Organizing your thoughts before writing an essay is always a good idea. One of the best ways to do this is to plan your essay with an outline. A strong essay outline helps you to solidify your main idea(s) and supporting details, plan your paragraphs, and build the framework for coherent sentences.
Definition of an Essay Outline
What is an outline, exactly?
An outline is a clear, organized plan for an essay.
You can think of an outline as the blueprint for an essay. It helps you visualize and plan your essay before the creation process starts.
When you write an outline for an essay, start with the basic framework and gradually fill in the details. Once the details are complete, you can connect the sentences and make sure the essay flows nicely.
Format of an Essay Outline
Any essay can be divided into three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. In a typical five-paragraph essay, the body is split into three paragraphs. The result is this basic outline:
I. Introduction- Introduce the essay's main idea(s).
- State the thesis.
II. Body 1- Introduce the supporting idea.
- Provide supporting details.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea.
III. Body 2- Introduce the supporting idea.
- Provide supporting details.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea.
IV. Body 3- Introduce the supporting idea.
- Provide supporting details.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea.
V. Conclusion- Return to the thesis.
- Sum up the supporting ideas.
- Explore the implications and questions raised by the thesis.
You can build most five-paragraph essays using this basic outline. The exact structure of the body and its supporting details depend on the type of essay.
The following examples apply this basic outline template to a specific type of essay.
The examples provide detailed essay outlines; to finish the essays, you would tweak the sentences so they connect and flow logically.
Persuasive Essay Outline
The goal of a persuasive essay is to convince the audience of the writer's opinion. Every supporting detail attempts to bring the audience over to the writer's side. The supporting details can include emotional appeals, logic, examples, evidence, etc.
This persuasive essay outline discusses the advantages of working in food service. Notice how the details fit into the basic framework laid out in the previous section.
Fig. 1 - Persuasive essay: working in food service provides valuable skills for any career path.
I. Introduction- Introduce the main idea. Over a hundred million people in the U.S. work in the food service industry. That number is steadily growing.
- State the thesis. Experience in the service industry can benefit people on any career path.
II. Body Paragraph: Collaboration- Introduce the supporting idea. Working in food service requires multiple people to work quickly as a team. They build strong skills in communication and conflict resolution.
- Provide supporting details. Lots of careers (construction, software development, healthcare, etc.) require teamwork and collaboration.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea. The fast-paced collaboration required in food service helps prepare people for the teamwork required in other careers.
III. Body Paragraph: Advancing Career Paths- Introduce the supporting idea. Some restaurant and fast food chains assist employees in finding new careers.
- Provide supporting details. Some of these large chains assist employees with college tuition and federal student loan debt. Some also help employees to move into management and other roles in the company.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea. In cases like these, working in food service can provide a springboard to the next career step.
IV. Body Paragraph: Empathy- Introduce the supporting idea. Service work is physically and emotionally taxing. Experiencing this kind of work can teach people to be patient and respectful with others.
- Provide supporting details. Someone who has never worked in the service industry may grow frustrated at any inconvenience in a restaurant and take it out on the workers. Someone who has shared the workers' experience is more likely to be patient and respectful.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea. Skills in empathy and patience are valuable in any career. Working in food service helps people gain these skills.
V. Conclusion- Return to the thesis and sum up the supporting ideas. Working in the food service industry gives people interpersonal skills such as collaboration in high-pressure scenarios, effective communication, conflict resolution, and empathy. In some cases, it can also help people practically by assisting with higher education. All of these give people an advantage in other career paths.
- Explore the implications and questions raised by the thesis. If everyone spent at least a short time working in food service, the American workplace would be full of people with these valuable interpersonal skills.
When writing a persuasive essay, consider the three classical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. Respectively, these are the appeals to logic, emotions, and credentials. Part of persuasion is knowing your audience, and you can use rhetorical styles like these to reach that audience. By the way, rhetoric is any spoken or written device designed to persuade!
Argumentative Essay Outline
An argumentative essay is similar to a persuasive essay, but it takes a more measured approach. It relies on factual evidence and logic rather than emotional appeals.
An important supporting idea for an argumentative essay is an acknowledgment and rebuttal of an opposing argument. This means presenting a valid opposing argument and then explaining why the writer's argument is stronger.
This argumentative essay outline discusses the nutritional value of home-grown foods versus store-bought foods.
Fig. 2 - Argumentative essay: home-grown fruits and vegetables are healthier than store-bought foods.
I. Introduction- Introduce the main idea. Fruits and vegetables are important for a healthy lifestyle. People in the U.S. have become more interested in growing their own fruits and vegetables.
- State the thesis. Home-grown fruits and vegetables are healthier than store-bought fruits and vegetables.
II. Body Paragraph: Freshness- Introduce the supporting idea. The nutrient density of foods is highest at peak freshness.
- Provide supporting details. Produce shipped from farms and stored in supermarkets is harvested before its peak freshness so it doesn't spoil as quickly. Home-grown produce can continue ripening until it's ready to be eaten.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea. Since it can easily be harvested at peak freshness, home-grown produce can be more nutrient-dense than store-bought produce.
Remember, start with your best supporting idea or piece of evidence!
III. Body Paragraph: Gardening - Introduce the supporting idea. People are more likely to eat produce they grew themselves.
- Provide supporting details. A study at Saint Louis University showed that children who learn to grow their own fruits and vegetables are more likely to eat a healthy diet than other children.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea. Home-grown produce is a healthier option because it encourages people to eat more produce.
IV. Body Paragraph: Acknowledgment and Rebuttal- Introduce the supporting idea. Store-bought produce is also nutritious.
- Provide supporting details. Growing food requires a large commitment of time, space, water, and other resources. When this commitment isn't possible, store-bought vegetables are the best option. This is why it's important to have good produce available in stores.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea. Because of the relative advantages, if home-grown produce is an option, it is a more nutritious solution than store-bought produce.
V. Conclusion- Return to the thesis and sum up the supporting ideas. Home-grown produce can be fresher and more nutritionally dense than store-bought produce. It also encourages a healthier diet overall.
- Explore the implications and questions raised by the thesis. Home gardening isn't an option for everyone, but advances in indoor and container gardening can make home-grown fruits and vegetables available to more people.
Compare and Contrast Essay Outline
A compare and contrast essay discusses the similarities and differences between two given topics. Its supporting ideas can consist of summaries of each topic and key similarities or differences between the topics.
Compare and contrast essays can be organized using the block method, where the two topics are discussed separately, one after the other, or the point-by-point method, where the two topics are compared at a single point in each supporting paragraph.
This essay discusses the differences between the piano and the organ using the point-by-point method.
Fig. 3 -The keyboards may look the same, but the piano and organ are very different instruments.
I. Introduction- Introduce topics: At a glance, the piano and the organ look like the same instrument. They have the same type of keyboard, and they're usually in a wooden casing. However, the piano is able to play some musical pieces that the organ cannot, and vice versa.
- Thesis statement: Even though they look similar, the piano and the organ are very different instruments.
II. Body Paragraph: Sound Production- Introduce the supporting idea: One key difference between the piano and the organ is their sound production. Both are in the keyboard instrument family, but they produce different types of sound.
- Supporting details of Topic 1: Striking a piano key causes a felt hammer to swing onto a group of metal strings.
- Supporting details of Topic 2: Striking an organ key allows air to flow through the wood or metal pipes connected to the machine.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea: The piano uses its keyboard to behave like a percussion or string instrument, while the organ uses its keyboard to behave like a woodwind or brass instrument. This is why the piano and organ sound so distinct from one another.
When detailing your essay on an intricate topic, remember only to tell your audience what it needs to know.
III. Body Paragraph: Foot Pedals- Introduce the supporting idea: Both the piano and organ require the player to work with foot pedals. These pedals, however, serve different functions.
- Supporting details of Topic 1: A piano's pedals affect the instrument's "action." The pedals may shift the hammers to one side to strike fewer strings or raise the felt dampers, so the strings freely ring out.
- Supporting details of Topic 2: An organ's pedals constitute an entire keyboard. The organ's primary pedalboard is a very large keyboard that controls the instrument's largest pipes.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea: The pianist and organist must use their feet to operate the instrument, but they use different skill sets.
IV. Body Paragraph: Volume Control- Introduce the supporting idea: The piano and organ also differ in volume control.
- Supporting details of Topic 1: A pianist can control the instrument's volume by striking the keyboard lightly or intensely.
- Supporting details of Topic 2: An organ's volume can only be controlled by changing the amount of air that can pass through the pipes or by changing the number of pipes connected to the keyboard register.
- Connect the supporting details to the main idea: Because of their different methods of volume control, a piano cannot produce the organ's large "wall" of sound, and an organ cannot produce the piano's flowing dynamic changes.
Fun fact: "Volume" is the loudness of a speaker's output to a listener, while "gain" is the loudness of an instrument's input into a stereo, amplifier, or recording device.
V. Conclusion- Return to the thesis and sum up the supporting ideas. Although the instruments look very similar, the piano and organ have significant mechanical differences, from the keys to the pedals. Because of these mechanical differences, a musician must approach each instrument differently.
- Explore the implications and questions raised by the thesis. This is one reason the two instruments can produce such different musical pieces. Both instruments are valuable contributions to world music.
Essay Outline - Key Takeaways
- An outline is a clear, organized plan for an essay.
- Any essay can be divided into three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. In a typical five-paragraph essay, the body is split into three paragraphs.
- The goal of a persuasive essay is to convince the audience of the writer's opinion.
- An argumentative essay is similar to a persuasive essay, but it takes a more measured approach.
- A compare and contrast essay discusses the similarities and differences between two given topics.
Explanations 
Textbooks 
Exams 
Magazine 
