Lesson 8

Before proceeding to take down notes from your prospective reference materials listed in your bibliography, you have to visualize or picture out first how your research paper would look like in terms of how you would logically organize the information that you have gathered from the first to the last paragraph. Such visualization is called OUTLINING.

In research, you prepare two outlines.

First before you start your data collection in the library and in the field. This outline is called PRELIMINARY OUTLINE or WORKING OUTLINE. The second outline is after you have completed your data collection in the library and in the field. This outline is called the FINAL or REVISED OUTLINE.

Your preliminary outline has to be revised in order to fit with the actual data that you have gathered.

You can think of an outline as a road map of your journey toward your destination, which is your research paper. It is a like a floor plan o f a building. It layouts where and which material are to be placed in a particular corner. The outline shows the logical order of various details of your research paper, particularly your Review of Related Literature and Studies.

An outline helps you:

to stay on course and not get off-track when you put all your details in different paragraph altogether in one research paper see if you have enough relevant details to support the development of your thesis statement or the main controlling idea in your research paper

figure out the order in which your subtopics will appear in your research paper.

The first thing that you have to consider is how to figure out the most logical flow of information for the data you have collected from the library and the field. Create headings or subheadings for each set of key points, and support them with phrases or sentences taken from the information that you have collected. Organize them into a list that shows how they will flow from beginning to end.

The thesis is stated in the first section, which is the INTRODUCTION

The body follows the introduction, and breaks down the points the author wishes to make.

Note: Some sections have subdivisions, others do not, depending on the demands of the paper

In the outline, sections II, III, IV all have a similar structure, but this will not necessarily be true for all papers. Some may only have three major sections, others more than the five.

Conclusion

Your conclusion should restate your thesis, and never introduce a new material.

1.

Subdivide topics by a system of numbers and letters, followed by a period. Each heading and subheading must have at least two parts (major and minor details). Be specific with the heading and subheadings in the body.

2.

3.

4.

Be consistent. Do not mix up two types of outlines. Use either sentence or topic outline.

The two main types of outlines are the topic outline and the sentence outline. In the topic outline, the headings are given in single words or brief phrases. In the sentence outline, all the headings are expressed in complete sentences.

An outline is used to logically arrange the details in your research paper. Details are organized in an outline before and after data collection activities in the library and in the field. Headings and subheadings of the details are created and organized in topic or sentence form outline.

Casinto, C.D. (2010). Essentials of writing in the discipline. Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House, Inc.