Outlines are a powerful tool for organizing information. Beginning writers should always create outlines to help them get used to organizing information into a logical order. Seasoned writers may find that they do this automatically, but this is usually because they practiced creating outlines many times. You can even create an outline from an existing paper, just to check if the paper is organized well.
Create your outline after you have studied the subject and spent some time brainstorming on it. You will probably have to stop during the outlining process to do more brainstorming and maybe more study when you find gaps of missing information in your outline.
Formatting
Your outline should start with your thesis statement. Create your thesis statement by summarizing the main theme of your paper into one sentence. Your thesis statement is not indented or bulleted.
Your main ideas follow in an indented list. Under each main idea the supporting ideas are listed in a further indented list, and this pattern continues with all additional supporting ideas. If you have used a bubble chart or list format in your brainstorming, you can easily transfer the main points from them into your outline.
To formally format your outline, label the first level, the one with the main ideas, with capitalized Roman numerals. The second level is labeled with capitalized letters, the third with numbers, the fourth with lower-case letters, and the fifth with numbers. Any additional levels would be labeled with alternating letters and numbers.
If you are using a specific style guide, like MLA, check the guide to make sure your outline corresponds with their specifications. However, if you are creating the outline for your own use, you can use whatever labels you like to identify the different levels.
Here's an example of an outline:
