What is an outline?

An outline is a blueprint for your final document. It presents the content of your report in
brief, organizing your topics and supporting details in the order you intend to discuss
them.

Poor organization is by far the most common writing problem that we encounter at the
Engineering Writing Centre. An outline is all about organization. If you are afraid
organization means Roman numerals and capital letters, don't panic! Even without such
structures, the outline is a useful tool [1].

How does an outline help?

It helps you
...by exposing the gaps in your logic and organization early, while you still have time
to fill them.

It helps your professor or supervisor

...by demonstrating

• that you understand the assignment,

• that you have clearly focused the topic,
• that your content is thorough and well-organized,
and, of course,
• that you were thinking about the paper before the deadline.

If your outline gets trashed, don't despair: better the outline than the final draft.

• How to Write an Outline

• How to Use Your Outline to Create the Final Draft

Outlines for Others: An Illustrative Example

This framed web-page provides an illustrative example of a functional outline which is

informative, detailed, and brief. The bottom frame contains a "scrolling" commentary on the
following outline. Click on the links within the outline to find information on that specific
element of the report, which will appear in the bottom frame.
The outline addresses this problem statement:

As a summer student with Ford Canada, your first assignment as a member of the electrical
system design team is to look into the 12V battery standard. This standard is being questioned
because every year consumers demand more from the power supply in their cars: powerful air
conditioners, power windows, power locks, sophisticated audio systems, power antennas, plugs
for cellular phones, plugs for notebook computers.

The , and indicate things that the author has done right, wrong, and questions that need to
be addressed arising from that part of the report, most of which deal with the issues of audience,
purpose, organization, and content. Click on these symbols to read the appropriate commentary
on each section of the report.

Outline for Formal Report:

1. Introduction

1.1 Address the audience (supervisor with limited technical background).

1.2 State Purpose: To determine if the 12 volt battery standard is a sufficient

power supply to support the increasing demand for power in todayís automobiles.

1.3 Describe the organization of this report.

2. Principles

2.1 Electrostatic potential: A measurement of work done if

a charge were moved from a to b in a circuit (an extended definition will be given)

Electrostatic Potential = a constant (k) x (amount of charge on body 1)

(amount of charge on body 2) / (distance between bodies)2

 2.2 Kirchoff's Voltage Law: The charges travelling around a circuit transfer
energy from one circuit element to another, but do not receive energy themselves.
This means energy is conserved, which shows that the energy released by the
battery is equal to the energy used by the elements the battery powers.
2.3 The relationship between Electrostatic Potential and Kirchoffís Voltage Law
is that the first offers the explanation of stored energy within the circuit, as the
other uses that stored energy and shows how the energy is used by the circuit
elements. The battery releases energy at a potential difference of 12 V and each
element of the automobile is made to use the 12 volts of energy supplied by the
battery. The battery also has an alternator (a charger) which keeps a constant
supply of energy entering the battery (through the positive terminal), thus, the

energy of the battery cannot be fully used up.

3. Relationship of in-class experiments (based on only one completed class experiment)

3.1 Experiment 1: Shows that changes in voltage are proportional to changes in

current. This would reflect the same changes as in a 12 V battery. The current
through the battery remains constant with the constant voltage

supplied.

4. Advantages and Disadvantages (of creating a higher voltage standard for car batteries)

4.1 Advantages

4.1.1 More power could be available for equipment requiring

higher voltage.
4.1.2 More equipment could be used simultaneously without

power drain.

4.2 Disadvantages
 4.2.1 The 12 V standard is widely used; it would take too much time and
effort to change it. Costs, including re-tooling appliances to take
advantages of the new standard, would be too high for the reasons for
changing the voltage standard.
4.2.2 Higher energy use is not environmentally friendly, leading to the
question: are all these portable appliances really necessary?
4.2.3 More equipment used at the same time would lead to more car
accidents. For example, cellular phone use has been reported to lead to

dangerous driving.

5. Recommendations

5.1 The raising of the standard voltage will be deemed unnecessary, largely
because of the costs involved in implementing the new

standard.

1. Purpose

State the purpose of your report at the top of the paper. A clear purpose is the
key to good reports. In order to write a clear purpose statement, determine what
problem you are facing and from that, determine the goal of the report.

In the above example, the purpose statement is derived directly from the
problem statement:

From the assignment ---> The Problem Statement:

statement:
"To determine if the 12 volt
"[the 12V battery battery standard is a
standard] is being sufficient power supply to
 questioned because every
support the increasing
year consumers demand
demand for power in todayís
more from the power
automobiles"
supply in their cars."

Keep your purpose in mind throughout the paper. Reread it whenever you need
to decide what to include and what to cut.

2. Audience

State your audience at the top of the paper. Although you may not actually
include the statement "the audience for this report is for X, Y, and Z" in the
report, it remains important to acknowledge it in the outline because the audience
dictates the content and organization of any report. The audience statement
serves as a reminder of this important consideration and might change the
appearance of the final version. For example:

If you are writing for an However, if you are writing about the same concept
engineer you might write: for non-engineers, you might be better to write it
this way:
amount of amount of

Epot = Q1 Q2 Electrostatic charge x charge

a constant
k X = on body 1 on body 2
d2 (k) X
Potential (distance between
bodies)2
Then you will need to go on and explain just what
this means.

3. Organization

Deciding where and when to use information is the most important part of the
outlining process. It helps to develop This involves several steps:
1. Identifying the Groups: Sometimes you will have to do a lot of
thinking and shuffling of information to come up with categories; other
times they will be obvious (or even assigned). If categories are assigned,
you must still understand how the provided topics/categories link
together, and what to say about each topic in order to create a coherent
report.
2. Sequencing the Groups:Once you have clustered information
together, arrange it logically. What is "logical" is a sequence that both
makes sense to you and addresses your audience's needs [1]. This may
mean that you follow a traditional format [see EWC handbook for
various formats]. Regardless of format, a you will still need to think
about which ordering pattern (called a rhetorical pattern) is most useful.
A single document might use more than one rhetorical pattern. The
introduction to this web collection, for example, began with a definition,
followed by a process description.
3. Sequence the Items in a Group: Now you need to organize
each group and subgroup of information into a logical pattern. Again,
the rhetorical patterns may help.
4. Avoid Common Logical Problems: Two major problems are
faulty coordination and faulty subordination. Here's a simple illustration
of each.

3.4.1. Faulty Coordination involves

3.4.1.1. equating items that are not of

equal value, or not the same level. For
example:

o Citrus Fruits o Citrus Fruits

 grapefruit  grapefruit
 lemon  lemon
 lime  lime
 mandarin  oranges
orange  mandarin
 orange
 navel
orange  navel
orange

oranges placed at wrong

position of oranges corrected
level

3.4.1.2. creating more than one heading which could logically contain the
same item.

3.4.2. Faulty Subordination involves

3.4.2.1. placing an item under a topic where it does not belong

In a draft of a fourth year thesis, the writers had the following headings
in a chapter:

II. Thesis Objectives

A. Scope
B. Cost Function

But these are not the objectives at all.

The objective was to design a computer
program for a telephone queuing
system. Neither A nor B fit under the
heading given above. Cost was
certainly involved, but was one of two
constraints. The other constraint
(useability) never got mentioned in the
outline. When they redrafted, "Scope"
was moved to the introduction, and the
new chapter looked like this:

II. Project Constraints

A. Useability
 B. Cost

3.4.2.2. listing only one sub-unit under a unit

(this is an error because an "A" makes no sense
without a "B"). In the above example, for
example, the third heading only has one sub
unit. In this particular case, the student was
planning to include more information, but at this
point had only one

3. Relationship of in-class experiments 3. Relationship of Experiment 1

(based on only one completed class
experiment) 3.1 Experiment Setup:
equipment and procedures
3.1 Experiment 1: Shows that used
changes in voltage are proportional 3.2 Results: Shows that
to changes in current. This would changes in voltage are
reflect the same changes as in a 12 proportional to changes in
V battery. The current through the current.
battery remains constant with the 3.3 Relationship to
constant voltage supplied. Battery : This reflects the
same changes as in a 12 V
battery. The current through
the battery remains constant
with the constant voltage
supplied.
Sub-headings clarify the
Only one sub-unit under a unit nature of the experiment and its
relationship to the battery problem.

1. Make all Entries Grammatically Parallel: Most instructions

for résumés encourage you to use active verbs to describe what you did
in your jobs: directed, shipped, served, was responsible for. A résumé is
a highly specialized form of an outline. Following a similar principle in
 every outline (whether you use verbs or nouns) will strengthen the logic
of your outline, and prevent haphazardness that may prevent you from
recognizing errors in planning or consistency.
2. Choose a Format for Your Outline: If your outline is going to
be evaluated, you need to use a format that will make reading easy. Two
standards are the Traditional Alpha-Numeric Format, or a Decimal
Format shown below. In each case, these formats force you to prioritize
ideas, so the secondary ideas are clearly placed under the main point. If
you don't want to use these highly regimented systems, you can simply
use points that are ordered under headings. Make sure that the headings
are of equal weight and that they obey the same logical structure as
pointed out above.

Traditional Alpha-Numeric Format Decimal Format

I. Main point (or chapter) 1.0. Main point (or introduction to a

A. Support to main point chapter)
1. Evidence for point IA 1.1. First issue in this chapter
2. More evidence for IA 1.1.1. Evidence for point 1.1
B. Second support for main point 1.1.2. More evidence for 1.1
1. Evidence for point IB 1.2. Second issue in this chapter
a. support for this evidence 1.2.1 Evidence for point 1.2
b. more support for this evidence 1.2.1.1. support for this evidence
2. More evidence for IB 1.2.1.2. more support for this
II. Second main point evidence
(and so on) 1.2.2 More evidence for point 1.2
2.0. Second main point or chapter
(and so on)
A single entry under this system could A single entry under this system could
look like this: look like this:
II.A.1.b.iii. 2.1.1.2.3.

3. The above example uses the decimal format, but the alpha-
numeric could also have been used.
4. Content

The most difficult part of writing an outline for another reader is deciding how
much information you want to include. Clearly, you want to be able to show that
you've thought considerably about the problem and your response to the problem,
but have a limited amount of space in which to demonstrate your expertise.

1. Provide adequate indication regarding background

information for the problem at hand:

Filling in the background appropriately in the outline provides

evidence of thoughtfulness and, as in the report, helps to clarify
the following points and comments.

From the Principles section of the above example:

"The relationship between Here, the author develops the

Electrostatic Potential and background theory which will be
Kirchoffís Voltage Law is that used to explain his decision for or
the first offers the explanation against upgrading the 12V
of stored energy within the standard. This is the background
circuit, as the other uses that required to understand automobile
stored energy and shows how battery operation and what is
the energy is used by the involved in upgrading the current
circuit elements. The battery 12 volt standard. By indicating his
releases energy at a potential awareness of the principles
difference of 12 V and each involved in the problem, the author
element of the automobile is gives evidence of his expertise,
made to use the 12 volts of showing that he is properly
energy supplied by the equipped to make an appropriate
battery. The battery also has recommendation.
an alternator (a charger)
which keeps a constant supply
of energy entering the battery
 (through the positive
terminal), thus, the energy of
the battery cannot be fully
used up."

2. Show clear relationships between concepts:

Establishing relationships between concepts helps the outline and,

ultimately, the report by giving it a logical flow. Although this involves
using certain principles of "organization" (see above), it remains
important that these connections be clearly shown and elaborated on.

From the Principles section of the above example:

"The relationship between Electrostatic Here, the author

Potential and Kirchoffís Voltage Law is establishes that
that the first offers the explanation of Electrostatic Potential
stored energy within the circuit, as the is the principle behind
other uses that stored energy and shows Kirchoff's Voltage
how the energy is used by the circuit Law, and both are at
elements. The battery releases energy at work in automobile
a potential difference of 12 V and each batteries.
element of the automobile is made to
use the 12 volts of energy supplied by
the battery. The battery also has an
alternator (a charger) which keeps a
constant supply of energy entering the
battery (through the positive terminal),
thus, the energy of the battery cannot be
fully used up."
 3.Provide enough evidence to support your arguments:

In your outline, showing that you have sufficient evidence to

support your points, conclusions, and recommendations, and that
you know how to use this evidence is key. It shows that you
have really thought through the problem and gives the reader
confidence that your actual report will turn out well.

From the Advantages and Disadvantages section from the above example:

4.1 Advantages Here, the author does provide examples of

advantages emerging from a new battery
4.1.1 More power standard, but are these the only ones? The
could be available for most important ones? In fact, they are the
equipment requiring most obvious and important: both emerge
higher voltage. from the fact that the battery supports more
4.1.2 More power usage, so these advantages can be
equipment could be logically developed from the preceding
used simultaneously material.
without power drain.

4.2 Disadvantages As above, are these the only disadvantages?

4.2.1 The 12 V standard is
widely used; it would take too
much time and effort to change
it. Costs, including re-tooling
appliances to take advantages of
the new standard, would be too
high for the reasons
The most important one? Do they respond
to the above advantages? Note also that the
author orders the points so as to show the
progression from most to less relevant (to
audience):
for 1) Cost

changing the voltage standard. 2) Environmental

4.2.2 Higher energy use is not Unfriendliness

3) Driver Safety
 environmentally friendly,
leading to the question: are all
these portable appliances really
necessary?
4.2.3 More equipment used at
the same time would lead to
more car accidents. For
example, cellular phone use has
been reported to lead to
dangerous driving.

Secondly, The conclusion must be support by the

information provided by the outline.

Given these Advantages and Disadvantages, does the conclusion (recommendation) make
sense?

5.1 The raising of the standard This recommendation follows from the
voltage will be deemed advantages and disadvantages above because:
unnecessary, largely because of 1) Cost of implementing the new standard is an
the costs involved in implementing overbearing concern which outweighs the
the new standard. benefits.
2) The advantages of being able to run more
appliances and run more powerful appliances
have been brought into question because of the
threat it poses to the environment and the
dangers it can present.

The next step is to use your outline to write your final draft.