You might find that your work becomes easier if you create an outline, a kind of blueprint that helps you both organize your thoughts in a logical pattern and see the relationships between your main ideas and supporting ideas. You can use outlining as a prewriting method in itself, or you can use it as a way of organizing the ideas you generated in freewriting, brainstorming, questioning, clustering, or any other technique.

Outlines can be either formal or informal. If you write a formal outline, you must use a prescribed style. You must:

• designate your main points with Roman numerals

• designate your subordinate points with capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters

• alternate between using numbers and letters

• have at least two entries in each category (that is, you must have at least two Roman numerals, two capital letters under each Roman numeral, and so on)

• have a parallel grammatical structure in your entries (for instance, if the first Roman numeral is a noun, the other Roman numerals must be nouns)

Is all of this confusing? It won't be when you examine the sample of the formal outline that follows. The topic is comparing and contrasting watching a movie in a theater and watching a movie at home.

If the formal outline style seems a bit overwhelming, think of it this way:After you write down your main points, then you just fill in the subcategories with details or examples.

Contrast and Compare Watching a Movie in a Theater and at Home

A number of differences and similarities exist between watching a movie in a theater and watching a movie at home.

Differences

Home

• Greater freedom

• More comfort

  (1) Can watch wearing pajamas, if I choose

  (2) Have choice of seating at home

  (a) Can sit in favorite easy chair

  (b) Can lie on floor or couch

• More choice of times to watch

  (1) Can stop to talk if phone rings

  (2) Can stop for bathroom breaks

  (3) Can stop if want to get food or drink

  (4) Can finish watching movie another time

Fewer restrictions about food or drink

Less expensive at home

Open choice of food or drink

Movie theater

• Much larger screen at movies

• Better popcorn at movies

• Earlier date for availability to be seen

• Better sound system

• Larger seating capacity, if needed for large group of friends

• Better “maid service” (someone else picks up the discarded candy wrappers, etc.)

Similarities

(Follow the same format to fill in details about the similarities between watching a movie at a theater and at home)

• 

• 

  (1)

  

  (2)

  

  (a)

  

  (b)

  

• 

Looking at the organization in this formal outline, you'll see that each main entry begins with a Roman numeral. Next are the indented capital-letter entries (Home and Movie Theater) under each Roman numeral, and both are written in a parallel way (in this case, as nouns). Then come indented entries written with Arabic numbers; each of these begins with a comparative adjective (Greater, Fewer, Larger, Better, Earlier). As you can see, the entries go on — lowercase letters, then numbers inside parentheses, then lowercase letters inside parentheses — and each subcategory has a parallel grammatical layout.

If you're writing an informal outline, begin by writing your topic (main idea) and your thesis statement (the main point you're trying to make about your topic) at the top of your paper. These give you a good reference and help you keep your work focused. Some writers find creating an outline after they've finished their first draft to be helpful. In looking over the outline, they see how well — or not so well — their ideas connect.

More information on freewriting, brainstorming, clustering, and outlining is available at these Web sites: