{"id":1013,"date":"2018-05-25T15:00:44","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/writehere\/?post_type=chapter&p=1013"},"modified":"2018-07-13T17:31:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-13T17:31:24","slug":"the-three-storey-thesis-the-importance-of-outlining","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/writehere\/chapter\/the-three-storey-thesis-the-importance-of-outlining\/","title":{"raw":"The Three-Storey Thesis: The Importance of Outlining","rendered":"The Three-Storey Thesis: The Importance of Outlining"},"content":{"raw":"

The Outline: Basics<\/h1>\r\nThe third question in the previous section asked whether you could imagine your discussion of your central document continuing throughout your paper. If you answered \u201cyes\u201d to that question, you can test your assertion by drafting an outline.\r\n\r\nIn Chapter 4, we spent some time writing a detailed outline of our close reading. As that chapter explains, an outline will save you time later in the essay-writing process because it acts as your roadmap. Picturing the outline as a map can be useful. Just as a map will provide you with an overview of many possible routes to your destination, allowing you to work out which ones to avoid and which ones will get you most quickly and effectively to your destination, an outline will highlight potential roadblocks (tangents, ideas without evidence behind them, ideas that go nowhere, undeveloped points, weak points that rely on opinion, etc.) while also revealing promising connections. The outline allows you to see where you\u2019re going and decide on the best way to get there. If you eventually decide the approach in your outline is flawed, you can modify it later.\r\n\r\nIn the case of a research essay, the outline has another function as well: it will demonstrate which aspects of your argument currently lack secondary<\/strong> evidence. You have spent some time with your primary document, but you have not incorporated your research. We\u2019ll begin discussing research and how to work with it in our next section. For now, just keep it in mind as you move through the outline.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1419\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"172\"]\"\" From Pixabay.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nChapter 4 includes the suggestion that your essay\u2019s outline follow the trajectory of your three-storey thesis. This remains a good method of organization. Keep in mind, however, that there is no one cookie-cutter method for structuring an essay. If your impulse is to look at the sample outlines in these chapters and follow them exactly, you are relying too strongly on the idea that an essay should follow a formula. An essay does not have a set number of paragraphs, and sometimes, taking a structure-based risk\u2014for instance, spending some time on what appears to be a tangent, but turns out to provide an essential part of your argument\u2014can be very effective.\r\n\r\nAs we move through the outline, we\u2019ll begin to acknowledge an element that did not turn up in Chapter 4\u2019s outlining exercise: research. We\u2019ll be discussing research in more detail in the next section, where we\u2019ll also go more deeply into how you might incorporate it into your essay. For now, as we go over an outline based on the three-storey thesis we constructed above, we will simply acknowledge the potential<\/em> for research. When a point seems as if it might need some research, we\u2019ll make note of it. Don\u2019t worry: we\u2019ll revisit these notes in the next section. As you read, try to think about why<\/strong> the essay may need secondary support in particular paragraphs.\r\n\r\n ","rendered":"

The Outline: Basics<\/h1>\n

The third question in the previous section asked whether you could imagine your discussion of your central document continuing throughout your paper. If you answered \u201cyes\u201d to that question, you can test your assertion by drafting an outline.<\/p>\n

In Chapter 4, we spent some time writing a detailed outline of our close reading. As that chapter explains, an outline will save you time later in the essay-writing process because it acts as your roadmap. Picturing the outline as a map can be useful. Just as a map will provide you with an overview of many possible routes to your destination, allowing you to work out which ones to avoid and which ones will get you most quickly and effectively to your destination, an outline will highlight potential roadblocks (tangents, ideas without evidence behind them, ideas that go nowhere, undeveloped points, weak points that rely on opinion, etc.) while also revealing promising connections. The outline allows you to see where you\u2019re going and decide on the best way to get there. If you eventually decide the approach in your outline is flawed, you can modify it later.<\/p>\n

In the case of a research essay, the outline has another function as well: it will demonstrate which aspects of your argument currently lack secondary<\/strong> evidence. You have spent some time with your primary document, but you have not incorporated your research. We\u2019ll begin discussing research and how to work with it in our next section. For now, just keep it in mind as you move through the outline.<\/p>\n

\"\"
From Pixabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chapter 4 includes the suggestion that your essay\u2019s outline follow the trajectory of your three-storey thesis. This remains a good method of organization. Keep in mind, however, that there is no one cookie-cutter method for structuring an essay. If your impulse is to look at the sample outlines in these chapters and follow them exactly, you are relying too strongly on the idea that an essay should follow a formula. An essay does not have a set number of paragraphs, and sometimes, taking a structure-based risk\u2014for instance, spending some time on what appears to be a tangent, but turns out to provide an essential part of your argument\u2014can be very effective.<\/p>\n

As we move through the outline, we\u2019ll begin to acknowledge an element that did not turn up in Chapter 4\u2019s outlining exercise: research. We\u2019ll be discussing research in more detail in the next section, where we\u2019ll also go more deeply into how you might incorporate it into your essay. For now, as we go over an outline based on the three-storey thesis we constructed above, we will simply acknowledge the potential<\/em> for research. When a point seems as if it might need some research, we\u2019ll make note of it. Don\u2019t worry: we\u2019ll revisit these notes in the next section. As you read, try to think about why<\/strong> the essay may need secondary support in particular paragraphs.<\/p>\n

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