Your outline should be in traditional form (i.e., Roman
numberals indicating major premises in your argument, letters of
the alphabet indicating subpoint of each premise, arabic numbers
indicating primary and secondary sources used to support each
subpoint). I am not a fanatic about requiring balance for an
outline (i.e., for every "A" there must be a "B"). However, you
should know that the absence of such balance in an outline usually
indicates a flaw in the way you are thinking of an argument.
Each numeric entry in your outline should contain a complete
declarative sentence. For example, "A. stuff on Roman religious
practices," is not acceptable [in fact, it is very bad].
"A. Roman religious thinking required every individual in the
community to participate in rituals meant to affirm the
relationship between the community and its gods," on the other
hand is excellent. When you write your first draft of your paper,
you will discover that these sentences will become the topic
sentences (or at least the rough draft of topic sentences) of each
paragraph you will write.
The only exception to the rule of complete sentences in the
outline is the first and last Roman numeral entry. i.e., "I" can
simply say "Introduction," and "VI" can simply say "Conclusion."
However, the alphabetical entries beneath each must contain
complete sentences.
Your outline should include the quotes you plan to use in your
paper and the proper citation for them. If you intend to quote a
paragraph from a trial transcript, for example, to support an
argument that the participants rejected the jurisdiction of U.S.
federal courts, your outline should look something like this.
1. The defendant's first move was to reject the authority
of U.S. courts to adjudicate claims against them.
These so called "crimes" happened in Indian Country, not
the United States. You have not right, you have no
authority, you have no proper place in my land. All you have
is the power your guns give you.
James F. Jones, A Blinding Light (New York,
Random House: 1990), p. 117 (quoting trial transcript in
U.S. v. Jones).
For other points in your argument, you may decide to cite
sources, but not quote them. In such cases, your outline should
give the "jump cite" for the source. A "jump cite" indicates the
page in the source where a reader may find the evidence you rely
on to support your argument. In such cases, your outline should
look something like this.
3. The local community unanimously applauded the court's
decision.
a. Sunday Morning Register, 10/18/92, (Portland,
ME) p. 37 (editorial page).
b. Herald Tribune, 10/20/92, (Portland, ME) p. 14
(editorial page).
c. Daily News, 10/21/92, (Portland, ME) p. 7 (news
article reporting on rally).
As you write and edit drafts of your paper, you will discover
that you need to change decisions you made in your outline (i.e.,
some quotes will become jump cites, some jump cites will become
block quotes). You may also decide to rearrange your argument
(III.B.1 may become II.C.2). I expect you to make these kinds of
changes as you write and edit. You will discover that you will
need to make fewer of them, and that you will be make them more
easily because you have begun with a thorough outline.