Personal Essay Writing: Outlining Your Paper

While for many students writing an essay is difficult, this is often because they do not take the time to write an outline. Creating an outline can be done easily and it takes just a couple of minutes to make sure your essay stays on track. There are several tips and tricks to help you develop a solid outline that helps you organize and format your essay in the most effective way possible.

An essay has basic parts and your outline needs to include these four basic parts which are the introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, and your citations list. These parts are the primary part of the outline and will be the primary sections you need to include. Begin each of these main sections with roman numerals. The introduction will be roman number "I”, the body "II" and so on and so forth through the sections of the outline.

The body is the bulk of your paper and it is also where most of your outline will be focused. Each body paragraph will be designated with its own subheadings. Use capital letters to mark these subheads. So body paragraph one may have three subheads so you would mark these as A, B, and C. Remember that the subheadings will be individual examples you use in the body paragraph to support the main focus of your paper.

In the personal essay outline, your subheadings may actually have separate points that you will focus on. So for every sub heading, A, B, or C, you may smaller sub-headings that will further demonstrate the focus of the paragraph. These are noted on the outline with either lower case letters or number 1, 2, 3, and so on. These help organize your papers and shows the flow of the paper as you progress through your wiring points.

The main reason that you want to write an outline for your essay is because it helps to keep the essay organized and helps make sure all of your points and your thoughts are addressed in the paper. It serves as a sort of road map to direct you and get your points made in the most effective manner possible. An essay outline will give you a guide for a smooth transition and the right flow for the paper. Moreover, it helps you plan the scope and length of your essay. An outline is absolutely necessary for you to write an effective personal essay.

Essay writing help

college essay help

We have built the ultimate resource for high school and college essay writing. Our manuals will help you write:

  • Narrative essays
  • Descriptive essays
  • Expository essays
  • Informative essays
  • Persuasive essays

College writing guides

college writing help

For college or university student, we have built an immense amount of tips for these written assignments:

  • Reaction/Response papers
  • Position papers
  • Reports
  • Research papers
  • Bibliographies


#