Argumentative Essay Outline

Plan creating is the necessary stage of any speech statement. Thinking over ideas, a person always outlines the main phases of work. Consequently, there can be no writing process without a plan. It helps to establish the correlation of the content of speech (oral or written) and its linear structure with the set task and possible reaction of listeners or readers. Creating a plan is an integral part of creating an oral or written text. Even when a writer does not create a plan, an approximate order of what he or she is going to say or write about is formed in his or her head (some examples, evidence and ideas). Sometimes the plan is not obligatory. However, some genres of literature involve the mandatory presence of the outline. The ability to make a good argumentative essay plan is the quality of people who can express their thoughts correctly.

How to Write a Plan

All outlines are divided into simple and complex ones. A simple plan consists of a list of main points. Such an outline can be thematic; in this case, all the items are presented by short phrases.
A complex plan is a more perfect system that sufficiently reflects the work of the author on the text and gives the reader a clear idea of the logic and composition of the paper. In a complex outline, almost every item has subitems, in which the topic is covered in more detail. Making a complex plan of an argumentative essay requires the excellent knowledge of the material. A plan can consist of theses, that is, each of its points may be represented by a two-part sentence and convey the main idea of this part of the text. The outline of an argumentative essay may be simple, but this is possible only if the author has the thorough knowledge of the subject.

Outline Creation Algorithm

The work on the plan involves the following steps:

• understanding of the topic;
• outlining of the main points in a certain order;
• creating a simple plan (list of topics);
• making a complex plan (complicating the outline, dividing the paragraphs into sub-paragraphs);
• outline editing (rearrangement of items, expansion or reduction, clarification of wording);
• final checking.

Common Mistakes

When creating a plan for an argumentative essay, the following mistakes may arise:

• the inconsistency of the plan and the theme;
• items require more detailed study (each of them should be disclosed in subparagraphs);
• points are mutually exclusive;
• paragraphs are not proportional (one of the points of the plan is widely disclosed, and the other is not, although it also requires specification);
• the logic (sequence) is broken in the order of the items of the outline;
• such parts of the plan as an introduction and conclusion are absent.

Knowing these simple recommendations, you can create a plan and write a successful argumentative essay.
All you need is to be attentive and dilligent.