ShmoopTube

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Starting an essay can be scary. [Guy looks scared sat behind a computer]

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That blank white page staring back at you…

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intimidating you…

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All those letters on the keyboard and so many ways to combine them… [Shaking hands approach a keyboard]

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Yeesh…anyone else need to sleep with the lights on tonight…? [Guy looking scared in bed]

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Well, before we flip on the lights and run up our electricity bill, let's take a deep

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breath….

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And let's crack open our handy dandy outline, which will not only help us write a killer [Guy looks happy and puts his hands up]

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essay…

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…but it'll keep our electricity bill nice and low. [The lights are turned off]

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An outline is basically a blueprint for your essay.

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It should give you a sense of what the general structure of the essay will be before you

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actually write it.

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And no, you can't pass it off to a construction crew after it's done…though that would be [Man handing his outline to a construction worker]

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nice.

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Anyway, much like an actual essay, the outline has three main parts: the introduction, the

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body, and the conclusion.

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Let's take a look at each one.

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The introduction needs to do a few things.

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The biggest one is, y'know, introduce what the essay’s about.

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Don't you love it when names make sense?

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…Lookin' at you, jumbo shrimp….ain't nothin' jumbo about y'all. [Small looking shrimps on a big tray]

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So in your outline, you should write out the main idea of your essay.

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Say your topic is elephants and your main idea is that elephants are way smarter than [Person standing on an elephant]

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people…

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…both those things should be in your outline.

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Next comes the body, or as we like to call it, the “bod.” [Teacher holding up a drawing of a 6 pack]

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Just kidding.

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That’s weird.

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Don’t call it that. [Students look grossed out]

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Anyway, in both your essay and your outline, the body is the most important part.

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It contains all the evidence, information, and arguments you're using to back up your

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main idea.

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That said, your body shouldn't be one big, flabby paragraph.

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In a good essay, all the little ideas that support the main idea will be organized into [Page of continous text is replaced by paragraphed text]

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smaller sections of one paragraph each.

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Your outline is where you figure out how you’re going to do all of that organizing.

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So your essay’s sections might be: elephants have great memories, they can use tools, and

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they’re great painters.

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Divide those thoughts into their own neat paragraphs and your body has a sweet evidence

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six-pack instead of one big, flabby evidence belly. [Drawing of an elephant with a six pack]

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Finally, we have our conclusion.

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This is the most fun to write… because it’s usually the easiest.

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All we have to do is restate the main idea

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…and summarize all the points we made in the body.

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If you already outlined your essay's body – which we know you did because you’re [Student holding up their outline]

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great at following directions - the conclusion is as easy as pie.

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And almost as delicious.

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And that’s it!

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You’re done! [Guy eats ball of paper]

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Well, except for the fact that you have to write an entire essay.

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But, hey, your outline should make that process a lot less painful. [Girl holding onto a phone]

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…Maybe look into hiring a construction crew, though… [Construction worker looks through the window]

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You never know…

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