Reverse Outlining

Outlining and creating a structure for a formal essay is often the most important aspect of prewriting.  Summary tasks are a little easier in this respect, because the best technique is to mimic the structure of the work you're summarizing as closely as possible.

To help prepare the way for Essay 1, I think you'll find it useful to develop a "reverse outline" of the article you've chosen to write your summary on.  (The articles themselves can be found here: Options For Summary Essay.)

First, read this article on Reverse Outlining Links to an external site.. (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/689/1/) 

Then, return to this assignment page to complete these steps on the article you've chosen to summarize.  Instead of writing in the margins, as this article instructs you to do, we'll have to adapt a bit.

• Create a numbered list, with one number per paragraph of your chosen article.  (For instance, if your chosen article has 17 paragraphs, you'll have numbers 1-17 on your list.)
• For each paragraph, write 2 sentences or phrases next to the corresponding number on the list.  The first sentence or phrase should identify the topic of that paragraph, as succinctly as possible.  The second sentence or phrase should address how that paragraph advances the thesis of the entire article.

This task, once complete, should give you both a better understanding of the contents of your chosen article, as well as indicate a structure that you can build upon to write your own summary.