Formal outline
The classy look is not worth the fuss

It is about as important for high school students to be able to write a formal outline as it is for them to be able to groom a dinosaur.

After high school English class, if most folks outline something, they typically use an informal outline. Word processing software can put in the outline format symbols to morph the informal outline to hoity-toity formality.

Formal outline format

All outlines (formal or informal) are built on a grid. The diagram at the right shows a formal outline superimposed on an informal outline grid colored to emphasize the relative sizes of ideas.

Any two rows that line up at the left margin are equal-sized ideas. A row that is beneath and to the right of another row is a subdivision of the upper row idea.

The main points of the outline are written starting at the left hand margin and numbered with Roman numerals, I, II, III…. (Maybe some of your students, like mine, call them “Roman numberals.”)

The next lower-level points, one column to the right of the main points, are labeled with normal capital letters, A, B, C…. Two columns to the right of the main point, the third level is labeled with Arabic numerals, 1, 2, 3….

Each label is followed by a period. Items are arranged so that all the periods after the Roman numerals line up, all the periods after the capital letters line up, and all the periods after the Arabic numerals line up.

When you divide anything you get at least two pieces. Therefore formal outlines, which show the divisions of topics, can’t have just a single subpoint. In other words, there can be no point A unless there is a point B, no 1 without a 2. English teachers are apt to become hysterical if anyone violates this rule.

Reality checkpoint

Outlines aren't supposed to be activities. They are supposed to be tools. It is pointless to have 18 subdivisions just to show off the fact that you know the codes for 18 subdivisions.

The few places where I’ve seen classical outlines used outside the classroom, they have been limited to at most three levels of detail instead of the five or six shown in English textbooks.

For the papers my students write (under 10 pages), two levels of detail are plenty. I suspect the same will be true for you.

It's also pointless to have outlines that say everything a writer intends to put in a paper. Outlines are supposed to be, well, outlines.

Sentence outlines for 3-5 page essays typically have fewer than a dozen sentences. Usually there are three main points (Roman numeral level), with an average of three subpoints (A-B-C-level) for each.

Besides showing which points are the really important ones and which ones are of lesser importance, the outline also suggests how much must be said about one subtopic compared to another.

If the first main point has two subpoints and the second main point has seven subpoints, readers expect the discussion of the second point will take longer than the discussion of the first point.

Teaching tip

A good word processing program can transform an informal outline into a formal one, supplying the correct symbols and lining up the periods even if there are more than three Roman numbered points.

You may be able to simplify your life even further by handing the computer technology teacher the job of teaching students to use the software.

Your time is better spent teaching students to use informal outlines, tree diagrams or writing skeletons™.