How to Outline an Essay: Basic Essay Outline Template

An essay outline is a roadmap for a prose essay. Essay outlines provide a structure for what you will articulate in every section and every paragraph of your essay. Making outlines is an essential step for writing cogent persuasive essays, argumentative essays, expository essays, compare-and-contrast essays, and research papers. Even narrative essays, which tell stories rather than make logical arguments, can benefit from the structure an outline provides.

An outline anchors an essay’s main idea, called the thesis statement, which guides the essay writing process. It also lays out the body paragraphs that form the bulk of your essay and brackets those body paragraphs with an introduction and a conclusion that guide your reader into and out of the essay.

An essay outline or research paper outline keeps you organized and focused on your main topic as you push ahead in your writing process.

1. 1. It keeps your research organized. By crafting an effective outline, you can sort through your research or reasoned points and find the perfect place to insert them in an essay. Organizing your information this way allows you to test the strength of your thesis statement. If you find yourself packing your outline with supporting evidence for your main point, you have probably picked a strong thesis. If not, you may need to reconsider.
2. 2. It maps a logical flow from points to subpoints. Most outlines have an alphanumeric structure. This means that they alternate between Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters to make points and sub-points. Other essay outline templates include decimal outlines and staggered bullet points.
3. 3. It allows you to be flexible. You can write full sentences in your formal outline, or you can write shorthand. The outline is not the final product; it is a tool for developing the content of your essay and finding a logical order, so it only has to make sense to you.

You can use this sample outline structure in most forms of academic writing. Different types of essays call for different lengths, but the outline example below is for a five-paragraph essay.

1. 1. Introduction: The introductory paragraph of your essay should outline the topic, provide background information necessary to understand your argument, outline the evidence you will present and include your thesis statement. Your thesis should be a concise summary of the main point of your essay.
2. 2. First body paragraph: Each body paragraph should cover a different idea or piece of evidence that supports your thesis statement. Begin the paragraph with a topic sentence that clearly and concisely tees up the paragraph and links it to the thesis. Body paragraphs are where you back up your claims with supporting points, examples, research, statistics, studies, and text citations.
3. 3. Second body paragraph: This paragraph should mimic the format of your first body paragraph, but it should anchor around a different piece of information. Again, be sure the first sentence of this paragraph functions as a topic sentence that ties in to the global essay topic. Continue to prove your major point with supporting details and related ideas.
4. 4. Third body paragraph: Use this paragraph to acknowledge opposing points of view that might go against your thesis. In most cases, you'll want to briefly make a case for any counterarguments before explaining why your thesis is stronger. Presenting facts and considering a topic from every angle adds credibility and will help you gain a reader’s trust.
5. 5. Conclusion: End with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis and summarizes all of the arguments made in your body paragraphs. Rather than introducing new facts or arguments, a good concluding statement will tie up the ideas of the entire essay in a memorable way.

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