Outline is not only the mean for navigating the text, but also an important step of an essay writing process. It may seem that writing an outline takes some extra time, but actually it helps to save it. Learn how to write an outline for an essay to see how to do this.
What Is an Outline?
An outline is a short enumerated list that gives titles for the parts of the paper in the order they appear in it. It reflects the paper’s structure and has points and subpoints to show the main and the subordinate issues. If you need to submit your essay with an outline, it needs to be placed at the very beginning of your essay after its title. Outline is closely connected with the content of your essay. To organize an outline one can use numbers (Arab and Roman) and letters in alphabetical order.
Main Principles of Writing of an Essay Outline
There are a few main principles that are to be followed while writing an outline. They help you to organize the titles logically and make everything clear for your reader.
1. Coordination
Basically, according to this principle your titles of the same level need to be of the same value. By the same value we mean the same significance for the essay text. For example, if you are writing about a global warming, causes and effects will be two categories having subcategories and being equal by their significance for the text. For you to understand, such points as vegetables and potato are the points of different value for the essay.
2. Division
Together with points having the same significance, there should be points, which are more concrete and specific. Those points should appear as subcategories for the main ones. You can select any possible way to indicate those categories: either letters in alphabetical order (a, b, c and so on), or numbers after dot (1.1., 1.2… etc). The only thing to remember, that if you have already started a division, you should have at least two subcategories. There cannot be A without B point following.
3. Subordination
Subordination is the way of relationship between the points being a result of division. Subordination means that the subpoints included to an essay outline need to be equal in significance one for another and have the relationship to their main point. For example:
… 2. Fruits
A. Apples
B. Oranges
C. Pineapples
Obviously, “tomatoes” cannot get here, as well as “nutrition”.
4. Parallelism
Categories of the same level need to have similar format. There can be the following types of format of your points: sentence and phrase. However, if you have selected a certain one, you should follow it. There cannot be a phrase and then a sentence, as this will create a mess.
How to Get Help in Writing of an Outline for an Essay?
If you are not a writing expert and you do not know how to write an outline for an essay, here are the ways to get help:
A. Search for Outlines for Your Topic
You can see some outlines for the same topic on the web. This will help you to find your own ideas. Nevertheless, far not all outlines online are properly written to take them as your example.
B. Hire an Expert for Help
With CrazyEssay.Com you can hire a professional writer to complete your outline or help with advice on how to write an outline for an essay.