Zoey is beginning to work on a class presentation. She knows the assignment requires an outline, but she does not really know what an outline should look like. Before reaching out to her professor, Zoey searches online for sample outlines. She finds many examples that look very different from one another. When she asks her roommate for advice, her roommate suggests writing and organizing all of the information she is considering including in the presentation. When she asks a friend, her friend suggests writing out exactly what she plans to say, exactly as she plans to say it. When she asks another student in the class, the student says they are planning on just writing a few words and phrases that they can look at when giving the presentation. By the time Zoey finally reaches out to her professor, she is more confused about what an outline should look like than when she started.

So, what should Zoey do? Should she follow the advice of her roommate and put every idea she has in her outline? Should she follow her friend’s advice to carefully outline exactly what she plans to say? Or should she follow the other student’s example and just write words and phrases to help her present? The best answer may be to do all three! There are many different types of outlines, and each can accomplish a different purpose. When creating presentations, we would recommend creating three different types of outlines: A draft outline, a full sentence outline, and a presentational outline. Creating three outlines for a single presentation may sound excessive, but each version can be used to create the next. If you have ever noticed that bad presentations often seem random or disjointed while good presentations flow smoothly from one idea to the next, that is because writing good presentations requires doing the work of collecting lots of information, choosing how to organize and support main points, and ensuring the vocal delivery of the presentation follows the written plan. Creating the three types of outlines will help you accomplish those tasks. This chapter describes each type in detail and provides sample outlines

People often want to wait to start outlining their presentations until they know what their main points are going to be and what they want to say in each. However, outlining can be a helpful tool for figuring out what you want say and when. Once you have started researching and learning about your topic, one of the best things you can do is start outlining. A draft outline is the name for that first outline, and—as the name implies—it functions like a first draft. As you are researching, start writing down short versions of the main ideas that you think you might want to include in the speech. These might just be a phrase or a sentence. Be sure to include the name of the author or article title while doing this (Trust us, this is much easier than going back and trying to figure out who said what later).

As you start to decide what you think your main points will be, you can begin to cut and paste the various ideas you have written down into the main point that they best fit with. You may notice that some areas need more information, and some information that you wrote down does not fit well within any of the main points. Rather than deleting that information, move it to the very end of the document—if you decide to change your organization or refocus your speech, it may become useful again. You can also play around with the ordering of your subpoints to see what flows the most smoothly. Remember, this is your first draft. The American novelist Ernest Hemmingway is often quoted as saying “The first draft of anything is shit.” This is probably a bit harsh, but you also should not expect that the first ideas you find or the first way you organize your ideas will be your best work. Some improvements or connections will only become apparent to you after you have been working on organizing your ideas for a while. A first draft is supposed to change. Your draft outline will be messy and imperfect, but— luckily— you do not have to show it to anyone.

Once you have all of your key information in place in your draft outline, you can begin writing your full sentence outline. A full sentence outline is a polished outline, written in complete sentences, that includes what you actually plan to say in your presentation.

The most commonly used structure for an outline starts with Roman numerals for the major sections (Introduction, Body, Conclusion) and then moves to capital letters (for main points), Arabic numerals (for subpoints), lowercase letters (for support information), and occasionally lowercase Roman numerals (for detailed supporting information). This sounds complex, but you are probably more familiar with this approach than you might think. Below is an outline and some details about what kinds of information go where. To see more of what this looks like in practice, view the sample outline at the end of this chapter. An outline in this format looks like this:

I. Major section one. The first level of an outline can be the major sections of a presentation (Introduction, Body, or Conclusion).

A. Main point one. This is where you would put main points within a section of your speech. These might be each of the parts of an introduction, or each of the 2-4 main points within the body of your speech.

1. Subpoint one. Each of your main points will likely have some large subpoints under it.

a. Support. Some subpoints will have additional support such as specific studies, information from your supporting materials, or other things your listeners should know to understand the subpoint.

i. Detailed support. Occasionally, you may wish to break down your supporting information even further. This is rare in shorter presentations, but becomes more likely if you are giving a particularly long presentation.

ii. Detailed support. Some readers/teachers will get grumpy if you have only one entry at a particular subheading level (such as an “a” but no “b” or a “i” but no “ii”). We aren’t those teachers, but we just want to warn you.

b. Support. More controversial claims may require multiple pieces of evidence to support them.

2. Subpoint two. Your main points will typically have multiple subpoints. Each of these may potentially have support information under it as the previous subpoint did.  

B. Main point two. Put the second main point of this major section here. Add subpoints and support points as needed.

(TRANSITION) Include a sentence that connects the ideas in the previous main point to the next main point.

II. Major section two. If the first major section was your introduction, the second would be the body. From here, you can just repeat the pattern in section I.

With this general structure in mind, here are some pieces of advice for creating and structuring your full-sentence outline:

1. Start each outline in a NEW document/file. You can cut and paste your draft outline into the new document when creating a full sentence outline, but keep the draft outline as a separate document in case you need to go back for things you have deleted.
2. For guidance on determining what your main points should be, refer back to the chapter on organizing your presentation. You should be able to articulate each of your main points as a sentence. These sentences should have a parallel structure and make sense together. In other words, if you just said the three sentences in a row, you should be able to easily understand how the parts of the speech fit together. If you squeezed them into a single sentence, they should sound a lot like the preview statement in your introduction.
3. Each of your points should typically move from more general (main points) to more specific (subpoints and supporting information). Each of your main points is a broader idea. The subpoints and supporting information you include are more specific details and data that help your audience understand and believe your main points. Specific data, studies, examples can be powerful ways of supporting your main points, but they are rarely essential and should almost never be your main points.
4. Try to keep your main points balanced. They do not need to be exactly equal, but it will be confusing to your audience if your first main point takes five minutes to deliver and your second takes 30 seconds. A quick way to estimate that is simply to see how much space they take on the page. If they are roughly equal lengths, they will likely take similar amounts of time to deliver.
5. If one of your subpoints is based on information you found while researching for your presentation, be sure to include a citation in the full sentence outline AND the presentational outline. You are much more likely to remember to make the correct oral citation when delivering the presentation if you have it in your written outlines.

Once you have written everything you want to say out in your full sentence outline, you can create your presentational outline. A presentational outline is a shortened outline from which you deliver your presentation. Why not just use your full sentence outline? Particularly when delivering an in-person speech to a live audience, speaking off of a detailed, full sentence outline typically leads to reading to your audience. You have probably seen speakers that simply read a script at their audience; it is rarely an effective way to deliver a presentation. You will find it exceptionally difficult to maintain a conversational delivery, create any eye contact, or monitor your audience’s nonverbal feedback when speaking from a full sentence outline.

Presentational outlines are shorter. They condense the contents of the full sentence outline into key terms and phrases. You may begin by practicing your delivery from the full sentence outline, but—once you have practiced enough and really know the content of your presentation—the key terms and phrases of your presentational outline will be enough to let you remember everything you plan to say as you deliver the presentation. Your goal should be to not rely on the outline, but simply have it available to glance at when you need a quick reminder of what to say next.

In addition to condensing the contents of your full sentence outline, there are a few things you will want to be sure to include:

1. You will want to write out your citations. If you are citing multiple sources within a presentation, it can be difficult to keep track of which citations go where while you are delivering the presentation. It is easiest to just write out how you plan to say your citation. It might look odd on the page, but your outline might have multiple short phrases followed by something like “In a study published in Nature in 2022, a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins found _______.”
2. You may wish to write out certain sentences if it is important to get the wording exactly right. It is usually wise to write out any direct quotations from your sources. You may also wish to write out key sentences such as your first and last sentences or thesis statement.
3. You may wish to add delivery notes. Are there certain words you wish to emphasize? Write them in all capital letters. Moments you wish to move? Times to change slides? Places you need to pause to show a slide? Make notes in bold in your delivery outline.
4. You should keep it as clean and uncluttered as possible so it is easy to find your place and see what is next at the same time you are speaking to your audience. Remember that this version of your outline is designed to be used WHILE you are speaking. Depending on the speaking situation, you may be viewing your outline on a screen, sheet of paper, slides, or notecards while you are speaking. Do not write in small letters or use small font to try to squeeze more in. You do not want to have to pause your speech and squint at your outline to re-find your place in it.
5. You do not need to worry about your presentational outline being grammatically or stylistically perfect. In most speaking situations, you will be the only person who sees it. You may choose to simply delete connecting words, phrases, or whole sentences from your full-sentence outline when creating your presentational outline. Punctuation is only important if it helps your verbal delivery (for example, a question mark may remind you to deliver a sentence as a question). What is important is that the outline works for you.

This chapter covered the various types of outlines you can use when creating a presentation. A draft outline is where you can dump any information about your topic as you find it. The purpose of a draft outline is to help you collect all of your information in one place, organize it, and begin making decisions about how to structure your presentation. A full sentence outline is where you write out the speech as you plan to say it. Here, you are removing things from the draft outline that you do not wish to include, making sure you have the right citations/supporting information to support your argument, and writing out the specific wording you want to use. A presentational outline is what you will use while actually delivering the speech. It is an abbreviated version of your full sentence outline with delivery notes that—with sufficient practice—you can glance at while speaking to ensure you stay on track and deliver the presentation as planned. It may seem excessive to create three outlines for every presentation you deliver, but each of them is simply a tool to help you work through the basic steps of writing any presentation. We have included a sample full sentence and delivery outline to give you a model of how this might look when developing your own outlines.

Sample Full Sentence Outline

I. Introduction

A. Attention Getter: People consistently rank public speaking ahead of death in terms of what they most fear.

B. Relevance Statement: We are all in a class that requires public speaking, which means each one of us will experience the stress of standing in front of a crowd and speaking. Meditation offers an effective way to manage that stress, on a budget any student can afford.

C. Credibility Statement: As someone who personally experiences anxiety when giving speeches, I have been researching meditation for this assignment, and I have already started using what I’ve learned to help me feel more comfortable and confident when speaking.

D. Thesis Statement: Meditation offers an effective tool to manage stress and increase happiness that you can start using today.

E. Preview Statement: My presentation today will describe what meditation is, how it affects the brain, and some simple meditation practices that anyone can use to improve their lives in a variety of ways.

II. Body

A. What is meditation?

1. Mindfulness meditation is the practice of training awareness in ways that can help people focus or clear their minds.

2. Meditation is the word we use to describe many different approaches. You may have heard of some of them. They include mindfulness meditation, yoga, vipassana, mantra meditation, and transcendental meditation.

3. Meditation practices are common in many religious traditions, but a person doesn’t need to be religious to meditate.

a. According to the Cleveland Clinic (2022), various forms of meditation have developed in Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and others. Yoga, which has origins in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, is a form of meditation that is commonly practiced around the world as a secular practice.

(TRANSITION) Meditation probably emerged in all of these different cultures and forms because it has so many beneficial effects on the human brain.

B. Meditation can affect the brain in profound ways.

1. Researchers found that college students who took a one-hour college course on meditation experienced substantial reductions in stress levels (St. Martin, et al., 2022).

2. Meditation can also reduce the effects of stress on the body, which can strengthen the immune system and help prevent illness.

3. Meditation can improve focus and happiness.

a. Meditation can increase focus, which can increase happiness. In a famous study entitled “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” Harvard researchers found that when people’s minds wandered from what they were doing, they were less happy. That was even true when people were doing an unpleasant task but thinking about something that was pleasant. Regardless of what a person was doing, being focused on that task was better for their happiness (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010).

(TRANSITION) Many of these brain benefits can be accessed through simple mindfulness meditation practices that anyone can do.

C. Mindfulness meditation offers simple exercises that anyone can use to improve their lives.

1. Sitting Meditation: One simple version of meditation just involves setting a time for 10-15 minutes, sitting in a quiet room, and trying to clear your mind by focusing on the sensation of breathing in and out. When you notice your thoughts wandering, simply return your attention to your breath. Repeat this process as many times as necessary during the 10-15 minutes.

2. Walking Meditation: Another easy meditation is a walking meditation. As you are walking across campus, spend a minute or so each focused on the following questions: What do you see? What do you hear? What smells do you notice? How does your body feel? How does the ground feel under your feet? Can you focus on the sensation of your body moving?

3. Many meditation teachers offer guided meditations that can be streamed or downloaded for free. Meditation apps such as Headspace, Calm, or 10 Percent Happier offer free trials and student discounts.

III. Conclusion

A. Review Statement: Today I discussed what meditation is, how it affects the brain, and some simple practices that anyone can use to reduce their own stress.

B. Restate Relevance: As we all deal with the stresses of having to give speeches, and of being college students, meditation is one way to reduce stress that we can all afford.

C. Restate Thesis: Meditation offers an effective tool to manage stress and increase happiness that you can start using today.

D. Strong Close: While the majority of people fear public speaking more than death, you don’t have to. You will be able to calmly and confidently speak in any situation now that you know what to do: meditate.

Works Cited

Cleveland Clinic. (2022). Meditation. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17906-meditation

Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science (New York, N.Y.), 330(6006), 932. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439

St. Martin, M.W., Vidic, Z., & Oxhandler, R. (2022). Exploring the impact of a mindfulness meditation class on college student stress levels and quality of life, Journal of American College Health, DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2133962

Sample Presentational Outline

I. Intro

A. People consistently rank public speaking ahead of DEATH in terms of what they most fear.

B. All in public speaking. Meditation an effective way to manage that stress, on a budget ANY student can afford.

C. I experience anxiety. researching, using to feel more comfortable and confident.

D. Meditation offers an effective tool to manage stress and increase happiness that you can start using today.

E. what meditation is, how it affects the brain, and some simple meditation practices. (CHANGE SLIDE)

II. Body

A. What meditation is

1. Mindfulness meditation- training awareness help focus or clear mind.

2. Word used for many approaches- mindfulness, yoga, vipassana, mantra, and transcendental.

3. Common in many religious traditions, do not need to be religious to meditate. Cleveland Clinic- various forms of meditation have developed in Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and others. Yoga, origins in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, practiced around the world as a secular practice.

(CHANGE SLIDE) probably emerged in different cultures and forms because so beneficial

B. Affects brain

1. Journal of American College Health, one-hour college course on meditation lower stress

2. reduce the effects of stress on the body, prevent illness.

3. improve focus/happiness. Study “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” Harvard researchers found that when people’s minds wandered from what they were doing, they were less happy. Focus better for happiness.

(CHANGE SLIDE) Many benefits accessed through simple mindfulness meditation practices

C. Mindfulness meditation simple exercises

1. Sitting Meditation: 10-15 minutes, quiet room, focus on breath.

2. Walking Meditation: walking across campus, see? hear? smell? feel? Movement.

3. Free downloads. Headspace, Calm, or 10 Percent Happier trials, discounts. (CHANGE SLIDE)

III. Conclusion

A. what meditation is, how it affects the brain, and simple practices

B. stresses of speeches, being college students, meditation is one way to reduce stress that we can all afford.

C. Meditation offers an effective tool to manage stress and increase happiness that you can start using today. (CHANGE SLIDE)

D. While the majority of people fear public speaking more than death, you don’t have to. You will be able to calmly and confidently speak in any situation now that you know what to do: MEDITATE.