Outline Example

FORMAL SENTENCE OUTLINE FORMAT

Student’s Name:

Date:

Topic: Key statement that describes the topic of your speech

General Purpose: To inform

I. Introduction

A. Attention Getter: Something that grabs the attention of the audience.

Examples of this: startling statistics, stories, rhetorical questions, quotations, scenarios, etc. This point should be more than one sentence long.

B. Reason to Listen: Why should the audience listen to your speech, make it personal to each of them.

C. Thesis Statement: Exact same statement as above.

D. Credibility Statement:

1. What personally connects you to this topic?

2. What type of research have you done to establish credibility?

E. Preview of Main Points:

1. First, I will describe …

2. Second, I will examine …

3. Third, I will discuss…

II. Restate thesis, exact statement as above.

A. Statement of the first main point; you should not use a source in this sentence.

1. Idea of development or support for the first main point

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc.- cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

2. More development or support

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc.- cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

3. More development if needed

Transition: (Required) Statement of movement that looks back (internal summary)

and looks forward (preview).

B. Statement of second main point. Do not use a source in this statement.

1. Idea of development or support for the first main point

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

2. More development or support

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

3. More development if needed

Transition: (Required) Statement of movement that looks back (internal summary)

and looks forward (preview).

C. Statement of third main point. Do not use a source in this statement.

1. Idea of development or support for the first main point

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

2. More development or support

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. - cite source)

3. More development if needed

III. Conclusion

A. Review of Main Points:

1. Restate your first main point.

2. Restate your second main point.

3. Restate you third main point.

B. Restate Thesis: Exact same as above.

C. Closure: Develop a creative closing that will give the speech a sense of ending. This point may be more than one sentence. You should refer back to your Attention-Getter.

Works Cited

·         MLA format; all references need to be sited in MLA format.

·         Be sure to make sure that the references are in Alphabetical order.

·         Double-Spaced; all references should be double-spaced and indented.

·         Please note:  The citations given by the electronic databases along with EasyBib and other bibliography websites are created by a computer and are often incorrect. You may use these; however, you do need to double check the format.

·         Three source minimum: two must be electronic databases.