Tips for Writing a Good Research Paper Outline

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When students are assigned to write a research paper, many professors also require them to hand in a research paper outline as well. Just as the research paper itself required lots of hard work and effort, research paper outlines also need careful attention and thought. Here are a few tips to help you write a good research paper outline.

Before you start your research paper outline, it is important that you understand what the instructor expects of you. Ask your instructor if they require a topic outline or a sentence outline. There is quite a difference, and it is essential that you use the right format if you are expecting to receive full credit. If you are writing a topic outline, your outline only needs to consist of short phrases. On the other hand, a sentence outline must be composed of grammatically correct, complete sentences.

Create a title for your research paper outline that does not include the word "outline" in it. Don't worry--you do not have to muster up any creativity here. Just make the title the same as the title of your research paper.

A good research paper outline must be divided into the categories: introduction, the main body points, and the conclusion. These are main categories that need to be labeled with Roman numerals. Subcategories should be labeled using capital letters, and points within subcategories should be labeled using numbers.

Be sure to capitalize the first letter of the first word within each category. Many students assume that if they are writing a topic research paper outline that they do not need to pay attention to things like capitalization. However, this will deduct points from your grade due to formatting errors.