English 102

Guidelines for Essay Outline

This course focuses on the process of conducting valid research to advance knowledge for various purposes. By this point, you have selected and narrowed a topic for research and developed an annotated bibliography. In this assignment, you will organize your research under the major points that you plan to make in your paper. Outlines are a valuable tool because they will propel you into the drafting of your essay. Your outline may change or morph as you develop your rough draft.

For this assignment, you will create an outline that follows the structure found in this unit. Make sure to review the outline structure document and this set of assignment guidelines before drafting your outline.

Make sure to address the following in your outline:

Introduction

o Complete thesis statement. This should be a finalized version of the thesis statement which incorporates the feedback received from the annotated bibliography.

Break down the thesis statement into at least three main points

o Main Point #1

Create a body paragraph topic sentence.

Include supporting evidence (in other words, include at least one academic resource to

support the main point).

Summary sentence of the first body paragraph, which ties the main point back to the

thesis statement

o Main Point #2

Create a body paragraph topic sentence.

Include supporting evidence (in other words, include at least one academic resource to

support the main point).

Summary sentence of the first body paragraph, which ties the main point back to the

thesis statement

o Main Point #3

Create a body paragraph topic sentence.

Include supporting evidence (in other words, include at least one academic resource to

support the main point).

Summary sentence of the first body paragraph, which ties the main point back to the

thesis statement

o Conclusion

Draft a summary statement that includes the thesis and main points of the paper.

o Reference Page

Include a reference citation for each source mentioned in your outline.

Format the page using MLA style.