Outlines
This page contains general comments about the importance of outlines, as well as a chart showing the difference between an essay, a scratch outline, and a full outline. The outline is for an essay on the opening credits of Mad Men (for the original essay, see Mad Men).
Red = thesis statement (th.st.) Green = topic sentence (t.s.)
Try to remember Deja’s words from the film, Higher Learning: “you gotta follow a certain format. You start with your thesis statement and you have to always use transitional phrases. […] And where’s your outline?”
Because essay structure is crucial, outlines are crucial. They allow you to see 1) your overall argument at a glance, 2) how well you’re transitioning technically from one point to the next, and 3) whether or not there’s a logic and flow from one main idea to the next.
Initially you may see the scratch outline as an afterthought, as something for the instructor. Yet good writers know the value of an outline, because it shows them their core argument and juxtaposes it in an easy-to-see way with the arguments they use to advance their core argument. I strongly suggest that you use an outline at all stages of your essay writing: use it before you start writing to see if you have an argument; use it half-way to see if you still have an argument and if one part of the argument flows smoothly into the next; and use it at the end to refine the connections between your thesis statement and your topic sentences. Scratch outlines are particularly helpful in allowing you to see whether you have effective transitions between paragraphs. Note that in the academic essay transitions occur at the beginning of paragraphs, not at the end (see Essay Structure and Writing Tips & Conventions).
Samples of outlines can be found in Lord of War — Gandhi — Mad Men — Moulin Rouge! — Betrayal and Good Intentions — Paint It Black — Sonnet 116 — Sex Trade and Orientalism.
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