As college students, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with a heavy workload and ‘accidentally’ leave an assignment until the last minute (which as very responsible, well-behaved, well-mannered adults with excellent time management skills we would never purposely do…). It can be stressful trying to figure out where to start and what to do. In order to avoid the endless “Netflix Predicament” – spending hours trying to figure out what to watch and not leaving anytime to actually watch anything – I’m going to tell you where to start your paper: an outline.
Many people think outlines are a waste of time and would rather just jump straight to writing a paper; however, a well written outline can save time and transition easily into a fully-written paper.
Start an outline with multi-leveled bullet point as shown below:
- Intro
- Thesis
- Main idea 1
- Main idea 2
- Main idea 2
- Conclusion
This format gives you structure and maintains focus.
Use brief sentences to begin formatting ideas to help give you the bigger picture.
- Intro
- Thesis: Apples are the best fruit because they are nutritious, easy to grow, and taste delicious.
- Nutrition
- Growing apple trees
- Yummy
- Conclusion
If this is a research paper, it is helpful to put outside sources directly into your outline where they might fit. Don’t forget to include the citation so you don’t lose your sources! If you find it helpful,color code where each of your sources come from.
- Intro
- Thesis: Apples are the best fruit because they are nutritious, easy to grow, and taste delicious.
- Nutrition
- “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away” (Smith 45)
- Growing apple trees
- “Apple orchards are the easiest fields to maintain” (McDonald 4)
- Yummy
- “They’re my favorite!” (Smith 23)
- “I love making apple pies.” (Williams 11)
- Conclusion
Begin jotting down ideas for your paper. Write in each section of your outline what you know about the topic. If you are struggling on one idea, skip that bullet for now. The idea is not to spend too long thinking about any one part of the outline. Don’t hover on an idea when you have nothing to say – just move on.
- Intro
- A is for apples. B is for best. C is for can’t think of another clever line.
- Thesis: Apples are the best fruit because they are nutritious, easy to grow, and taste delicious.
- Nutrition
- Apples, like all fruit, are an important part of a healthy diet. Fruit gives us important vitamins, like Vitamin C.
- “An apple a day,keeps the doctor away” (Smith 45).
- Apples are most often cited as an important food for keeping you healthy and “the doctors away”.
- Growing apple trees
- Apples are more beneficial to grow compared to other products.
- “Apple orchards are the easiest fields to maintain” (McDonald 4).
- Old McDonald talks about how orchards are easier to maintain because they flourish with little supervision.
- The trees also give back more oxygen to the environment than smaller plants.
- Yummy
- “They’re my favorite!” (Smith 23).
- There are many different kinds of apples with varying flavors.
- “I love making apple pies” (Williams 11).
- There are a variety of food products that can be made with apples. Apple pies are the most famous example.
- Conclusion
- Due to the variety of flavors, health benefits, and the ease to grow, apples are clearly the best fruit.
Look at your outline: Do your ideas follow a natural sequence? Where are you lacking information?
At this point, write notes to yourself in bold of what needs to be added or changed. Writing notes in bold stand out from normal text and are easy to spot. Don’t bank on your sleepy 3 a.m. brain to remember to go back to it later.
- Intro
- A is for apples. B is for best. C is for can’t think of another clever line. Think of a new introductory line. This one isn’t working.
- Add more of an introduction. Possibly talk about favorite foods?
- Thesis: Apples are the best fruit because they are nutritious, easy to grow, and taste delicious.
- Nutrition
- Create topic sentence. Could the next sentence work?It must introduce the new topic and explain the main idea of the paragraph…
- Apples, like all fruit, are an important part of a healthy diet. Fruit gives us important vitamins, like Vitamin C.
- Segue into quote
- “An apple a day,keeps the doctor away” (Smith 45)
- Apples are most often cited as an important food for keeping you healthy and “the doctors away”
- Add transition to next idea
- Growing apple trees
- Apples are more beneficial to grow compared to other products.
- “Apple orchards are the easiest fields to maintain” (McDonald 4)
- Old McDonald talks about how orchards are easier to maintain because they flourish with little supervision
- The trees also give back more oxygen to the environment than smaller plants. Find source for this?
- Yummy
- Add topic sentence
- “They’re my favorite!” (Smith 23)
- There are many different kinds of apples with varying flavors
- Talk about the flavor in more detail
- “I love making apple pies.” (Williams 11)
- There are a variety of food products that can be made with apples. Apple pies are the most famous example
- Conclusion
- Introduce ending
- Due to the variety of flavors, health benefits, and the ease to grow, apples are clearly the best fruit.
- Add ending sentence. Use idea of apples are the apple of my eye?
At this point, your outline should contain all your main ideas,topic sentences, quotes, and thesis statement. You will have made notes about needs to be improved. Then take out of the bullet format and create paragraphs.Most of your lines should not change.
A is for apples. B is for best. C is for can’t think of another clever line. Think of a new introductory line. This one isn’t working. Add more of an introduction.Possibly talk about favorite foods? Apples are the best fruit because they are nutritious, easy to grow, and taste delicious.
Apples, like all fruit, are an important part of a healthy diet. Fruit gives us important vitamins, like Vitamin C. Segue into quote. “An apple a day,keeps the doctor away” (Smith 45). Apples are most often cited as an important food for keeping you healthy and “the doctors away”. Add transition to next idea.
Create topic sentence. Could the next sentence work? (It must introduce the new topic and explain the main idea of the paragraph…) Apples are more beneficial to grow compared to other products. “Apple orchards are the easiest fields to maintain” (McDonald 4).Old McDonald talks about how orchards are easier to maintain because the flourish with little supervision. The trees also give back more oxygen to the environment than smaller plants. Find source for this?
Add topic sentence“They’re my favorite!” (Smith 23). Expand on quote. Is this necessary? There are many different kinds of apples with varying flavors. Talk about the flavor in more detail. “I love making apple pies.” (Williams 11). There are a variety of food products that can be made with apples. Apple pies are the most famous example
Introduce ending. Due to the variety of flavors, health benefits, and the ease to grow, apples are clearly the best fruit. Add ending sentence. Use idea of apples are the apple of my eye?
Now, you have a completed draft of your paper. Fix the notes you made and any awkward sentences. Once you’ve removed all the bold, read through it and make sure it makes sense. Take out any color coding (if you used it).Lastly, put it into the proper format (APA, MLA, ect.).
Congratulations! You have a completed draft that is focused and covers all the necessary topics. The above draft took a total of 20 minutes to make for a nonexistent paper.Although time may vary with real prompts, this is an efficient way to write a paper under a time crunch. Now you can use that remaining time to sleep, work on better time management skills (as if), or study for that quiz that you also forgot was tomorrow…
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About the Author
Lauren Parisi is a recent alumna of Albertus Magnus College, graduating with a B.A. in English in May of 2018. During her time at Albertus, she was involved in the Student Alumni Association (SAA) and Breakwater, the College’s student literary publication. Lauren also served as an Admissions Ambassador, a Head Orientation Leader, and manager of the House of Bollstadt Pub. She worked in the Writing Center for several years, helping students improve their writing skills. Lauren is currently working in the Academic Success Center as an ASC Leader. She hopes to teach English, Creative Writing and Literature at a college one day.