Composing an Outline

1. For your research report, you will need to decide on an organizational strategy. As your book notes, “Writing that reports information often calls for certain writing strategies. The report on popcorn, for example, explains the process of popping, whereas the report on college costs analyzes the effects of delaying college graduation.”
   • For example, you might use classifying/dividing to divide the subject into categories. The thesis would look like this: Depression is a complex condition, the understanding of which requiresan in-depth look at its causes, symptoms, and available treatments.
   • Another example is chronological organization. The thesis would look like this: Depression is a complex condition, the treatment of which hasundergone dramatic changes as the medical field progressed fromthe late 19th century into the mid-20th century and finally into the early21st century.
   • A third example is a focus on causes or effects. A thesis using causes would look like this: Depression is a complex condition, which may be caused by anycombination of biological, genetic, and environmental factors.
   • Sample thesis statements from: https://www.nova.edu/tutoring-testing/study-resources/forms/planning-an-expository-essay.pdf
2. Answer here: What method of organization will your essay use?
3. I encourage you to also review the essay assignment sheet and sample essay innext week’s folder so that you have an idea of what the final version of this essay will need to include while you prepare the outline.
4. Your outline should be bulleted like the one below.

5. Answer here: Complete the outline below.

• Thesis statement:(include your thesis here)
  • It should include the topic you will be informing your audience about.
  • It should reveal which method of organization will be used.
  • It must be a complete sentence
  • It should not use 1^st or 2^nd person
  • It should not “announce” the thesis
• Complete Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph 1:
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
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• Complete Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph2:
  • Supporting detail
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  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
• Complete Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph3:
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
• Complete Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph4:
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
• Complete Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph 5:
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
• Complete Topic Sentence for Body Paragraph 6:
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail
  • Supporting detail

Note:You are not required to have exactly 6 body paragraphs or the exact number of supporting details above. Be sure you have enough to fully develop your topic. The full essay will be 750-1000 words.