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After you have done all or most of your reading, your teacher may require you to construct a more finalized outline than the working outline that helped you take notes and focus your research. The final outline takes the broad categories of ideas you had in the working outline and expands on them with more detail. The better your outline the easier it is to write the paper. The headings in your outline will become the TRANSITIONS in your paper. Transitions are VERY important in longer papers. Remember, it is the IDEAS that govern the paper not the details from the research.
In outlines, complete sentences are generally unnecessary. Short phrases are best. Try to use all the same kind of phrase, such as all verbs or all nouns. (If you're not sure what a verb or a noun is, leave is a verb and Canada is a noun.)
What follows is a sample working outline and then a more complete final outline for the thesis:
"College admissions are so flawed that an entire overhaul of the system is needed."
Sample working outline:
A. Background and brief history of college admissions in the US
B. The SAT myth
C. The phony essay
D. The money issue
E. The dumb rich
F. What needs to be done
Sample final outline:
I. Background and history of college admissions
A. Explanation of the process
1. How it works
2. Why it has been done
B. Selection process in early America
1. Students from monied class
2. Scholarships given to some poor students
3. Tough standards for selection process
II. Flaws in SAT lead to flaws in selection
A. measures only part of student's intelligence
1. logical portion only
2. creative portion omitted
B. punishes bad test takers too much
C. rewards good test takers too much
D. leads to flawed decision-making on college's part
III. High school transcripts often misleading
A. many students' scores inflated
1. through teacher intent
2. through easy curriculum
B. grading systems varied by school system
1. some letter grades; some number; some points
2. gross variations in what constitutes an A or B
IV. The phony essay is worthless as a selection tool
A. 'generous' help given by teachers, parents, friends
B. so much time devoted to it, becomes unrealistic
C. those not seeking help punished
V. Worthy students with little money (not poor) often kept out
Unofficially
A. system punishes students with little money
B. system rewards students from rich or poor families
VI. What needs to be done
A. drop SAT
B. drop essay or format
C. standardize grades nationally, as much as possible
D. clarify and standardize difficulty of course work
E. offer more money for low-income (apart from poor)
students
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