Connecting students to knowledge
and its application
Southern Utah University
Lynn White, Ph.D.
Introduction - Outlines
Writing a 12-15 page introduction can seem daunting! But, if you create a well organized outline, the task will be that much easier.
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Outline 1: List the major topics you plan to talk about, in order. The order should make logical sense. Begin with topics that review basic/general information related to your research question(s). As you move down the list, the topics should become more specific to your research question(s). Use 2-3 subheadings under each or most of the major headings (i.e. topics) to help you organzie what you will say about each. The order of these subheadings should also make sense.
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Outline 2: Now that you have read a great deal more articles/books related to your research, you will be able to add more headings and subheadings. You may need to rearrange your outline, as new information comes in. I should see evidence of this in outline #2. At this point, you should begin adding citations into the outline. Keep the citations simple (e.g. last name of first author, year).
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Outline 3: At this point, you should have read most of the books/articles you need to write your introduction. You may or may not need to tweak the headings and subheadings. The primary difference between this outline and outline #2 is that you will now have most if not all the citations embedded under each heading/subheading. Note that there should be few secondary references and preferably none.
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Once outline #3 is done, you are ready to write! I find it easier to write one section at a time, rather than skip around like a fish flip-flopping out of water.
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