How to Deal with College Essay Outline? 5 Templates for Better Writing

Practice shows that outlining an essay often seems difficult for students. Do you also have problems with the outline for an essay? Let’s figure it out together! From this article you will understand why you need to make a good outline, take a look at good and bad outline examples and find 5 prewritten college essay outline templates. Enjoy!

Why Do I Need to Create an Outline For My College Essay?

Many students don’t know how to produce a well-structured essay outline and, moreover, they often don’t understand why they should do it. We will try to explain it. To begin with, what is the definition of essay outline? It is a framework that presents main and minor ideas of your essay in a structured way. There are many benefits for those students, who want to learn how to produce a good essay outline:

• It adds value to your essay as your readers will be able to understand more quickly what your main ideas are, which arguments you will use and how they are connected in your essay.
• Outlining an essay will make a writing process much easier for you. You will always be able to remember which things you need to mention in your essay and how to make transitions between arguments.

How Essay Outline Should Look Like? Good Essay Outline Templates and Examples

Good outline should be complete and include all the main ideas of your essay, but at the same time you should keep it to the point. Long outlines will not bring value for you and for your readers. Outlines presented below can give you an idea of how good and bad outlines should look like. As you see, the outline on the left is well-planned and it is clear which arguments the author will use to support the position and how he will terminate the essay. The outline on the right is general and does not give an idea of what will be covered in the paper.

Argumentative Essay Outline Template

Introduction

• Attract attention to your topic (make sure that the topic is relevant, doubt a well-known fact, provide quotation relevant to the theme)
• State different points of view
• Explain why you are interested in the topic (optional)
• State your position clearly

Body

• Provide general information on your topic (optional)

Argument 1

• State figures, facts, trustworthy opinion, personal experience that could justify your point
• Elaborate it, explain how fact/figure/opinion you provided help to prove your position stated in introduction

Argument 2

• State figures, facts, trustworthy opinion, personal experience that could justify your point
• Elaborate it, explain how facts/figures/opinions you provided help to prove your position stated in introduction

Conclusion

• Restate your position in other words
• Summarize arguments
• Final statement – quotation, show which particular aspect of essay topic should be analyzed

5 Paragraph Essay Template Printable

First Paragraph (Introduction)

• Overview of the topic
• Explain which opinions exist
• Express your position clearly

Second Paragraph (Background)

• Review existing articles and reading materials on the question,

Third Paragraph (Support)

Argument 1

• Provide a claim in favor of your position
• Explain how it supports your position
• Summarize it briefly

Argument 2

• Provide a claim in favor of your position
• Explain how it supports your position
• Summarize it briefly

Argument 3

• Provide a claim in favor of your position
• Explain how it supports your position
• Summarize it briefly

Fourth Paragraph (Opponents arguments)

Opposing Argument 1

• Provide a claim that contradicts your position
• Explain why it is a weak statement
• Make a conclusion in favor of your position

Opposing Argument 2

• Provide a claim that contradicts your position
• Explain why it is a weak argument
• Make a conclusion in favor of your position

Fifth Paragraph (Conclusion)

• Briefly summarize all the arguments in third paragraph
• Explain why the issue covered is important

College essay outline template

Introductory Paragraph

1. Make a statement that reflect the topic main idea
2. State subtopic 1 (one sentence)
3. State subtopic 2 (one sentence)
4. State subtopic 3 (one sentence)

Subtopic 1

Supporting fact, opinion or detail

Subtopic 2

Supporting fact, opinion or detail

Subtopic 3

Supporting fact, opinion or detail

Conclusion

1. Synthesis of all mentioned facts
2. Underline the progression of evidences on the topic
3. Explain how topic could be elaborated

Research paper outline template

Introduction

• Way of attracting readers’ attention
• Thesis statement

Body

• Main aspect of your theme

a.

b.

c

• Main aspect of your theme

a.

b.

c

• Main aspect of your theme

a.

b.

c

Conclusion

• Restate main statement
• Summarize main aspects of the topic
• Underline relevance of a research
• State how topic could be researched further

Methods used (optional)

References

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Template for an informative essay

Introduction

• General facts about the topic/Relevant definition/Relevance of the issue
• State the position on the question you will cover

Body

Paragraph 1

• Explain how the paragraph will help to elaborate the main idea
• Provide the complete analysis
• Connection to the next paragraph

Paragraph 2

• Explain how the paragraph will help to elaborate the main idea
• Provide the complete analysis
• Connection to the next paragraph

Paragraph 3

• Explain how the paragraph will help to elaborate the main idea
• Provide the complete analysis
• Connection to the conclusion

Conclusion

• Review main ideas
• Call to further develop the question

Good luck with your studies and never ignore the importance of the outline!