Outline Format

Your outline will begin with a title and Thesis Statement. Thesis Statement - is a sentence that states what you will prove or explain in your project from doing your research. You form this by turning your essential question into a statement.

Example Essential Question: How did A. Lincoln convince Congress to pass the 13th Amendment?

Example Thesis Statement: Abraham Lincoln was able to use his leadership skills to influence Congress in passing the 13th Amendment, his legacy, through inspirational speeches, open negotiation and crafty intelligence.

Outlining is a way to organize large amounts of information into:

1. Major categories

2. Sub categories

3. Examples

4. Evidence / statistics

Each section of the outline is identified by its own symbol.

1. Major categories – Roman Numerals (I, II)

2. Sub categories – Capital Letters (A, B)

3. Evidence– Arabic Numerals (1, 2)

4. Examples/ statistics – Lower Case Letters (a,b)

Spacing is also used to help organize the

research. The farther away from the left-

hand margin, the greater the

detail.

Which symbol represents the most amount of detail?

The Roman Numerals begin at the left hand margin. Capital letters are indented from the margin. Arabic numeral are indented from the capital letters. Lower case letters are indented from the Arabic numerals.

Thesis Statement

I. Major Topic (Starts with a Capital Letter)A. Sub Topic (Starts with a Capital Letter)

1. Evidence (Starts with a Capital Letter)2. Evidence (Starts with a Capital Letter)

B. Sub Topic (Starts with a Capital Letter)1. Evidence (Starts with a Capital Letter)

a. example (Starts with a Lowercase Letter)

b. statistics (Starts with a Lowercase Letter)

2. Evidence (Starts with a Capital Letter)II. Major Topic (Starts with a Capital Letter)

Here is a sample outline format

As a general rule, if you have an “A” then you have to have a “B”, if you have a 1 then you have to have a 2 and if you have an “a” you have to

have a “b”.