The document discusses outlining a term paper in three parts: I. Developing the outline, including reviewing the assignment, choosing a topic, doing research, developing the topic, and writing a thesis statement. II. Outlining the paper by writing topic sentences, organizing paragraphs with Roman numerals and subpoints with letters and numbers, and filling in the outline. III. Revising the outline by reverse outlining the first draft, examining the logical flow, rearranging paragraphs physically, and revising the outline and paper.

1. Last name 1
Last name 1
Name
My Name
Class
Date
The Subgenres of Heavy Metal
Thesis: The subgenres of heavy metal music are diverse and
differ from one another to the point
that they form their own identity, through lyrics and
instruments.
I. The evolvement of this genre of music has roots that can be
tied in with some of the most Comment by Dr Rhonda Lee-
Ernest: Topic sentence for each paragraph.
recognized and popular form of music, classical musical.
A. Within the metal genre, there comes a development of a
subgenre of metal music known as Symphonic Metal.
Comment by Dr Rhonda Lee-Ernest: Main ideas that
support the topic sentence.
B. One of the most well-known bands in this subgenre is the
Finnish band Nightwish.
II. From ancient times to modern times, there has been the
tradition of telling folk tales from ages ago and in ages before;
some of these tales would be told in the form of a song.

2. A. Metal music has taken this concept and utilized this concept
to create a new form of metal music, Folk Metal.
B. One of the most well-known Folk Metal bands is the pirate
metal band known as Alestorm.
III. There are bands out there that actually promote the religion.
A. This subgenre of metal is known as Christian Metal.
B. At the turn of the 21st century, P.O.D., with two platinum-
selling albums, achieved a mainstream commercial success
This may be too short and may need a C. for each paragraph.
Notice how each paragraph has the same structure for ease of
reading. This is important for an Informative paper.
Paper Outline_Example
The first section of the outline is the introduction, which
identifies the subject and gives an overview of your reaction to
it. The introduction paragraph ends with your thesis statement,
which identifies whether your expectations were met and what
you learned. The thesis statement serves as the focal point of
your paper. It also provides a transition to the body of the paper
and will be revisited in your conclusion.
The body of your paper identifies the three (or more, depending
on the length of your paper) major points that support your
thesis statement. Each paragraph in the body should start with a
topic sentence. The rest of each paragraph supports your topic
sentence. Keep in mind that a transition sentence at the end of
each paragraph creates a paper that flows logically and is easy
to read. When creating the outline, identify the topic sentence
for each paragraph, and add the supporting statements,
evidence, and your own experiences or reactions to the subject

3. underneath.
The conclusion wraps up your essay, serving as the other
bookend in stating and proving your thesis statement. In
outlining the conclusion, identify the thesis statement and add
the main points from the body paragraphs as a recap. Don't add
new information to the conclusion, and be sure to identify the
closing statement of your reflection paper.
A sample outline format should reflect the main points of your
paper, from start to finish:
I. Introduction
A. Identify and explain subject
B. State your reaction to the subject
1. Agree/disagree?
2. Did you change your mind?
3. Did the subject meet your expectations?
4. What did you learn?
C. Thesis Statement
II. Body Paragraph 1
A. Topic Sentence
1. Supporting evidence 1
2. Supporting evidence 2
3. Supporting evidence 3
III. Body Paragraph 2
A. Topic Sentence
1. Supporting evidence 1
2. Supporting evidence 2
3. Supporting evidence 3
IV. Body Paragraph 3
A. Topic Sentence
1. Supporting evidence 1
2. Supporting evidence 2
3. Supporting evidence 3
V. Conclusion
A. Recap thesis statement
B. Recap Paragraph 1
C. Recap Paragraph 2

4. D. Recap Paragraph 3
E. Conclusion statement

5. Downloaded from http://www.wikihow.com
Deliverable:
The Individual will create and submit an academic research
paper, of at least five and no more than seven pages. Use the
APA format, 5-7 pages, double-spaced, and list all references.
You will be graded by the attached rubric. If you have any
questions, please contact me.
The student will submit an outline of their end of the quarter
paper.
Use the following process/steps as an example of one way to
develop your outline. Please remember there are many ways of
doing this, but this has been a good one that I have used in the
past. Don't wait until the last minute. Let me know if you have
any questions.
Example: Use this example as you go through the below
process.

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A term paper can be either a research-based or compare and
contrast essay due at the end of a semester or term. In it, you
are expected to demonstrate knowledge and mastery of the
material covered over the previous term. Your teacher or
professor may rely heavily on the quality of your term paper
when determining your grade or mark in the course. Outlines
are a way of organizing your thoughts and lending an overall
structure to your paper so that it contains a logical progression
and smoothly transitions from one focus to another as you build
up your case step-by-step.
Review your assignment. You may have been given an
assignment or prompt for your paper, or a description of it may
be found in your syllabus. Review any information you’ve been
given about the assignment so that you’re clear on the
requirements and format.

7. If you have any questions about your term paper, ask ahead of
time. Instructors are usually happy to answer questions provided
you’ve read the assignment or prompt first and give them
enough time to answer.
Do not wait until a day before the paper is due to email your
instructor a question about the paper. S/he is likely very busy at
that point and will probably not have time to respond. This
delay also suggests to your instructor that you have not planned
ahead or given the assignment the proper attention.
Decide on a topic. You may have been assigned a topic, or you
may be free to choose your own. Even if you have been
assigned a general paper topic, it’s likely that you will need to
decide on your “angle” in approaching it. For example, “the
American Civil War” is too big a topic for a term paper to
discuss. You need an angle, such as “Roles of African-
Americans in the military during the American Civil War.”
You’ll also want to identify your purpose for the paper.
Sometimes, this is given to you, such as “Write an analytical
paper about ___” or “Discuss the history of ___”. If it isn’t, you
may have some freedom to determine your own purpose. Is it to
persuade, inform, argue, or analyze? It’s a good idea to check in
with your instructor to make sure that your goal aligns with the
assignment.
Do your research. Most term papers require research. You

8. should begin to gather research materials before you outline and
write your essay. As you write, you will likely discover gaps in
your argument that require further research, but you won’t have
a good idea about what you want to say until you do some
preliminary research.
If you have a library, consult with your librarian. Librarians are
excellent resources who can guide you to credible and relevant
research sources.
Make sure your sources are reliable. It’s a good idea to look in
published books, peer-reviewed journals, and government or
university websites. Credible, mainstream journalism sources,
like The New York Times or The Guardian, are also helpful,
though make sure you do not rely on editorial or “opinion”
pieces as sources of fact.
Keep track of your sources. EndNote and RefWorks are very
handy for keeping a record of sources you consult. You may
have access to these through your school. You can also keep
track by writing the bibliographic information (author’s name,
title, publisher, place and date of publication) on an index card
or in a word processing document. Make sure you record the
page numbers and sources for any quotations you copy out.
Develop your topic. You should generate some ideas about your
topic before you try to organize your paper. You may find that
prewriting exercises can help you get started. Here are a few
you can try:
Try freewriting. Write for 5-10 minutes about whatever comes
to mind about your topic. Don’t stop or edit yourself. Once

9. you’ve written, review your material and highlight or underline
things that seem useful starting points. You can repeat this
exercise multiple times to generate ideas.
Try clustering. Clustering is a type of mind-mapping that can
help you see connections between ideas. Start by writing your
topic on the center of a piece of paper and draw a box around it.
Then, draw a few lines extending from the box. At the end of
each of these lines, write down an idea that corresponds to this
topic and circle each. Continue drawing lines outward and
connecting ideas until you feel like you’ve thoroughly explored
the connections between facets of your topic.
Try questioning. The big questions, “Who? What? When?
Where? Why? How?”, can help you determine what information
you need in your paper. Write each question on a separate sheet
of paper and respond to the question in as much detail as you
can. When you hit places where you do not have answers to the
question, make a note to yourself -- these are places where
you’ll need to do some inquiry or research.
Write a working thesis. Your thesis (Links to an external
site.)statement will likely evolve as you write your term paper.
This is very common in argumentative or analytical essays,
where you will continue to think about your material as you
write, and you may reach conclusions you didn’t expect. It’s
important to have a working thesis to start out with so that you
know your paper’s central goal or point.
It is common in high school or college to write 3-prong thesis
statements, which include three main points, each of which will
have its own body paragraph. This type of thesis rarely works

10. for term papers, as they are longer and more complex essays.
Go with a statement that states the main focus or claim for your
paper.
Start early. A term paper is usually longer than other types of
essays, and it often counts for a significant portion of your
grade. Additionally, a term paper usually requires research that
takes time and works to produce. Don’t wait until the last
minute to start working.
Work on your paper in stages, if you can. Give yourself at least
a day between each stage to allow you to come to the paper with
fresh eyes.
Part Two of Three:
Outlining a Term Paper
Begin with your introduction. This may involve explanatory
remarks of what your field entails, what the purpose of your
paper is, and contextual information that your reader needs in
order to understand your argument.
Don’t fully write the introduction yet. It’s generally best to wait
to draft your introduction until you’ve written the essay. Your
thesis and argument is likely to evolve as you write, so

11. spending too much time on the introduction upfront may be a
waste of time.
Write a placeholder outline for now. Introductions usually begin
with a broad statement and narrow in until you present your
thesis statement. Provide a few bullet points about where you
will start and include your thesis statement.
Write topic (Links to an external site.)sentences for each
paragraph. Separate different topics into different sections or
paragraphs, so that each paragraph deals with one main idea.
This provides a visual/organizational clue to the reader that
different pieces of information are being presented.
Your topic sentences should set the direction for the paragraph.
Make sure they act as a “road map” to let the reader know what
the main topic will be.
Avoid using facts or statements that don’t give an idea of what
the rest of your paragraph will argue. A good topic sentence
will be informative, directional, and interesting.
For example, “Saltwater is not suitable for drinking” is not a
great topic sentence for a paragraph on water rights, because it
does not communicate the main idea of the paragraph. “It is a
human right to have clean water” is a better topic sentence,
because it asserts your main argument for the paragraph.

12. Begin your outline’s first level. Once you have your topic
sentences, you will have an idea of what your paragraphs will
discuss. You can now decide how to organize these paragraphs
in the first level of your outline. This level uses capital Roman
numerals (I, II, III, IV, etc.).
I is your introduction. II is your first body paragraph, III is your
second body paragraph, and so forth. Place each Roman numeral
on a new line, followed by a topic sentence.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with the paragraph order. You
may find that as you develop your paragraphs further, they fit
better in other sections of the paper.
Fill in subpoints on the second level of your outline. The second
level of your outline uses English capital letters (A, B, C, D,
etc.). This level incorporates subpoints of your main point.
They will form the body of your body paragraphs.
Place the capital letter on a new line beneath the first level.
Indent the second level about 0.5” past the first level. Many
word processing programs will do this automatically.
List your subtopics beneath your topic sentence. Each subtopic
should be related to the main goal or idea of the paragraph.
Use your research and the material you generated during
prewriting to help you fill in this level.

13. Expand on subpoints with a third outline level. If you need to,
you can use a third outline level to expand on your subpoints.
This level uses Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.).
Use this level to provide evidence or further explanation for
your subpoints.
Provide a conclusion in the last section. Your conclusion will
wrap up your argument for your reader. It should return your
thesis, but should not restate it exactly.
You do not have to write a full conclusion while outlining. You
may not have a clear idea of how you want to conclude until
you’ve written more of the essay.
Common ways to conclude an essay including returning to the
theme you introduced in the introduction, extending the
relevance of your argument to a broader context or concern,
proposing a course of action or solution to a problem, or ending
with a provocative question.
Choose a decimal outline structure if you prefer. Although it is
less common than the standard alphanumeric organization, you
can also organize your outline using only Arabic numbers and
decimal points. This type of outline is sometimes used in the
final term paper as well, to identify headings and subheadings
in a longer work.

14. Begin a decimal outline with “1.0” and each subsequent section
with the next number (“2.0”, “3.0”, etc.).
Change the number after the decimal point to reflect new
information. For example, “2.1” might be your first subpoint,
and “2.2” would be your second subpoint.
You can continue adding subsections by adding another decimal
point and number, such as “2.1.1” etc.
Part Three of Three:
Outlining During Revision
Reverse-outline your first draft. After you have finished writing
your first draft, let it sit for a day, if you can. Return to it with
fresh eyes and read it through from start to finish. As you read,
briefly summarize the main argument of each paragraph. You
can do this off to the side of the paper, on a separate sheet of
paper, or as a comment in a word processing document.
Try to limit your summary to a sentence. You can also use a key
phrase or a few keywords.
If you’re having trouble summarizing the main idea, it could be
a sign that your paragraph is wandering. Consider splitting your
paragraph into two paragraphs so that you can devote one to
each idea.

15. Examine this reverse outline. Once you have completed
summarizing the main idea of each paragraph, look at what
you’ve written. Do the ideas progress logically? Do they seem
to build on one another to create momentum for your argument?
Or do they wander around?!
You may need to consider moving paragraphs around. In some
cases, you’ll even need to delete -- yes, delete! -- and rewrite
sentences or even whole paragraphs.
Cut your paper up by paragraph. If you’re having trouble
envisioning how to organize your term paper after you’ve
written the first draft, it could be because you’ve been looking
at it too long on your computer screen. Print out the draft and
cut it up into its separate paragraphs.
Physically swap the paragraphs around. Do they make better
sense in another order?
In a strong term paper, each paragraph will build upon the
previous one, so that there is only one ideal way to structure
them for your argument. If you can swap the paragraphs around
easily, you may need to hone your focus.
Consider adding clearer transitions and topic sentences to help
make stronger connections between your paragraphs.

16. Revise your outline. You’re probably dealing with a fairly long
project, so it can help to revise your original outline to reflect
the new order you’ve decided on. After you have done this,
revise the term paper according to your new outline.
After you’ve revised the term paper, double-check with the new
outline to make sure that you have stuck with the structure you
decided upon.