DRAWING THE OUTLINE OF THE TERM PAPER
Using an outline of the term paper can help you organize your term paper and can also help you discover connections between pieces of information that you weren't aware of when you first conceived the plan of your term paper. It can also make you aware of material that is not really relevant to the purposes of your term paper or material that you have covered before and should therefore be removed from your term paper.

A Working Outline of the term paper might be only an informal list of topics and subtopics which you are thinking of covering in your term paper. Sometimes, however, an instructor might require that a working outline of the term paper be submitted at the beginning of your work; then your instructor might suggest ways in which the work needs to be further developed or cut back. Your instructor might also see that you're trying to accomplish too much or too little for the scope of the term paper he or she has in mind. The working outline of the term paper of your term paper can be revised as you discover new material and get new ideas that ought to go into your term paper. Most word processing programs have outlining features with automatic formatting that make it easy to create and revise outline of the term papers. It is a good idea to keep copies of old outline of the term papers in a computer folder in case new versions of the outline of the term paper lead you in false directions that you will later have to abandon.
Final Outline of the term paper should enhance the organization and coherence of your term paper. Instructors sometimes require that a final outline of the term paper be submitted along with the final version of your term paper. Material that is not relevant to the purpose of your term paper as revealed in your outline of the term paper should be excised from the term paper; if portions of your outline of the term paper seem weak in comparison to others, more research may be required to create a sense of balance in your argument and presentation.

Outline of the term papers can be organized according to your purposes. Are you attempting to show the chronology of some historical development, the cause-and-effect relationship between one phenomenon and another, the process by which something is accomplished, or the logic of some position? Are you defining or analyzing something? Comparing or contrasting one thing to another? Presenting an argument (one side or both)?

In any case, try to bring related material together under general headings and arrange sections so they relate logically to each other. An effective introduction will map out the journey your reader is about to take, and a satisfactory conclusion will wrap up the sequence of ideas in a nice package.