What kind of outline

Paragraph 7 -- Neo-Marxist analysis of U. She noticed that the descriptions of neo-Marxism and elitism were each in a single paragraph, but the description of pluralism took two paragraphs. She decided to be consistent by combining paragraphs 3 and 4.

She also noticed that the second half of the paper seemed to jump around from theory to theory, presenting each theory's analysis and then each theory's weaknesses. She decided to put the pluralist analysis of the U. Finally, you may also be required to write a formal outline--an outline that serves as a guide to your paper for your reader. If you haven't already been making formal outlines, this outline will be a formal version of your previous notes; it lays out your main points and subpoints for your reader.

Generally, this kind of outline uses conventions of formal outlining: Roman numerals, letters and indentations. Sometimes this sort of outline can be produced after you have written your essay.

Formal outlines can be written in two ways. In topic outlines, the ideas are expressed in parallel phrases in other words, they are expressed in the same grammatical form--as noun phrases, as verb phrases, etc. Topic outlines have the advantage of being brief. In sentence outlines, on the other hand, the ideas are expressed in complete, though not necessarily parallel, sentences. Sentence outlines give the reader a clearer idea of what you will argue.

Regardless of the kind of formal outline you choose, convention states that you begin with a statement of your thesis and indicate increasing levels of support in this order: I. In scientific papers, however, a decimal system is also commonly used. A topic outline follows:. Thesis: Among the pluralist, elitist, and neo-Marxist political theories, neo-Marxism provides the most powerful analysis of the current political scene.

Notice in a formal outline, whenever a point is subdivided, there are at least two subpoints. Logic and convention state that when you divide a point, you can divide it into no fewer than two subpoints.

Remember, depending on how your research or writing is going, you may need to make use of any or all of the outlines described in this article. Home Writing Guides Using Outlines. This is the one time you may read fully from a card. If your quotation is important and the exact wording is crucial, your audience will understand that. How will notecards be sufficient? When they are carefully written, your practice will reveal that they will work.

Using a set of carefully prepared, sparingly worded cards will help you resist the temptation to rely on overhead transparencies or PowerPoint slides to get you through the presentation. Although they will never provide the exact word sequence of your full-sentence outline, they should keep you organized during the speech. You must discover what works for you and then select those words that tend to jog your recall.

Having identified what works, make a preliminary set of no more than five cards written on one side only, and practice with them. Revise and refine them as you would an outline. The following is a hypothetical set of cards for the smart dust speech:. Introduction : , Prey , swarm nanomachines feed on living tissue.

Microelectromechanical MEMS devices could detect light, temp, or vib. Thesis Statement : Researchers hyp that s. Transition : To help understand, first, what smart dust is. Kris Pister, prof robotics lab UC Berkeley conceived the idea in in a proj.

Smart Dust website, battlefield surveill. Transition : Switch gears to daily lives. Transition : We expl. Conclusion : Transf fiction to fact, experts agree potential Pister: privacy. As it turns out, I think that the potential benefits of this technology far far outweigh the risks to personal privacy. Using a set of cards similar to this could help you get through an impressive set of specialized information. But what if you lose your place during a speech?

With a set of cards, it will take less time to refind it than with a full-sentence outline. You will not be rustling sheets of paper, and because your cards are written on one side only, you can keep them in order without flipping them back and forth to check both sides. What if you go blank? There may be several seconds of silence in the middle of your speech, and it may seem like minutes to you, but you can regain your footing most easily with a small set of well-prepared cards.

Under no circumstances should you ever attempt to put your entire speech on cards in little tiny writing. You will end up reading a sequence of words to your audience instead of telling them your message.

Help Creative Commons. Creative Commons supports free culture from music to education. Their licenses helped make this book available to you. Help a Public School. Previous Section. Table of Contents. Next Section. Identify the advantages of using notecards to present your speaking outline. Working Outline A working outline is an outline you use for developing your speech.

Smart dust can be used by the military—no, no—smart dust could be an enormous asset in covert military operations. Smart dust could also have applications to daily life. Introduction : Grabber fill in later Thesis Statement Thus far, researchers hypothesize that smart dust could be used for everything from tracking patients in hospitals to early warnings of natural disasters and defending against bioterrorism. Transition fill in later Main Point I : Dr.

Full-Sentence Outline Your full-sentence outline should contain full sentences only. Main Ideas : Smart dust is an assembly of microcomputers. Smart dust could be an enormous asset in covert military operations.

Each individual piece of dust, called a mote, would then have the ability to interact with other motes and supercomputers. To put these ideas into outline form, decide first on the main encompassing ideas. These might be: I. History of the term, II. Redistricting process, III. Racial aspects, IV. Current events. Next, decide where the rest of the important ideas fit in.

Are they part of the redistricting process, or do they belong under racial aspects? The complete outline might look like this:. It is only possible to make an outline if you have familiarity with the subject. As you do research, you may find it necessary to add, subtract or change the position of various ideas. If you change your outline, ensure that logical relationship among ideas is preserved.

On the other hand, I enjoy art and plan to travel and see more of it. The second decision is whether to continue a third year of French beyond the basic college requirement. French might be useful both in engineering and travel. Furthermore, I am eager to read good books which are written in French. How necessary are these considerations in the light of other courses I might take instead?

My problem can be put in the form of a dilemma involving larger questions about my whole future. On the one hand I want to hold a highly-trained position in a lucrative profession. On the other hand I want to lead a certain kind of life, with capacities for values not connected with the making of money. I will have to make a decision balancing the conflicting needs I have described.