What is an Outline?
An outline is a plan or a summary for a writing project or speech. Outlines are generally done in form of lists with headings and subheadings. They help the author to order his ideas and to clarify the message of his work. By creating and looking at an outline, he can see what is missing, which points need more elaboration, and which need to be replaced.
Why should I create an outline?
- Outlines allow you to see exactly how the points of your content will fit together before you start your rough draft.
- Outlines can also stimulate new thoughts for your topic.
- Aids the process of creation.
- Helps you organize your ideas.
- Shows the relationships among ideas in your content
How do I create an outline in 5 steps?
Based on the 4 key principles of content design, let us now attempt at creating the content outline.
STEP 1: BRAINSTORM
List the sub-concepts linked to the main idea/concept. Think about the small packets that will aid the delivery of the main concept.
STEP 2: ELABORATE
Define one key learning of each sub-concept and note down the coverage of the content.
STEP 3: ORGANIZE
Arrange the subconcepts in a sequence– the flow of content. Keeping in mind the pre-acquired knowledge of the learners and linkages between concepts to reinforce previous learnings at each step.
STEP 4: PLAN FOR FORMAT AND DURATION
In this step, we ideate on the format of content (i.e. text, video, or graphic) and how much time will be spent on each sub-concept.
STEP 5: ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
In this step, we plan for the check of understanding. Where will we have assessments, which concept will be tested, and the format of the assessment (MCQ, Long/short answer, fill in the blank, match the following, etc.)
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