’s
probably more detail
than is necessary for
this assignment!
Parallelism: It’s not just for math
anymore!
► If
you start your heading using a noun, then
start ALL headings and sub headings with a
noun.
► If you start your heading using a verb, then
start ALL headings and sub headings with a
verb.
Parallelism Example 1:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
History
A. Egyptians
B. Puritans
C. Plantations
1. Boys
2. Girls
Developments
Changes
Problems
Solutions
(Notice: They are all nouns.)
Parallelism Example 2
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Know the process
A. Read the instructions
B. List needed supplies
C. Schedule the required time
Practice the skills
A. Use scrap materials
B. Continue to practice until achieving desired result
Buy the supplies
Work consistently
Complete the project
(Notice that these start with verbs!)
Subdivisions: They’re not just for
dwellings any more!
► Each
subheading should be to
subdivide the heading.
► Start with the broad idea and
divide down to more specific
ideas.
► CAUTION: It works like fractions,
though. If you subdivide a
heading, you must divide it into at
least two parts!
My main topics…
► I’ve
divided the broad topic of
education into five main
subtopics:
► (I cannot have just one
subtopic because 1 main topic
divided into 1 subtopic is still
1.)
► See…it’s just like fractions!
Can there be three subtopics?
Yes! Any number other than 1
will work!
History
II. Developments
III. Changes
IV. Problems
V.
Solutions
I.
Subdivisions Example:
I.
II.
History
A. Egyptians
B. Puritans
1. Purpose in education
a. Productivity
b. Indoctrination
(1) Church
(a) Values
(b) Laws
(2) Society
2. Institutions of learning
a. Home
b. Church
c. College
Developments
It shouldn’t be that hard!
► The
problem is that there is a specific
format. Sometimes, it feels like a difficult
task to get your information to fit into that
format.
► As you’re outlining, just think of each
heading as a pie to be divided into pieces!

► CAUTION: WORD does not correctly outline
for you. You need to be able to do this on
your own!
Parenthetical Citation
Assume one source
History
A. Egyptians (51-52)
B. Puritans
1. Purpose in education (67)
2. Institutions of learning
II. Developments (134)
I.
With MLA format on the page number –
no abbreviations or anything else – is
needed inside the parentheses.
A Twist on the Outline
► On
your outlines, I want you to write your
thesis statement at the top of the page,
which is not always done. It can help you as
you set up your paper.
► Make
sure that your thesis encompasses
your headings.
Thesis Example:
► Even
though history has shown curricula to
reflect the needs of society, American
curricula constantly changes in design with
new problems being addressed with each
approach and posed solution.
Does this thesis reflect what is to
be discussed in the paper?
► First,
we should look back to the outline to
review the topics.
Outline Revisited:
I.
II.
History
III.
A. Egyptians
B. Puritans
C. Plantations
1. Boys
2. Girls
Developments
A. Curricula
B. Structure
C. Facilities
Changes
A. Programs
B. Laws
1. EIA
2. ADA
3. NCLB
a. Intentions
b. Outcomes
C. Studies
IV. Problems
A. Funding
B. Accountability
C. Problems
within the school
V.
Solutions
A. Choice
B. Incentives
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
History
Developments
Changes
Problems
Solutions
Even though history
has shown curricula
to reflect the needs
of society, American
curricula constantly
changes in design
with new problems
being addressed
with each approach
and posed solution.
It’s in there!
► Yes,
each topic is
referenced!
► Do I need to develop a
thesis that covers the
subtopics?
► No, that would be
giving far too much
detail!
► Now, one last look…
Thesis: Even though history has shown curricula to reflect the needs of
society, American curricula constantly changes in design with new
problems being addressed with each approach and posed solution.
I.
II.
History
III.
A. Egyptians
B. Puritans
C. Plantations
1. Boys
2. Girls
Developments
A. Curricula
B. Structure
C. Facilities
IV. Problems
Changes
A. Programs
A. Funding
B. Laws
B. Accountability
1. EIA
C. Problems
2. ADA
within the school
3. NCLB
V. Solutions
a. Intentions
A. Choice
b. Outcomes
B. Incentives
C. Studies
Good Luck
A wonderful resource for you is
available at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Google OWL with the topic, such as
“OWL commas” and it will take you
to the desired subsection.
Outlining is available at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/r
esource/544/01/