Essential to Your Writing

 

Sentence outline

A sentence outline lists each section of the piece as a full sentence. These sentences aren’t necessarily your headers or the first sentence of each section. Instead, they’re sentences that describe the focal point of each section. For example, your sentence outline might look like:

• Thesis: Adopting a mindfulness practice is one of the best ways to alleviate daily stress.
• Topic: Mindfulness has been proven to significantly reduce an individual’s risk of relapsing into major depression.

• Multiple studies have indicated the link between mindfulness and a reduced risk of depression relapse.
• Topic: Mindfulness has been demonstrated to lessen chronic pain.
• The following studies have shown that daily mindfulness alleviates physical pain.
• In these studies, mindfulness improved practitioners’ immune systems.

• Topic: Mindfulness therapy can dramatically decrease stress and anxiety levels.
• Researchers pinpointed the link between mindfulness and stress reduction.
• These studies have shown the link between mindfulness and anxiety reduction.
• Conclusion: Making mindfulness part of your daily routine will reduce the amount of stress you feel, which in turn will yield numerous physical and mental health benefits

One type of outline isn’t better than the other, so go with the one that helps you conceptualize your finished piece most clearly. Notice how both types follow the same structure: the thesis in the introductory section, followed by each body paragraph with its supporting data nested beneath.

Tips for easy outlining that make writing a breeze

Don’t try to make it perfect! Your outline is just a bare-bones version of your first draft that tells you what you need to cover and the order in which to make your points. As long as it’s clear and readable, your outline is good enough.

Familiarize yourself with the type of writing you’re doing before you start to outline. This way, you’ll know which structure to follow in your writing. For example, if you’ve been assigned a persuasive essay, read our guide on How to Write a Persuasive Essay to make sure you’re outlining and writing with the right goals in mind.

Although your outline is technically a reference document for you to use, you might have to go back and revise your outline after you’ve finished it, sometimes even after you’ve begun writing your first draft. This could be because:

• Your client/employer has a different plan for the content.
• Your professor determined your outline doesn’t fit the assignment or otherwise won’t work for a finished piece.
• As you wrote, you determined you need to address different points in your writing.

Treat your outline as a living document. If you need to go back and revise, go back and revise! Your outline exists to support your writing, so if your writing ends up going in a different direction than you’d originally planned, revise your outline so you don’t lose it as a reference.

Sometimes, it’s easiest to write your conclusion first and work backward from there. If you know where your writing is going to end up, but you’re not quite sure how you’ll get there, write your conclusion (or at least a few sentences you’ll flesh out later) and then create an outline that logically leads up to it.

Ready for the next step in the writing process?

Once your outline’s finished, you’re ready to start writing your first draft. Don’t worry about getting the tone just right or making sure your punctuation’s perfect—Grammarly can help with that. Just start building each point in your outline into a fully developed paragraph or two, and you’re on your way to an excellent piece of writing.