Last Updated: Jun 27, 2023 Views: 4474

What is an Outline?

An outline breaks down your thesis or paper into clear, definable parts. It presents a hierarchical image of your paper's main ideas and subsequent ideas or topics. Many students find that writing an outline before they write their paper helps keep them on track and makes the process a little easier. See below for an example outline template.

Example Outline Template

Thesis: (Thesis Statement) 

  1. One Idea About My Topic
    • Detail about that idea
    • Detail about that idea
    • Detail about that idea
  2. Another Idea About My Topic
    • Detail about that second idea
    • Detail about that second idea
    • Detail about that second idea

More Information

Further Help

Campus Students

To access academic support, visit your Brightspace course and select “Tutoring and Mentoring” from the Academic Support pulldown menu.

Online Students

To access help with citation and more, visit Academic Support via modules in Brightspace:

Media

About FAQs

About FAQs


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are a self-serve option for users to search and find answers to their questions. 

Use the search box above to type your question to search for an answer or browse existing FAQs by group, topic, etc.

Tell Me More

Link to Question Form

More Assistance


Submit a Question

Related FAQs

Related FAQs