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Developing a Topic and Outline

In many cases your instructor provides explicit directions that explain the purpose of your paper. Other times, you may be required to choose your own specific topic and angle within a broader subject. This can be a daunting task, but careful examination of your knowledge and interests can help you arrive at a thesis you feel good about bringing to life. Ask yourself questions like:

Are there particular areas of the subject matter that interest you more than others?
Are there areas that have piqued your interest that you’d like to learn about in greater detail?
Compile a list of major keywords that relate to your subject matter. Do any jump out at you as possibilities or suggest further investigation?
Are there adequate resources available to research particular areas you’re interested in? This may include authoritative websites, reference materials or an individual you can interview.
Is a potential topic too broad to summarize adequately?
Is a topic too narrowly defined to expand into an entire paper?
How comfortable are you with developing a clear thesis statement based on what you know or are able to learn?

Once you’ve brainstormed ideas like this, some ideas should emerge as candidates for a good paper.

Whether you are assigned a topic or have arrived at one yourself, it is good practice to sketch out an outline. This piece of preparation can make things flow much more smoothly as you write; organizing your key ideas and supporting information before you begin wordsmithing can save you time spent on rewrites down the road.

Think of your outline as a framework on which you hang ideas. Identifying each subtopic and the supporting ideas or data you use to address it does more than organize your thoughts; it can also spotlight areas of your paper that need more work. A well-written academic paper is a balanced paper, and supporting data for each idea should be equally substantive.

If you’re somewhat unclear on your exact thesis, consider skipping that part of your outline and jumping into the body of the paper. As you identify subject areas you plan to highlight, your thesis statement may begin to take shape before your eyes. Many successful authors actually write papers out of order by creating the body of the paper first. After this, supporting information is inserted to fill out the body. Finally, the author creates the introduction, which allows them to more accurately detail the already finished contents of the paper.

Remember the advice given to speechwriters: tell your readers what you’re going to tell them; tell them; and then tell them what you told them. While the intro sets everything up and entices the reader, a solid conclusion restates the thesis and summarizes the supporting data you’ve gathered – it should serve as a reminder of how compelling your argument or approach to a topic has been.