Writing Instruction Tutorial

Outlines

Format

Sentence Outline

Thesis: Two weeks can offer varied impressions of European society and culture.

  1. Superficial impressions strike the tourist first.
    1. From the air, he sees very little open country space.
    2. Suddenly English becomes a foreign language.
    3. He gets a first lesson in counting foreign money.
    4. He adopts foreign habits of travel.
      1. He finds walking not only possible but also enjoyable.
      2. He saves time by riding trains, occasionally overnight.
  2. A sense of history lies about the land.
    1. Geography explains the routes of Caesar’s marches, Vandal invasions, Norse raids, and the long crusades.
    2. Monuments and statues stand where history happened.
    3. Architecture spans many centuries.
      1. Cathedrals point their Gothic spires toward heaven.
      2. Most public buildings date from earlier centuries.
      3. Modern structures accent older architecture.
  3. Art survives to speak of older cultures and earlier values.
    1. Museums house statuary, paintings, and artifacts preserved for thousands of years.
    2. Palaces turned museums exhibit an earlier mode of living.
    3. Numerous chapels preserve the great frescoes by famous artists as well as crude efforts by unknown artists.
    4. Little-known shrines and fountains await personal discovery by the traveler.
    5. Even bridges and gateways speak of an age with time for ornate decoration.
  4. Ordinary experiences gain excitement from a foreign setting.
    1. A stroll through a park offers more than grass and trees.
      1. A strange city rises in the background of every view.
      2. Geranium beds and rose gardens flame on all sides.
      3. Outdoor music and drama draw audiences afternoon and evening.
    2. Food becomes an experience in eating.
      1. A cold meat pie seems unimportant when served with all the casual amenities of an English pub.
      2. Sidewalk cafes in Paris may entertain the tourist with flower vendors or sketch artists at work; in Venice, with barges playing the busy canals.
      3. Wine at dinner eases the craving for a steak and French fries.
    3. A shopping spree turns into a search for exotic items to buy and remember.

General Outline Form

I.
A.
1.
2.
a.
b.
(1)
(2)
(a)
(b)
B.
II.
A.
B.

Bubble Outline

The bubble outline serves two purposes:

  1. Informal outline method serves for better visualization of ideas for students who have difficulty with the traditional outline formats.
  2. Visual outline guide for presentations used with more technical topics.

The informal bubble outline helps students who struggle with the sentence and topic outlines. The bubble method helps students formulate their central idea and build around it. From brainstorming ideas, students start with a central bubble and construct other bubbles with lines leading from the center to the other related idea bubbles. In this way, students see relationships among ideas and recognize that bubbles stemming from and surrounding the central bubble relate back to it.