How to Write an Outline: Advanced Techniques

Hopefully through this discussion on how to write an outline you can see how handy they are to use. They allow you put all your thoughts together in a natural order and help you present them as a logical argument. Always remember though, that an outline is YOUR guide, so you can add anything you want to it.

Here’s a few advanced ideas that you can add to any outline . . .

References

Supposing you want to back up one of your statements with a reference to an authority on the topic. In your outline you could simply put the authority, his/her book on the subject, page number if you wanted to, and quote.

• 3. Adding elements to your outline
  • A. Steps for audience to follow
    • i. ref: Ken Nadreau, “creating the perfect outline”, page 47. “You’re in the driver’s seat and its up to you to deliver your audience where they need to be.”

I just made that up to show you, but now, as you present your reasons why you should add elements to an outline, you have a reference to back up what you’re saying. It’s kind of like having him standing along side you nodding his head in agreement.

If you’re giving an oral presentation you could even have his book with you so your audience can see you turning to page 47 and reading it directly. This kind of thing adds even more weight to the authority source.

Of course if your outline didn’t have the page number on it you may lose some of the force behind it if your audience has to wait for you to thumb through until you find it.

But then that’s the beauty of an outline, right? You can write down the page number and your audience will think you know the book by heart!

Alternate Routes

While going through the thought process of building your outline, you might think of other directions your presentation could go. Definitely write them down and structure them as a separate sidebar outline section just in case you want to veer off from your original plan.

This comes in handy for public speakers who detect they might be losing their audience, or a novelist who just plain doesn’t like the way the original layout is going.

Additional Information

You might find, as you write out your final document, that there just isn’t enough material to clearly make your point. This happens a lot to many writers, and a good way to overcome this is to have additional material ready to elaborate a topic a little more.

Again, create a sidebar outline for yourself and reference it from your main outline.

• 4. Advanced outline writing
  • A. additional ref: C:\MyDocuments\writing\4d.txt

Or if you’re speaking publicly . . .

• 4. Advanced outline writing
  • A. additional ref: notes, section 10

This way, if you find you have some extra time in your discourse, you can quickly reference your extra material and throw it in with none the wiser.

While we’re on the topic of additional information. If you’re really serious about becoming a writer and want some very useful tools to help you along, Kristi Sayles has produced a wonderful suite of software programs designed specifically for writers of all kinds. It includes many writing templates including several for outlines.

So I’ll let Kristi take you to the next level and leave you here. I hope you enjoyed How to Write an Outline, and that it starts you off on a successful writing or speaking career!

Advertisement