Research Paper Outline

The purpose of an outline is to organize your ideas on paper to use as a guide while writing.

• Helps you organize your ideas
• Presents your material in a logical form
• Shows the relationships among ideas in your writing
• Constructs an ordered overview of your writing

Developing an outline can take many forms, but starts here:

• Determine the purpose of your paper
• Determine the audience you are writing for
• Develop the thesis of your paper

Steps to creating an outline include:

• Brainstorm: List all the ideas that you want to include in your paper
  • ​Refer to your annotated bibliography
• Organize: Group related ideas together
• Order: Arrange material in subsections from general to specific or from abstract to concrete
• Label: Create main and sub headings

The Basic Outline

 I. Introduction
       A. Thesis
II. First Supporting Paragraph
       A. main point
           1. supporting detail
           2. direct quote
       B. main point
           1. supporting detail
           2. direct quote
III. Second Supporting Paragraph
       A. main point
           1. supporting detail
           2. direct quote
       B. main point
           1. supporting detail
           2. direct quote
IV. Third Supporting Paragraph
       A. main point
           1. supporting detail
           2. direct quote
       B. main point
           1. supporting detail
           2. direct quote
V. Conclusion
       A. Restate thesis
       B. Summarize main points

When brainstorming and organizing your ideas, you might also use a mind map like the example below, created by Elizabeth MacEwan.
The top yellow part would refer to the thesis, the pink parts would be the major supporting details, and the blue and bottom yellow parts are the supporting ideas to the major supporting details.