Three Tips for Outlining Your Essay

Your writing provides readers with insight into your ideas and perspectives. At some point in your academic career, you will need to write an essay or research paper to discuss a topic. So, where do you start? Outlining and brainstorming ideas give you time to think about what your topic will be and what it brings to the conversation. If you struggle with idea generation, here are some tips to help you get started:

Form Your Topic with a ‘How’ or ‘Why’ question.

When writing essays, research papers, and reports, an important goal is to add your own opinions and analysis to the scholarly conversation around your topic. Your instructor may give you a topic or research prompt. Forming this into a ‘how’ or ‘why’ question gives you room to form a detailed answer that references key parts of the source material.

For example, a paper for an English class could provide a prompt such as: "Use psychoanalytic theory to analyze the play's perception of emotions." Re-forming this prompt into a question like “how does the play reveal psychological turmoil through guilt?” allows us to create an answer and an argument. You should provide textual evidence and analysis to support your answer in order to demonstrate a your understanding and deeper interpretation of the reading.

Brainstorm Points of Support before Structuring.

Brainstorming ideas that support your thesis becomes easier when you do not place constraints on yourself. Start by listing as many ideas as you can. Next, narrow down your focus by removing ideas that are unoriginal, weak or outside the scope of your paper’s main topic. From there, you can begin to draw connections between ideas, including individual arguments and the evidence and analysis you will need to support them. Getting all your ideas down before creating a structured essay lets you approach your topic and identify strengths and weaknesses in your argument.

Let Your Research and Questions Guide Your Thesis

The thesis you initially think of may not be the same one you submit. This is perfectly normal and expected as you conduct research and learn more about your topic. Research the context of your topic, including the scholarly discourse surrounding it, early in the outlining process to understand the current conversation. When reading what scholars have written on this topic, as yourself the following questions: Are there any gaps or holes that you notice? Do you agree or disagree with different scholars’ views? What can your interpretation of evidence add to the debate around this topic? Although it can be intimidating to argue against professional researchers, your thesis statement and arguments should aim to represent your own unique perspective, ultimately adding to the scholarly conversation. Let your research ground your ideas in what has already been said, while aiding in your own understanding of your topic.

For more information on planning your essay, consider reading the handouts Getting Started: Picking a Topic,  Essay Outlining,  and Developing a Thesis Statement on the SSC Writing Support Page.