How to Write an Outline for a Research Paper

How to Write an Outline for a Research Paper How to write an outline for a research paper Writing a research paper is a common practice is institutions of higher learning and hence, you need to be in a position to craft a flawless research paper in any topic. While writing a research paper is a daunting task especially for first time writers, prior preparation can help you come up with a high-quality research paper. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is through developing a strong research paper outline. Are you wondering what a research paper outline entails or even the process of developing one?   Continue reading this article for a chance to learn important tips on how to write an outline for a research paper. Definition of research paper outline What is a research paper outline? What is a research paper outline format? These are some of the many questions that you need to answer whenever thinking of writing about a research paper outline. Understanding what an outline is will help you develop a strong and comprehensive outline for any piece of writing, whether essays or articles, and help you learn how to outline a research paper. A research paper outline is a template that you follow when writing your actual research paper. It contains main topics and sub-topics that you are required to cover in your completed paper. An outline, therefore, acts as a roadmap for any piece of writing. By organizing your thoughts and research in the form of an outline, you will be in a position to develop great research papers. The significance of creating an outline when writing a research paper is that it makes your essay writing process quite simple an easy as it allows you to break down the entire essay into constituent parts. Such an approach ensures that you address a complex subject easily bits by bits. How then do you write a clear outline for your research paper? Continue reading for more insights. Choose topic Just like any other piece of writing, you need to establish the topic that you are addressing in your research paper, as this will help you break down your paper into a number of sections.   While an outline will go a long way in helping you organize your thoughts prior to the actual writing process, you need to choose an appropriate topic for your research paper. To start with, you can focus on a topic that is broad an in the course of developing the outline for your paper, you can narrow own to particular arguments. Evidently, an outline will not only assist you in organizing your thoughts but also in establishing the focus and structure of your paper. When choosing the topic to work on, ensure that you factor in your strengths and weaknesses as your capability to handle a given topic will determine the quality of the research paper that your will have in the end. Decide your goal As you outline your research paper outline, think about the objectives and goals of writing the paper. What do you want to achieve in the end? Answering this question will not only help you develop a strong outline for your research paper but it will as well help you prepare to gather specific information with respect to the topic that you are planning to address. In most of the cases, your research paper will focus on persuading a given audience, offering information, or even providing a personal reflection about a give subject. Choose which of the three goals you want to achieve in your paper, as the goal that you select will determine the type of paper and outline to adopt. For example, you will need a thesis statement in a case where you decide to write an analytic or persuasive paper. Gather materials The goal of your paper will determine the materials that you need to complete the paper. Whenever writing to persuade a given audience with regard to a specific subject, your outline should contain a number of sub-topics to enable you address the complex topic easily. For this reason, carry out a thorough research to help you support your argument. On the other hand, use supporting ideas in the case of an informative paper to confirm facts. If you are writing a personal or creative essay, you will need external research to make your claims credible. While you do not include such supporting materials in your research paper outline, you need to develop topics and sub-topics that you will expand using the gather materials. Ensure that you have the specific sources and location of all the information that you intend to use in your paper. Choose a type of outline There are two types of research outlines that you can adopt for your paper, the sentence outline, and the topic outline. After you have established the topic of your paper, you need to decide which type of research outline to follow. Often, a sentence outline adopts complete sentences and is appropriate in whenever you need to rely on various details to compile your college paper outline. In most of the cases, points in a sentence outline are listed in numerous pages since they are many. The topic outline, on the other hand, describes a research paper outline using short phrases that comprise of a few words. It is advisable to use the topic outline as it allows you a wide coverage of your topic. In addition, ensure that you are aware of the format that your paper should be, as this will help you determine whether to create an APA research paper outline or a research paper outline following any other format. This understanding is important since a MLA research paper outline would not factor in an abstract as in the case of the APA format and would use works cited instead of references to list all sources used. Write your outline Now that you have prepared yourself to write your research paper by choosing the right topic, the type of outline to adopt, it is time to you engaged in writing the actual outline. An effective outline contains main topics and sub topics if it follows the topic approach, and sentences in the case of the sentence outline approach. Outline sections Divide your outline into a number of sections including the introduction, body of the paper, the conclusion, and bibliography. Such subdivisions make it easy to approach the subject that you are addressing easily, as you are able to tackle one bit at a time. The introduction part of your outline should contain the hook of your paper, and the thesis statement; what are you writing about? The second part, which is the body, contains the main subtopics under the subject that you are writing about. List these subtopics according to their significance in your paper.   The other part of your outline is the conclusion section. In this part, restate your thesis statement and list the main ideas and topics that you   are looking forward to addressing in the body of your paper. In addition, set space for closing remarks, a call for action. List your main ideas in a chronological order Making a list of the topics and ideas to address makes it possible to develop a quality research paper as such listing opens up your mind to a wide range of ideas. However, before doing this, you need to ensure that your main topics or subtopics have the necessary supporting materials; you do not want to find yourself writing a one-sentence paragraph. Ensure that there is a connection between your main topics and the subtopics and number the subtopics using the Roman numerals. Here are a few tips to set you off with your research paper outline: Main Title: put the main topic of your paper here Introduction: Under the introduction, think about the hook and the thesis statement and include them here. Body: divide it into 3-paragraphs and start each paragraph with a topic sentence. In addition, ensure that each paragraph covers only one idea. Conclusion: restate your thesis here followed by a summary of the main ideas that you plan to discuss in the body of the paper. Bibliography; here, you will list all the sources that you have consulted to gather various information about the subject under study. Note that this section is different for different types of formatting styles. For example, in APA style, it is called the “References” page, while in MLA, it is known as the “Works Cited” page. Here is an example of a research paper outline; observe how the structure and use it the next time you are required to create an outline for your paper. Title: Main Topic INTRODUCTION Hook Thesis statement BODY Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Paragraph 3 CONCLUSION Thesis Restatement Summary of main points Call to action REFERENCE (References List for APA, Works Cited for MLA, etc.) Think about your conclusion How will be your conclusion? What will you include in this section? Reword your thesis and make a brief summary of the main points to address in your paper alongside a call to action.