How to Outline

Every book is a unified whole. A unified whole is made up of two things: the  whole and the parts, and they are related to one another and ordered toward one another in some sort of organization that we call a unity. The unified whole of a book is the purpose behind the orderly arrangement of its parts. This unity is what we call the theme of the book; we say this is what the book is  about.

Outlining is the attempt to show as explicitly as possible the whole and the parts and how they are unified. You must know how the book is one, and how the book is many. If you know the book’s whole, then you know how it is one. If you know the book’s parts, then you know how it is many.

The first step in this process is to state the unity of the whole in the shortest way possible--preferably in a single sentence. You must be able to say clearly what the unity is, otherwise you will never be sure that you really know it. This statement--the statement of the unity of the book--should serve as the one main point of your whole outline, possibly even your title, if you can get it short enough.

The second step is to set forth the major parts of the book and indicate how they are organized in relation to the whole and each other. The relation of the parts to the whole is indicated by listing them as sub-points underneath the major points. The relation of the parts to the other parts is indicated by the order in which you list the sub-points.

The kind and length of the book will determine how complex your outline will be. If you are outlining an article, your outline will be much shorter and simpler than a book. Since most books are broken down by chapter, you will want to have an outline for each chapter. The outline of the book will consist of all the chapter outlines in order.

Each chapter outline or article outline should be about three levels deep, each indented . In other words, the main parts should appear first, with no indents, and should be indicated with Roman numerals. The subparts should appear underneath the main parts, indented once, and should be indicated by capitol letters. The parts of the subparts should appear underneath the subparts, indented twice, and should be indicated by numerals. The parts, subparts and parts of the subparts should appear in your outline in the same order that they appear in the book.

The following example illustrates how an outline should look:

Outline of "How to Outline a Book"

I. What a book is

A. A book is a unified whole

B. A unified whole is made up of the whole and its parts

C. We call this unified whole the theme of the book or what it is about

II. What outlining is

A. Outlining is the attempt to show the unified whole

1. Knowing how the book is one

2. Knowing how the book is many

B. The two steps in outlining

1. Showing the whole

2. Showing the parts

III. How outlining should be done

A. Determine what kind of book it is

            1. Theoretical (answers the question "What?" or "Why?"

                        a. History

                        b. Science

                        c. Philosophy

            2. Practical (answers the question "How?"

B. State the unity  of the book in one sentence

            1. State how it is one: what is the theme or plan or purpose of the book?

            2. State how it is many

                        a. Tell what each of the major parts of the book is about in one sentence each

                        b. Tell what each part of each minor part is about in one sentence each

                        c. Continue this process one more step  down, where necessary