CREATING AN OUTLINE The outline of a speech, a report, or an essay can have as many main points as the writer wishes. For your purposes in the upcoming assignment, three should suffice. If one point is a sentence, the others must be sentences; if one is a phrase, all must be phrases. subpoints must also be parallel. A main point cannot have only one subpoint. If it has a subpoint A, it must also have a subpoint B. This sample outline combines two techniques, sentence outlining and topic outlining. The main sub-topics of this outline are complete sentences. A topic outline uses brief phrases or headings like those in points I, II, and III of the example.

Before writing an outline, jot down all the ideas related to your main topic as they occur to you. Examine them, then sort them into groups of related ideas. One idea in each group should emerge as a main idea, with the others as subpoints. Choose a topic from the following list and write a topic outline or a sentence outline. You may choose your own topic if you prefer. This topic may be used for an essay or for a speech assigned later in this unit.

Topics

three things your father or mother does on the job
three things to look for in the library
three things your mail carrier must do
three things someone has done for you
the three most important lessons you have learned
three things to avoid while riding a bicycle
Make sure your outline has three main divisions (I, II, III) with at least two subpoints (A, B) under each.