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Study Skills:Writing, Reading, Listening & Speaking-Structure, Sound & Sense

Writing, Reading, Listening & Speaking:

Writing an Outline

What an Outline Is for

An outline is useful in both reading and writing. Because writing is language that is intended to be read, reading and writing are different ends of the same communication process. If a writer has used an outline to help him organize his writing clearly, his reader should be able to analyze its organization clearly -by outlining it.

In other words, an outline is useful in planning the organization of writing. An outline

is also useful in uncovering the organization of writing. The writer puts flesh on the

skeleton of his outline. The reader removes the flesh to see the skeleton underneath.

For example, suppose your English teacher assigns a composition about traffic in the

capital of your country. As you think about this topic, you decide that there are three

main causes. You jot them down like this:

Traffic is a problem because

too many cars

narrow streets

drivers don't obey regulations

Now you develop these ideas and write the following paragraph:

Traffic has recently become a serious problem in the capital of my country. There are three reasons. First, the number of automobiles has doubled in the past five years, with the result that there are more cars than the streets can accommodate. Second, the streets are old and narrow. Because there are few garages or parking lots, these narrow streets are made more narrow by the cars that are parked along the side. Third, many drivers do not obey the regulations, so that many traffic jams result from cars going the wrong way on a one-way street.

When the reader reads your paragraph, if he wishes he can make an outline of its

organization. His outline might look something like this:

Traffic problem: three causes

1. many cars

2. narrow streets, made more narrow by parking

3. many drivers do not obey regulations

From this example, you can see that an outline has two purposes:

(1) in writing, to organize and present your ideas effectively, and

(2) in reading, to analyze the organization and relationship of ideas.

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