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Education Research Step-by-Step

An online guide designed to help teacher education students do research in the Spring Hill College libraries.

Why outline?

            Outlines provide a means of organizing your information in an hierarchical or logical order.

            For research papers, a formal outline can help you keep track of large amounts of information.

Outlining in Microsoft Word

How to create an outline

To create an outline:

  1. Place your thesis statement at the beginning.
  2. List the major points that support your thesis. Label them in Roman Numerals (I, II, III, etc.).
  3. List supporting ideas or arguments for each major point. Label them in capital letters (A, B, C, etc.).
  4. If applicable, continue to sub-divide each supporting idea until your outline is fully developed. Label them 1, 2, 3, etc., and then a, b, c, etc.

How to write a college paper


Burke Memorial Library I Spring Hill College I 4000 Dauphin Street I Mobile, AL 36608 I 251-380-3870               PDFs require Adobe® Acrobat Reader®.