RESEARCH ESSAY OUTLINE
Outlines provide a visual representation of an essay’s structural design. Organizing an essay well
is crucial to the overall clarity of your argument. Outlines are an important step in writing
because they:
1. Clearly show the relationships between ideas in your essay and provide a plan for writing.
2. Help you to consider your topic and to synthesize and reflect on your proposed plan.
3. Help you to determine whether you have researched a topic thoroughly enough.
4. Help you to determine whether the essay makes a convincing argument
Activities to Perform Before Outlining:
Read extensively to ensure that you have researched the topic thoroughly.
Take notes on important ideas (remember to record citations—you will need them later!).
Group related ideas together, ordering groups from general to specific.
Research Essay Outline:
I. Introduction
a. Motivation – Why is this topic important?
b. Objectives – What are the goals of this essay?
c. Thesis Statement – Overall claim the essay makes
An organizational overview of the essay (if appropriate)
II. Body
a. Literature review
Synthesize, rather than summarize, your source material
Describe how your research will fit into the academic conversa tion
presented
b. Method and Analysis (What was done)
Description of the scope of the analysis
Methods used for first major task
Methods used for second major task
Methods used for third major task
c. Results (What was found) [Note: Sometimes this section is combined with
Discussion]
Results of first major task
Results of second major task
Results of third major task
d. Discussion (How your results contribute to knowledge in the field)
Example: compare results to literature reviewed
Example: show how your contributions have impacted the field
