As stated by “REA’s Handbook of English Grammar, Style, and Writing,” proceeding without an outline is like navigating a new city without a map. Unfortunately, most students new to essay writing are unfamiliar with how to outline an English paper. Students who neglect to use an outline often produce rambling, Faulkner-esque essays. Taking an hour to gather your thoughts and write an outline can save time writing the essay and lead to a better grade.

Acquaint yourself with an outline template. The Owl at Purdue states that most outlines use Roman numerals for essay sections (introduction, main points and conclusion) and, in descending order of specificity with indentations, capitalized letters, Arabic numerals and lowercase letters.

Start with the introduction. Include a fact or statistic to introduce the essay, or include background information on the issue or author discussed. At this stage in the writing process, listing the specific quote or tidbit of information is not necessary. Simply note its inclusion in the outline. State your thesis and list the three main points of the essay.

Outline the first theme of the essay in two or three words. For example, write “capitalism” if the topic of your paper is discussing themes of Ayn Rand’s book, “Atlas Shrugged.” List (as Arabic numerals within the template) three or more ways the book supports this theme, like “Dagney Taggart’s refusal of government assistance.” Because you will elaborate on these points upon writing the essay, keep the outline’s description of these points to one sentence. Repeat this process for the other two themes.

Gather supporting information. Go to the library, search the Internet or use your textbook to find credible sources that support your points. Color-code your themes to make the process easier: delegate one theme, “capitalism” in yellow, “individualism” in green and “objectivism” in blue. For all supporting quotes or page numbers, highlight it in a color that matches the theme to which it corresponds for easier reference.

On the outline, determine which point should be bolstered with the sources found. For example, the book’s metaphor for socialism found in the passage describing moldy government-subsidized soybeans would be placed in the theme, “capitalism” under the point, “Government failures.” Under this point (as a lower-case letter within the template), write the page number of the passage or write a short description of the source.

Write points for the conclusion. Dirk Siepmann, author of the book “Writing in English,” recommends using the conclusion to express outcomes of the issues discussed in the essay and give statements regarding open ends and unanswered questions.

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An essay is a short composition about a particular topic that is usually written from a personal perspective. Many students balk at essay writing; the mere thought of starting the assignment brings stress and anxiety. Students and instructors have identified common pitfalls experienced or encountered in the writing process. A frequently cited difficulty is writer’s block, a generic category which springs from various causes. Other weaknesses involve content, organization and grammar issues.

Treatment of Topic

Planning and Preparation

Content and Value

Organization and Structure

Grammatical Lapses

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As with anything that you can practice, the more you practice the more your essay writing will improve. However, while you are practicing, some specific areas exist on which you should be concentrating to achieve optimum results.

Maintain Clarity in Your Thesis and Arguments

First, have a clear idea of what you want to write about and sum up this topic in a single statement (your thesis). You can have this idea from the very start of the essay writing process, or you can start your research into a topic or brainstorm to help you to get an idea for your essay. The best way to practice writing your thesis clearly is to write and rewrite your thesis statement and arguments until they can be clearly understood by somebody else (a friend, a colleague, etc.) who does not know much about your topic.

Concentrate Your Preparation

After you have created a clear and easily understandable thesis and arguments, you also need to be able to keep your essay writing preparation focused on that thesis and those arguments. If you are writing a research essay, concentrate your research on your thesis and arguments because otherwise you run the risk of being overwhelmed or distracted by all of the information that may be available to you. If you are writing an essay that is supposed to be more personal, then make sure that your outline is written so that you concentrate it around your thesis and arguments. The best way to practice this skill is to review your notes or outline after having taken a break from writing them. Then highlight the points that are the most relevant to your topic.

Think Laterally

Think laterally. This kind of thinking means that instead of approaching your topic directly you approach it from a related topic or point of view. For example, if you are writing about Shakespeare’s writing, then you could start your essay with a section on Chaucer’s influence on Shakespeare’s writing. Thinking laterally will help you to write things that your reader will not expect, and this will help to keep your reader interested in what you have to say.

Write Concisely

Writing concisely requires you to have a careful plan in place before you start writing your essay. Having a strong, clear idea of what you want to write from point to point will help you to avoid writing sentences and sections that are not relevant to your topic. A good way to practice this skill is to plan and to subplan (that is, plan your sections, and then plan out how you will write the points that you have made for each section).

Closely Scrutinize Your Own Writing

To practice closely editing your own writing, take your time while editing your papers to build a working understanding of grammar and style and read the work of others, whether this means reading published collections of essays or helping your friends, relatives or others edit their essays.

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