Outlines are a necessary part of writing. Period. Outlines are like a road map. They give you direction; they tell you where to go. Working without an outline is like trying to get from Oregon to New York and only knowing you need to go east.

An effective outline serves several important functions.

1.  It ensures a better document by structuring it to focus on purpose and on the audience’s interests in it.

2. It is a checklist to ensure that all points are covered.

3.  It provides an early project checkpoint.  Reviewers can visualize what the final document will look like.

4.  It may be used to invite feedback before the document is developed further.

5.  It allows managers to sense the size, structure and complexity of the document, to help them plan accurately.

Some tips.

1.  Outlines may be either simple phrases (“Financial results”), or topic sentence (“Financial results comply with federal regulations”).  Either way, they must be specific.  Avoid entries like “example” or “purpose”.

2. Each entry should be clearly connected to one purpose or one audience interest.

3.  Develop the outline to about three divisions (subsections).