ENGL 214

Academic & Professional

Communication

Writing outlines

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 1

Aims

• Revise purpose statements

• To show why outlines are useful
• To give suggestions for
developing effective outlines
• Set relevant homework

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

 The report writing process
Week 1,2 Weeks 3,4 Weeks 5,6,7 Week 8

Is the yes
Select topic Source evaluations Submit to
proposal no
approved? Turnitin
Modify proposal
Is topic too
general? Submit Write final
Submit Progress report copy
yes
Proposal
Narrow
topic no

Write 3 level outline Revise and

Purpose Take notes edit:
statement
Content,
yes
organization, style
Write 2 level Get more Write first draft (in class) Check spelling,
outline sources punctuation,
no grammar,
referencing
Are the sources Write introduction, conclusion
Find sources good enough? and references page

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

What exactly is an outline?

• An outline is a list arranged to show

hierarchical relationships and main points
or topics of a given subject.
• Each item in an outline may be divided into
additional sub-items.
• It serves as a plan for your writing.
• It serves as a reference for readers.
• It is usually at the beginning of the
document on a separate page.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Brainstorming

• It is important to brainstorm ideas

and make a plan for your writing
before you begin.
• This can be useful to do even before
searching for sources, though finding
a good source can give you ideas.
• Some planners can do so by simply
writing out an outline.
• Others will need to employ concepts
like clustering.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Clustering
• Clustering, also called mind
mapping, is a strategy that
allows you to explore the
relationships between ideas.
• Put the subject in the center
of a page.
• As you think of other ideas,
write them on the page
surrounding the central
idea.
• Then connect the ideas
together in a logical way.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Clustering
Ranking English
may be Only
falling
Named
Homework on
after King Too many
weekends!
Fahd Ranking # students
221 in the
world Registration
system really
Stressful test bad
weeks Started by
Bad Parking
ARAMCO
KFUPM
Turnitin
Long distance
between
buildings Old buildings Plagiarism

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

 Organise ideas into groups

KFUPM

Background The campus The courses The students Conclusion

Started by Old buildings English Only Too many
ARAMCO students Recommendations
Homework on
Named after Long distance weekends! Plagiarism
King Fahd between
buildings …………
Stressful test
weeks ……………
Ranking # 221
in the world Bad Parking

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 8

Then write an outline
INTRODUCTION
I. BACKGROUND
A. History
B. Present
INTRODUCTION II. THE CAMPUS
C. Problems
I. BACKGROUND 1. Buildings
2. Parking
D. Solutions
II. THE CAMPUS III. THE COURSES
E. Problems
III. THE COURSES 1. English
2. Registration
IV. THE STUDENTS F. Solutions
IV. THE STUDENTS
V. RECOMMENDATIONS G. Problems
1. Overpopulation
CONCLUSION 2. Plagiarism
H. Solutions
V. RECOMMENDATIONS
CONCLUSIONS

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 9

 Instead of a hyper-focus on the intro and background…

…plan for the development (solutions, comparisons, argument) to be the

priority of the report.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 10

Outlining rules

4 components of effective outlines:

• Parallelism
• Coordination
• Subordination
• Division

These are not strict rules, but guidelines to be followed if possible.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 11
 Parallelism
• Each heading and subheading should have a parallel structure.
• If the first heading is a verb, the second heading should be too.
• If the first heading is a noun, the second heading should be too.

Examples:
A. Choose Topic A. The Preservation of Water
B. Prepare Sources B. The Study of Desertification
or
C. Write Report C. The Acceptance of the Situation
D. Send to Lecturer D. The Intention to Solve the Crisis

The present tense of the verb is usually the preferred form for an outline

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 12

 Coordination
• Information contained in Heading 1 should have the same significance as the information
contained in Heading 2.
• The same goes for the subheadings.
Example:
I FIND SOURCES IN LIBRARY
A Search for Related Books Equally important
(roughly)
B Search for Related Journal Articles
II SEARCH USING GOOGLE
Equally important (roughly)
A Compile a List of Possible Sources
B Judge Each According to Relevance
• Visiting the library and searching on Google have equal importance; as do searching for
books or journal articles.
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 13
 Subordination
• The information in the headings should be more general, while the
information in the subheadings should be more specific, and within
the scope of the mother heading.
Example:
I. PLACES WHERE WATER IS WASTED
A. In the Home √ Subordinate to the heading
B. In Industry
C. In Nature × not subordinate
D. Solutions to water waste

• Each subheading must be subordinate to the main heading.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 14
 Division

• Each heading should be divided into two or more parts.

Example:

I. WRITING A RESUME I. WRITING A RESUME

A. List Relevant Coursework
A. List Relevant Coursework
B. List Work Experience
√ Two or more × less than two
C. List Volunteer Experience

• Technically, there is no limit to the number of subdivisions for your headings;

however, if you seem to have a lot, it may be useful to see if some of the parts can
be combined.
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 15
Types of Outlines

The most common type of outline is an Alpha-numeric outline.

It is usually instantly recognizable to most people. The formatting follows these

characters, in this order:

Roman Numerals I,II,III,IV,V

Capitalized Letters A,B,C,D,E
Arabic Numerals 1,2,3,4,5,6
Lowercase Letters a,b,c,d,e,f
If the outline needs to subdivide beyond these divisions, use Arabic numerals inside
parentheses and then lowercase letters inside parentheses.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

 Capitalisation Rules
• Main section headings: ALL CAPITALS
• 2nd-level headings: Capitals for Only the
First Letters of Significant Words
• 3rd-level headings: Caps only for the first
letter, proper nouns, or the first letter after
punctuation (?:;.). Also third level headings
should be italicised.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Overall

•You should have a uniform

system throughout.
•It should look neat.
•Formatting should be clean.
•Tabs should be aligned.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

 Homework – Cluster/Mind map
• Create a visual organizer for
your topic that will help you to
eventually create a two-level
outline
• Use one of the following forms:
• Clustering
• Mindmap
• Due prior to next class,
Thursday 9 September
• Submit to Blackboard
assignment

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 19

 Questions Discussion Thank you

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 20