How to Outline

While a sum­ma­ry pres­ents (all) the main in­for­ma­ti­on from a text in a con­den­sed form, an out­line in­clu­des only spe­ci­fic in­for­ma­ti­on or cer­tain aspects, usu­al­ly from a com­plex text.



Ex­amp­le task:

Out­line the ef­fects of cli­ma­te chan­ge on bio­di­ver­si­ty in Nor­thern Eu­ro­pe as de­scri­bed in the article.

In­tro­duc­tion



In the first sen­tence (um­brel­la sen­tence) men­ti­on the



-  type of text

-  title

-  author

- topic



and then make clear which aspect(s) you are wri­ting about.



Main Part



- Give the im­portant in­for­ma­ti­on on the re­ques­ted aspects in a lo­gi­cal order.



- Make sure to write in the pre­sent tense. Use other ten­ses only to show that so­me­thing

hap­pen­ed even fur­ther in the past or will hap­pen in the fu­ture.



- Use your own words and in­di­rect speech in­s­tead of quo­ta­ti­ons.

- Focus only on the re­ques­ted aspects.



- Write as short as pos­si­ble, but as long as necess­a­ry.



- Use lin­king words to struc­tu­re your text.



- DON'T give your own opi­ni­ons or in­ter­pret the me­a­ning of the text.



- DON'T give de­tails, num­bers or ex­amp­les.