OUTLINING

 As already mentioned, outlining is central to writing a good essay.  An outline lets you see, and work on, the bare bones of a paper, without the distraction of a clutter of words and sentences.  It develops your ability to think in a clear and logical manner.  Outlining provides a quick check on whether your paper will be unified.  It suggests right at the start whether your paper will be adequately supported.  And it shows you how to plan a paper that is will organized.

 The following series of exercises will help you develop your outlining skill that is so important to planning and writing a solid essay.

Activity

One key to effective outlining is the ability to distinguish between major ideas and details that fit under those ideas.  The exercise below will develop your ability to generalize from a list of details and to determine a major thought.

 Major and minor ideas are mixed together in the two lists below.  Put the ideas into logical order by filling in the outlines that follow.

1.                     

Thesis: My high school had three problem areas.

2.                    Thesis : Working as a dishwasher in a restaurant was my worst job.

Activity

             Read the following essay and outline it in the spaces provided.  Write out the central point and topic sentences and summarize in a few words the supporting material that fits under each sentence.  One item is summarized for you as an example.

 Losing Touch

 Steve, a typical American, stays home on workdays.   He plugs into his personal computer terminal in order to hook up with the office.  After work, he puts on his stereo headphones, watches a movie on his home video recorder, or challenges himself to a game of electronic baseball.  On many days, Steve doesn’t talk to any other human beings, and he doesn’t see any people except those on television.  Steve is imaginary, but his lifestyle is very possible.  The inventions of modern technology seem to be cutting us off from contact with out fellow human beings.

 Thesis: __________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The world of business is one area in which technology is isolating us.  Many people now work alone at home.  With access to a large central computer, employees such as secretaries, insurance agents, and accountants do their jobs at display terminals in their own homes.  They no longer actually have to see the people they’re dealing with.  In addition, employees are often paid in an impersonal way.  Worker’s salaries are automatically credited to their bank accounts, eliminating the need for paychecks.  Fewer people stand in line with their coworkers to receive their pay or cash their checks.  Finally, personal banking is becoming a detached process.  Customers interact with machines rather than people to deposit or withdraw money for their accounts.  Even some bank loans are approved or rejected, not in an interview with a loan officer, but through a display on a computer screen.

First topic sentence : ______________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 Support :                1.   Many people now work alone at home.

                                3.   _________________________________________________________

                                     a.    ______________________________________________________

b.       ______________________________________________________

Another area that technology is changing is entertainment.  Music, for instance, was once a group experience.  People listened to music at concert halls or in small social gatherings.  For many people now, however, music is a solitary experience.  Walking along the street or sitting in their living rooms, they wear headphones to build a wall of music around them.  Movie entertainment is changing, too.  Movies used to be social events.  Now,  fewer people are going out to see a movie.  Many more are choosing to wait for a film to appear on cable television.  Instead of being involved with the laughter, applause, or hisses of the audience, viewers watch movies in the isolation of their own living rooms.

Second topic sentence: _____________________________________________________________________

 ________________________________________________________________________

 Support :                1.  _________________________________________________________

                                 2.  _________________________________________________________

Education is a third important area in which technology is separating us from others.  From elementary schools to colleges, students spend more and more time sitting by themselves in front of computers.  The computers give them feedback, while teachers spend more time tending the computers and less time interacting with their classes.  A similar problem occurs in homes.  As more families buy computers, increasing numbers of students practice their math and reading skills with software programs instead of with their friends, brothers and sisters, and parents.  Last, alienation is occurring as a result of another high-tech invention, videotapes.  People are buying videocassette tapes on subjects such as cooking, real estate investment, speaking, and speed-reading.  They then practice their skills at home rather than by taking group classes in which a rich human interaction can occur.

 Third topic sentence : _______________________________________________________________________

 __________________________________________________________________________

 Support :                1.  _________________________________________________________

                                 2.  _________________________________________________________

                                 3.  _________________________________________________________

Technology, then, seems to be driving human beings apart.  Soon, we may no longer need to communicate with other human beings in order to do our work, entertain ourselves, or play the games we enjoy.  Machines will be the coworkers and companions of the future.

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