OUTLINING

An outline presents a picture of the main ideas and the subsidiary ideas of any subject. Some
typical uses of outlining are: a class reading assignment, an essay, a term paper, a book
review or a speech. For any of these, an outline will show a basic overview and important
details.

Some teachers will require an outline in sentence form, while others allow fragments. Some
require the main points to be in chronological order, or have other specific requirements. A
student’s first responsibility, of course, is to follow the requirements of the particular
assignment. What follows illustrates only the basics of outlining.

Outlining does not mean recopying word for word the content of what you read. It means
reducing the content to a form from which you can review. The outline contains the main
ideas with support of major ideas. As a rule, I think for every three pages you read, you
should have one page of an outline.

BASIC OUTLINE FORM

Below is a synopsis of the outline form. The main ideas take Roman numerals. Often they are
the main sections of a chapter. Sub-points under each main idea take capital letters and are
indented. These sections are usually paragraphs and their main ideas of each section. Sub-
points under the capital letters, if any, take Arabic numbers and are further indented. Often
times these are the main supporting facts to the subsidiary ideas.

It is up to the writer to decide on how many main ideas and supporting ideas adequately
describe the subject. However, if there is a I in the outline, there has to be a II; if there is an
A, there has to be a B; if there is a 1, there has to be a 2, and so forth.

I. MAIN IDEA: usually the sections of a chapter

A. Supporting idea to I: usually the paragraphs of a section

B. Supporting idea to I

1. Subsidiary idea: often a fact, vocabulary word, major points of a paragraph

2. Subsidiary idea
a. Subsidiary idea to 2: further, necessary explanation of a subsidiary idea
b. Subsidiary idea to 2

II. MAIN IDEA

A. Supporting idea to II
B. Supporting idea to II
C. Supporting idea to II

III. MAIN IDEA

 AN EXAMPLE OF OUTLINING BASED ON
STEARNS, 5TH EDITION OF WORLD CIVILIZATIONS, page 8

CHAPTER 1: THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION AND BIRTH OF CIVILIZATION

I. Human Life in the Era of Hunter and Gatherers

A. Hunting and Gathering Economies
1. Homo sapiens
2. Paleolithic Age

B. Paleolithic Culture
1. Tools made of
a. Stone
b. Wood
c. Bone

2. Hunting, gathering
3. Artistic record includes cave paintings, jewelry, carved bone

C. The Spread of Human Culture

D. Human Society and Daily Life at the End of the Paleolithic Age
E. Settling Down
F. A Precarious Existence

II. Agriculture and the Origins of Civilization

III. The First Towns – Seedbeds of Civilization
IV. Global Connections

Illustrations and Documents of the Chapter

Do not ignore these – identify with its title and summarize with two points. And it is best
to place them in the reading and section where they appear. Please notice that the icons
on the page indicate this.

A. Fire starting, cave painting

B. Time line
1. Paleolithic Age 16000 – 7500
2. Neolithic Age 7500 – 4000
C. Chart of human upright development
D. Chart of stone weapons
E. The Spread of Human Populations
F. Paleolithic Cave paintings
G. Mammoth bone hut
H. Map: Spread of Agriculture
I. Early towns
J. Visualizing Art
K. Idea of Civilization in History