Create Your Outline

Learn what an outline is and how to create your own.

What is an outline?

An outline is an initial layout of your document. It will help you to organize your ideas and visualize the structure of your document. Once you begin to write, your outline will help you to stay on track and not sway from your document's purpose.

It can be tempting to skip the outline step, but we advise against this, especially when you are a beginner. Without an outline, your writing project can quickly get off-topic, become much longer than intended, exclude vital information/include unnecessary information, or become disorganized and unclear. Outlines streamline your writing by streamlining your thoughts and ideas from the start. ...