Outline Prompt

Outline Project      25 points

Before you begin, it will be helpful to have visited the Classical Essay Structure page and the links at the bottom of the Week 7 Overview page.

 

For this project, you will give a sense of the organization your final research paper draft will take.  The following information should be clear to those reading your outline:
•    what your working thesis is
•    what your main points of argumentation will be to support that thesis
•    what the other side believes, and where you will disprove those thoughts
•    an indication on a broad level of where particular research will be used.  The actual quotes/paraphrases need not appear, but a mention of author or article names is a good idea.
•    The overall order of development your essay will take (what will come 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)
•    What your ultimate conclusions will be (though this may be understandably sketchy at this point)

Keep in mind that the work you submit should be an OUTLINE.  Just answering each of the bullet points above will NOT be sufficient for completing this project.  The answers to these bullet points will be embedded throughout your outline content.

The way that you present this information is up to you, so long as a reader can follow along with your thought process.  Some formats (that I’ve creatively named myself) to consider:
•    “Roman Numeral” style (which MS Word has a template for using)
•    “Classical” style (following the general layout found on p.126 in The Informed Argument, including such sections as Narration, Refutation, Confirmation, etc.)
•    “Chunk” or “Bullet” style (in which material is lumped together in roughly the order in which it will appear.  If you chose this method, be sure that primary ideas are differentiated from support ideas in a legible way)
•    “Visual” style (in which material is organized in a flow-chart style format.  Yes, this can be done on the computer, even in Word or Google Docs, though you might consider Powerpoint/ Google Presentation as an option if you choose this method)
•    Your own unique style.  You can dictate the visual presentation, so long as your readers get the knowledge in a useful and legible way

 

Several Sample Outlines are available here:

• Hybrid: Bullets + Classical Structure Links to an external site.
• Bullet Outline Links to an external site.
• Classical Outline Links to an external site.
• Numbered Outline Links to an external site.
• Visual Outline (as a Table) Links to an external site.
• Visual Outline (as a Google Presentation) Links to an external site.