One example of an outline
in two versions: formal & informal

Examine the same example of an outline presented as a formal outline and an informal outline and you'll realize spending time teaching the nuances of formal outlining is time wasted. On this page, you will see two different formats of the same topic outline.

Example of an informal topic outline

Below is an example of an outline for a 500-750 word essay responding to the writing prompt, "Why is efficiency in writing important?" This example is an informal topic outline, which means each point is:

• Presented as a sentence fragment rather than as a full sentence, and

• Not preceded by a number or letter to indicate the importance and placement of the point in the outline sequence.

The thesis for this outline is "writers need to be efficient."

The indents alone are enough to show which are the major points and which the supporting ones.

Example of a formal topic outline

Below is another example of an topic outline responding to same the writing prompt, "Why is efficiency in writing important?" This example is a formal topic outline, which means each point is:

• Preceded by a number or letter indicating its importance and sequence, and

• Presented as a sentence fragment rather than as a full sentence.

Again, the thesis for this outline is, "writers need to be efficient."

Do you see that adding number and letter symbols does not make any real difference to the utility of the outline?

Note that both the informal and formal outline use parallel syntax in parallel points.