Basic outlining
Learn to turn "Oh, yuck!" to "Oh, yeah!"

Line length shows the importance of an idea: the longer the line, the more important the idea.

Subordinate ideas are indented below the idea(s) to which they relate.

Your students are probably already familiar with the use of grids to organize ideas. Grids are often used as navigational aides in tables of contents and in online forums or chat room posting lists.

Outlines don't need Roman numerals.

• Formal outlines use a standardized system of symbols that freak students out.

• Informal outlines can be made entirely without symbols to make levels of ideas; the grid is enough.

Sentence outlines best for beginners

• Unlike topic outlines, sentence outlines indicate the purpose for writing.

• Unlike topic outlines, sentence outlines indicate the relationships of the ideas as well as their order and relative importance.

• Unlike topic outlines, sentence outlines force writers to specify what they will say on a specific topic.

The mind map, another common graphic organizer for writing, has limitations similar to those of a topic outline with the added problem that mind maps don't show the order in which ideas should be discussed.

Writing skeleton™ ties body to thesis

A writing skeleton™ is a basic outlining strategy for making a sentence outline from a working thesis statement.

Creating a writing skeleton™ lets a writer see if the thesis is likely to produce a decent piece of writing at a stage when an entire rewrite involves no more than four sentences.

Writers can expand a writing skeleton™ into a comprehensive writing plan by inserting evidence summaries under their respective points.

If you tackle basic outlining as a planning tool, making it seem as easy as scribbling on the back of an envelope (which it is!), students will have no difficulty learning how it's done.