How do you write a college essay outline? Writing a college essay outline helps you to strategically plan your ideas for your essay. This article gives you a guide on how to write a college essay outline for your essay.
As a college student, you are assigned various essay assignments with a short deadline. Writing a college essay outline helps you to plan for your essay thus it becomes easier once you start writing it. This helps you to always properly manage your time and to always meet the deadline for all your college essay assignments.
What is a college essay outline?
A college essay outline is a draft written before writing an essay to properly plan your ideas for the essay. When carrying out research for the essay, you note down the key points for the essay in the college essay outline from the introduction through the body to the conclusion.
How to write a good college essay outline
Below is how to write a good college essay outline:
- Read and understand the essay prompt
The essay prompt has all the essay assignment instructions. These include the essay’s topic or questions, the writing format, and the word count. You should carefully read through to understand what is expected of you.
- Conduct research
Research the essay’s topic or questions using various academic sources. You can use books, journals, theories, or online articles. Conducting research helps you to have the required information for your college essay.
- Create categories
Review any facts, quotations, and thoughts you have written down throughout your research, and then decide what point you want to convey in the essay in general. This will serve as the foundation for the thesis statement. You can start arranging your information in a way that supports your argument once you have a general notion of it.
Try to group your information into categories that are connected to various parts of your case. For instance, if you are writing about a literature work, you might organize your thoughts into themes. If you are writing about a historical period, it might be several significant trends or turning moments.
The typical format for essays includes three primary ideas or subtopics. You might divide the subtopics into three body paragraphs, or three larger sections with numerous paragraphs covering each subtopic, depending on how lengthy the essay is. Examine the categories and key points attentively as you develop the outline. You should ensure every subject you discuss has a direct connection to your thesis.
- Order of the essay’s information
You should consider how the order of the information should appear in your essay after you have divided it up into various categories. After the introduction paragraph, the order of information in the body paragraph is up to you. Always organize your college essay in an orderly manner. For instance, if one subtopic point is connected to another, you should first write a paragraph about the subtopic and then transition to the point that is connected to it.
- Write the college essay outline
After gathering all the required information and ideas you should write your college essay outline. You should note down each key point that you will write in your essay from the introduction through the body to the conclusion. Always write a clear and precise outline that you can easily understand once you begin writing your essay.
College essay outline template
Below is a college essay outline template for a 5-paragraph essay:
a) Introduction
- Start with a hook to grab the reader’s attention
- Give background information on the topic
- Briefly state the essay’s key point
- Write a good thesis statement
b) Body paragraphs 1
- Write a topic sentence introducing the main subtopic of the paragraph
- Give evidence-based information about the subtopic
- Give your analysis and interpretation of the subtopic
- Write a concluding sentence that sums up the paragraph
c) Body paragraph 2
- Write a topic sentence introducing the main subtopic of the paragraph
- Give evidence-based information about the subtopic
- Give your analysis and interpretation of the subtopic
- Write a concluding sentence that sums up the paragraph
d) Body paragraphs 3
- Write a topic sentence introducing the main subtopic of the paragraph
- Give evidence-based information about the subtopic
- Give your analysis and interpretation of the subtopic
- Write a concluding sentence that sums up the paragraph
e) Conclusion
- Restate the thesis statement
- Give a summary of the subtopics
- Write a concluding statement or give a call to action
Importance of writing a college essay outline
Below are the benefits of writing a college essay outline:
a) Strategic organization of ideas
Writing a college essay outline helps you to strategically analyze your ideas for the essay. You write down your ideas and information from research in an outline thus writing the essay becomes an easier task. Writing the outline helps you to have a proper flow of information throughout the essay. You should write an outline for all types of essays including an imaginative essay.
b) Time management
Writing a college essay outline helps to save time since writing the essay without an outline can take a lot of time to complete. An outline assists you in organizing the material and structure of your work, which minimizes the need for lengthy editing and restructuring when writing the essay.
c) Keeps you on track
The essay outline acts as a point of reference while you are writing the essay. It keeps you on track and makes sure you address all the key points. If you are uncertain about the flow of your essay, the outline gives you a guide.
d) Keeps you focused on the topic
You can stay focused on the essay’s main theme and thesis statement by using an outline. Reminding you of the main subject of the essay, helps you stay on topic and prevents you from becoming sidetracked or lost in unnecessary details. In addition, an outline gives clear information on where each information should be written in the essay hence you write an essay with a consistent flow of information.
Outline example for a college essay
Below is an outline example for a college essay on ‘The impact of exercises on mental health’
a) Introduction
- Start with a hook: State an interesting fact about exercising and mental health
- Background of information: Briefly describe the impact of exercises on mental health
- Thesis statement: Regular exercise has several positive effects on mental health, including lowering stress levels, easing anxiety and depressive symptoms, and improving general well-being.
b) Body paragraph 1 (Exercises lowers stress levels)
- Describe how exercises can reduce stress levels
- Give evidence-based information on how exercises cause the release of stress-reducing hormones
- Give your analysis and interpretation of how physical exercises can lower stress level
c) Body paragraph 2 (Exercises reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms)
- Analyze how exercises reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms
- Give fact-based information on how physical activities can manage anxiety and depressive symptoms
- Give your analysis of how exercises reduce anxiety and depression
d) Body paragraph 3 (Exercises improve general well-being)
- Discuss how exercises improve the general wellbeing
- Give evidence-based information on how exercises improve your focus, self-esteem, and memory.
- Give your interpretation of how exercise improves both physical and mental well-being.
e) Conclusion
- Summarize the impacts of exercises on mental health
- Give a call to action by encouraging the reader to engage in consistent exercises since they improve their mental health and general well-being.
This is one example of a college essay outline, you can research other examples to get a proper understanding of how to write your college essay outline. In addition, the college essay outline of different types of essays can be different. For instance, when writing a thesis statement of an argumentative essay, you state your position in the essay while in an expository essay, the thesis statement describes the main theme of the essay in detail.
Summation
Writing a college essay outline helps you to properly plan for your essay before you start writing it. You should always note down all the key points of the essay in the college essay outline. Writing an outline is a key step in the essay writing process since it helps you have a strategic flow of information from the introduction through the body to the conclusion.
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