How to Use an Outline in School

Every department at a university expects students to be able to write term papers. Many times I've heard college students say that they just can't write well. They spend hours and hours trying to write a masterpiece off the top of their heads. Usually they finally settle for mediocre, but by that time they've wasted their time and their sanity. This doesn't have to happen, writing papers can be a practical skill that is learned easily. You don't need to have talent like Shakespeare or Hemingway to be able to write a term paper, you just have to learn the best ways to clearly express what you want to say. There are some simple tactics to apply that will allow you to write high graded papers efficiently and with little trouble.

Plan your paper ahead of time! Being able to plan your paper will take learning a couple of new skills, but after they are learned and, most importantly, applied, writing a paper will become one of the easiest parts of your college career.

The first step in planning is to learn the basic structure of a paper. Many times, people just start writing, with no plan of where the paper is going, and then they stop four pages from the beginning. This will result in a paper that is disjointed, difficult to read, and one that will get a poor grade. When you learned about paragraphs during elementary school, that wasn't just because the teacher thought it was fun. The structure of a paragraph can be applied to an entire paper. There is a topic sentence, and everything that follows in the paragraph must apply to it or support it in some way. The same can be applied to a paper. There is a topic paragraph, and everything following must support it in some way. If you recognize and use the basic structures inherent in writing, you'll be able to quickly write an A paper.

Many professors will even give the structure that they expect the paper to follow in the assignment sheet. Follow this! That's why it's there. Even if a suggested structure isn't given, always use a standard structure. If the question asks you to compare and contrast, you know you'll have two or three basic sections. There will be one section for each of the items or topics you're comparing, and possibly a third where you will address the pros/cons of each thing side by side, if this wasn't done while describing them.

Papers that are easy to follow and get good grades have a clear and simple structure. There is a introduction paragraph presenting the topic and laying out exactly what will be addressed in the paper. And when I say exactly, I mean exactly. Do not think you have to use some literary device and put a surprise twist in your paper. Save things like that for the fiction class. This is an informative non-fiction term paper, and you want to get an A.

One of the most important techniques, the one that will likely raise your average grade a full letter or more, is to Make An Outline. Seriously, you should literally write down a plan for your paper before you even start writing. Put specific things in your outline. Don't write things like, "Counterargument goes here". A good outline will contain specific information, right down to actual sentences that will go in your paper. A person who does not have your class should be able to pick up your outline and know exactly what you're righting about and understand your view on the topic. This step may seem like a waste of time, but it will save so much time in the end. Once you're written your outline, all you have to do is write you paper like filling in a form, putting in the extra details, needed quotes and references as you go.

Another important skill to master to the ability to find just what you're looking for when writing a reference paper. You don't have to read all five books that you'll be referencing in your paper cover to cover before you even begin. This is the biggest waste of time I see people doing. Read the back of the book, read the chapter headers. This will take so much less time and will give a good idea of what the book is saying. Then, as you're writing your paper, when you find that you need a quote to support your statement, skim through the book to find just the right quote. This will save you so much time, since even if you'd read the book, you wouldn't be able to remember that quote anyway. Also, as you are doing your initial skimming to get an idea of the subject matter, if a quote or passage catches your eye as one you'd like to address in your paper, write it and its citation down right away, so you won't have to go hunting for it again. One thing to keep in mind when using this technique is to make sure you are not taking anything out of context. Be sure you read far enough on either side of the passage you want to use that you are sure of the author's intent.

One final tip to keep your grades high when writing papers is to brush up on grammar and sentence structure. Check in the English Dept for a tutor or a semester course on basic grammar. This will allow you to better say what you mean, and will also keep points from being taken off your nicely organized paper for simple mistakes in punctuation or sentence structure.

Writing is a straightforward process that is just as sequential and easy to learn as algebra is, if you take the time to plan ahead and don't waste your time in unneeded research. If you follow these tips, you will take hours off your writing time, term papers won't be torture anymore, and you'll improve your grades markedly.