An essay outline is the most important part of a good essay. With a good outline, the essay will hold together nicely, make more sense, and get a better grade. Writing an essay outline isn't easy, of course, but with these steps the outline process is painless and will lead to a great essay.
If this paper is a literature essay or an English essay, read this article for the steps to take before and this article for the steps to take after the outline. If the essay is a descriptive or argumentative essay, go ahead and get started on an amazing essay outline!
The Thesis Statement and Introduction Paragraph
The thesis statement or thesis sentence is the most important part of a great essay. It should sum up the argument in a sentence or two. If the topic of the essay is “Do violent video games cause violent behaviour?”, a good thesis statement might be, “Violence in video games is often perceived as causing violent behaviour, however, only a few people act out and attack others, but many people play violent video games.”
This is a good thesis statement because
- it answers the question posed
- it makes a specific argument
- it narrows a broad topic
A bad thesis statement might be, “Violent video games do not cause violence”. This is a bad statement because it doesn't narrow the topic, and the essay will be all over the place. Keep the essay in check with a narrow thesis statement.
Once you have decided on a thesis statement, write it down. This will be the opening paragraph (which will be fleshed out in the essay writing stage). Now, move on to the next part of the essay outline.
The Paragraph Outlines
Paragraphs will be the meat of the essay. These paragraphs explain your argument and prove your points. They will come after your opening
Each paragraph needs three things:
- an opening sentence describing what the paragraph is about
- 1-3 proofs, with references if needed for the essay
- a closing sentence
So, for the paragraph outline, write the opening sentence. For the essay above, the opening sentence might be, “Grand Theft Auto, one of the most notorious video game franchises, has been around for over a decade, and millions of people have played it without killing anyone in real life.” This sentence explains that your paragraph will focus on the Grand Theft Auto franchise.
After the opening sentence is written, add to your outline in point form the arguments. For this essay paragraph, those might be
- Statistics of the number of school shootings since GTA was first released
- Statistics of players of GTA
- An interview with someone who loves the game but did not kill anyone
The closing sentence for the paragraph would sum up the argument of the paragraph and lead in to the next essay paragraph. For this essay topic, that sentence might be, “Very few of these Grand Theft Auto players have gone on killing sprees, and the few who have had other contributing factors.” This sentence tells readers that the next paragraph will be about those players who have been violent.
A good essay will have 3 – 5 argument paragraphs. Once you've written an outline for each paragraph, move on.
The Closing Paragraph
This one is easy – just sum up your argument in 3-5 sentence- and your outline is done! Congratulations!
Now that you have a great essay outline, read this article on what to do next. Or, just go ahead and write!
Amanda Lee - Amanda Lee has earned her BA in English Literature from York University in Canada, which lead to a love of writing about ...
