Outline Ideas: How to Choose a Worthy Topic and Create a Good Plan
Is it easier to follow a plan or to improvise? Improvisation works if a person is knowledgeable and experienced. Do all students possess the required knowledge? No. It means that most of them need to follow a plan that will help them create a stunning paper. How to do that? This article includes both a guide and examples of outline topics with detailed outlines.
Outline Format
All academic assignments have their formats. As a rule, a college paper should have the following components: a good structure, a corresponding title, appropriate vocabulary filling, formatting (MLA, APA, Harvard, Chicago, etc.), PDF or Word presentation, etc.
What is an outline? Professionals used to call it a scheme or a skeleton of a future paper. If students spend some effort, they will get a plan that will speed up the writing process. The requirements for an essay outline format are the following:
- Each document has a title or a heading, including an outline.
- An introduction with a thesis statement reflects the major thought of the future paper.
- A body with several sections and subsections (if necessary) makes contributions to the discussion of the thesis statement.
- A conclusion draws a line under everything.
There are three things to keep in mind when creating an outline. First off, headings and subheadings consist of words (not complete sentences). Second, if there is 1, there should be 2. If it has 1.1, it should have 1.2. Third, each subpart must include an equal number of words in the ready essay.
How to Prepare an Outline That will Help
Plans help students perform college homework faster and without mistakes. Thanks to them, the text contains significant information. All parts are logically connected. Professors ask for detailed outlines to make sure that a student’s research is worth approving. That is why most tutors tell students to introduce outlines together with research proposals. How to do that right?
Title
The title should be to the point. Its goal is to inform the target reader about the uniqueness of writing and/or its value. It must not be wordy. So, students should be selective in their word choice. Colloquialisms, unknown abbreviations, exclamations, and many conjunctions are not welcomed.
Introduction
This is a start. When is it good? When a reader is captivated by its idea. It can be some background information and a question or a key argument. This part should introduce a thesis statement because it is a mirror of the topic idea.
Body
This part of the essay describes the way that a student chooses to develop a topic. It can be a chronological order of events, an instruction, a sequence of actions, or logical parts of a story.
Note! There are three types of outlines – sentence, word, or phrase. The first type is more detailed. Each point of a plan is presented with the help of topic sentences. The second and the third variants are shorter and easier for a reader to comprehend. A student uses words and phrases instead of topic sentences. This variant is a standard in most colleges worldwide.
The websites below can tell you more about the difference between sentence, word, and phrase outlines.
A body usually has several subsections. Each subsection has a title that reflects a separate idea. Traditionally, essays have from 1 to 3 body paragraphs. It means that an outline should reflect the number of paragraphs a student is going to present in writing.
Conclusion
It sums up a topic discussion. So, it can be a smart sentence that gives a hint to the topic discovery.
Examples of Topics and Outlines from Experts
Outline ideas can be different. Everything depends on the chosen discipline, academic level of English, and the student who needs to create it. The main requirement for a topic is to choose something significant for the target audience. Even if it is not original, a student’s outline should show what unique he managed to discover or learn.
Below, one can see a template of an outline on nuclear power plants.Title: Nuclear Power Stations Must Disappear
- Introduction
Thesis statement: Chernobyl exclusion zone is a vivid and terrifying example of what might happen to the whole world if nuclear power stations do not disappear. - Body
A. Operating principle of nuclear power stations
1. The first nuclear power station in Obninsk
2. The number of working stations in 2022
B. Danger that each nuclear power station bears
1. Chernobyl explosion in 1986
2. Health risks for employees who work at stations
C. Financial expenses
1. Utilization of radioactive waste material
2. Cost of safety measurements on nuclear power stations - Conclusion
The world without nuclear power stations will be safer and healthier.
It is hard to create a top-level outline without basic knowledge. The two links below give more information about how the assignment looks and what requirements should a student keep in mind.
- Outline Samples of 3 Types: Choose the Best Way to Organize Your Work
- How to Effectively Handle Essay Outline Writing
Take a look at these 5 topic samples to catch up with trends.
- Decreasing living standards (Economic)
- Parent’s phobia or a teen’s puberty (Family)
- Adaptation to a new school (Psychology)
- Street art is the vox populi (Art)
- Gun ownership equals safety (law)
Conclusion
When students create outlines, they invest in their future writing. They help them write essays faster because students have organized their ideas logically and effectively. Those who want to impress their mentors should introduce an outline in the right format and on the right topics. Professional writers are assistants who can navigate students and correct their mistakes 24/7.
