Monday, November 28, 2011

Building an Outline for Your Essay

Building an outline is like drawing a map of your essay. The job of an outline is to sum up each paragraph in your essay. Outlining doesn’t involve writing complete paragraphs. But outlining is a good time to write a few sentences. Think of these as your topic sentences.

  • Introductory paragraph of your essay
    Reread your main idea. Now, write a complete sentence about your main idea.

  • First part of essay body
    Reread your words or phrases that you agree with. Write a complete sentence using each.

  • Second part of essay body
    Reread your words or phrases that you disagree with. Write a complete sentence using each.

  • Finally, reread your whole outline. Finish organizing your thoughts. Decide if you like the order of your topic sentences, or need to change the order a little.

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