Analytical Outline Assignment

Exercise

Students should complete the entire assigned reading ahead of class. Professor MacDougall will assign students a portion of that reading as the basis for the in-class analytical outline exercise. Students will be given a hard-copy of the section and should complete the outline by hand in the first 45 minutes of class. Students are expected to focus exclusively on the reading, so no notes or devices are permitted during this time.

Format

An analytical outline explains the structure and content of an article by outlining the article (in bullet points or numbers) in a way that shows the logical relationship of different arguments and claims in the article to the author’s thesis. Students should use bullet points to distinguish between the thesis and various arguments, sub-arguments, objections, etc. Use indentation to show subordinate arguments or points. 

The structure of an Analytical Outline should be something like this:

• Thesis
  • Argument 1
    • Sub-argument A
    • Sub-argument B
    • Objection
      • Response to Objection
  • Argument 2
    • Sub-argument A
    • etc.

The number of arguments, sub-arguments, objections, etc appearing in the student’s outline should be determined by what the author says in the essay. If the author only has two major arguments, for example, the outline should have 2 major arguments. If the author does not address objections, the outline shouldn’t contain them either. Analytical outlines attempt to analyze what is in a reading, and so should merely reflect what is there in a more abstract form.

It should be clear in the student’s outline how arguments support the thesis, how sub-arguments support arguments, etc.

We will discuss the meaning of terms like “thesis,” “major argument,” “objection,” etc in class.

Evaluation

An excellent Analytical Outline will show evidence of close reading of the article and careful attention to the structure of the argument as a whole. The outline should be well-organized and it should be clear how the arguments, sub-arguments, objections etc support the thesis.