General Features of an Outline

An outline is:

A logical, general description
A schematic summary
An organizational pattern
A visual and conceptual design of your writing
An outline reflects logical thinking and clear classification.

The Purpose of an Outline

Generally:

Aids in the process of writing
Helps you visualize an entire writing project

Specifically:

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
Defines boundaries and groups

The Process of Writing an Outline

Before you begin:

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

Then:

Brainstorm: List all the ideas that you want to include in your paper.
Organize: Group related ideas together.
Order: Arrange material in subsections from general to specific or from abstract to concrete.
Label: Create main and subtopic headings, and write coordinate levels in parallel form.

Organizational Principles

An outline has a balanced structure based on the following principles:

Parallelism
Coordination
Subordination
Division

Parallelism
In an outline coordinate heads should be expressed in parallel form. That is, terms within a subsection or at the same heading level should be of the same form: nouns should be made parallel with nouns, verb forms with verb forms, adjectives with adjectives, and so on (for example, nouns: computers, programs, users; verbs: compute, program, use; adjectives: desktop computers, laptop computers, mainframe computers). Although parallel structure is ideal, logical and clear writing should not be sacrificed simply to maintain parallelism; for example, it may make sense to place nouns and gerunds at the same level of an outline in some cases.

Correct parallelism

A. Researching products
B. Negotiating a price
C. Closing the sale

Faulty parallelism

A. Product research
B. Negotiate a price
C. Closing the sale

Explanation

The faulty example has terms of different forms on the same level, so the headings are not parallel: A has the form adjective noun, B has the form verb-object, and C has the form gerund-object. A possible corrected parallel version other than the correct example above would be as follows:

A. Research products
B. Negotiate a price
C. Close the sale

Coordination

Items of equal significance in an outline have comparable numeral or letter designations: an A is at the same level as a B, a 1 as a 2, an a as a b, and so on. Coordinate terms are understood to have the same level of generality or specificity in an outline. The principle of coordination enables writers to maintain a coherent and consistent document.

Correct coordination

A. Word processing programs
B. Spreadsheet programs
C. Page layout programs

Faulty coordination

A. Word processing programs
B. Microsoft Word
C. Word Perfect
D. Excel

Explanation

The faulty example places items of unequal specificity at the same coordinate level. Microsoft Word and Word Perfect are individual word processing programs; they should not be placed at the same level as the general category to which they belong. Excel is a spreadsheet program, so it's not even part of the general category. One possible corrected version would be as follows:

A. Word processing programs

1. Microsoft Word
2. Word Perfect

B. Spreadsheet programs

1. Excel
2. Lotus

Subordination

In order to indicate levels of significance, an outline uses major and minor headings. As you shape material into outline form, you should organize it from general to specific or from abstract to concrete: the more general or abstract the term, the higher the level or rank in the outline. This principle allows your material to be ordered logically and requires a clear articulation of the relationships among component parts of the outline. Subdivisions of each higher division should always have the same relationship to the whole.

Correct subordination

A. Word processing programs

1. Microsoft Word
2. Word Perfect

B. Page layout programs

1. PageMaker
2. Quark Express

Faulty subordination

A. Word processing programs

1. Word Perfect
2. Useful
3. Obsolete

Explanation

The faulty example uses an A without a B. Also 1, 2, and 3 are not of the same kind and of equal specificty; Word Perfect is a type of word processing program, and useful and obsolete are qualities that may apply to various computer programs. One possible corrected version would be as follows:

A. Word Perfect

1. Positive features
2. Negative features

B. Microsoft Word

1. Positive features
2. Negative features

Division

To divide you always need at least two parts; therefore, in an outline there can never be an A without a B, a 1 without a 2, an a without a b, and so on. Usually there is more than one way to divide an item; however, when dividing use only one basis of division at each rank, and make the basis of division as sharp as possible.

Correct division

A. Personal computers: hardware

1. CPUs
2. Monitors
3. Printers
4. Modems

B. Personal computers: software

Faulty division

A. Personal computers: hardware

1. CPUs
2. Color monitors
3. Black and white monitors
4. Black and white printers
5. Color printers
6. Data modems
7. Fax modems

B. Personal computers: software

Explanation

The faulty example divides some categories further than others. CPUs are left as a whole category, yet the others are each divided into two major types. One possible corrected version would be as follows:

A. Personal computers: hardware

1. CPUs
2. Monitors

a. Color
b. Black and white

3. Printers

a. Black and white
b. Color

4. Modems

a. Data
b. Fax

B. Personal computers: software

Topic and Sentence Outlines

An outline can use topic or sentence form. A topic outline uses words or phrases for all entries and uses no punctuation at the end of each entry. Its advantages are that it presents a brief overview of the complete work and that is generally easier and faster to write than a sentence outline. A sentence outline, on the other hand, uses complete sentences for all entries and thus uses correct punctuation throughout, including correct end-punctuation for each entry. Its advantages are that it presents a more detailed overview of the complete work, including possible topic sentences of paragraphs, and that it makes the process of writing the final paper easier and faster.

Outline Forms

An outline can use Roman numerals and letters or decimal form.

Roman Numerals & Letters	Decimals
I	1.0
A	1.1
B	1.2
1.	1.2.1
2.	1.2.2
a.	1.2.2.1
b.	1.2.2.2
II	2.0
A.	2.1
B.	2.2
C.	2.3

Copyright (C)1999 by Purdue University. All rights reserved. This document may be distributed as long as it is done entirely with all attributions to organizations and authors. Commercial distribution is strictly prohibited. Portions of this document may be copyrighted by other organizations.

This document is part of a collection of instructional materials used in the Purdue University Writing Lab. The online version is part of OWL (Online Writing Lab), a project of the Purdue University Writing Lab, funded by the School of Liberal Arts at Purdue.