PROMPT An outline will help you map out your Researched Argument before you begi

PROMPT
An outline will help you map out your Researched Argument before you begin writing it so you won’t get lost during the drafting process. Below, I include a skeletal structure that you might want to follow for your own outline. Note that each subsection may in reality be more than one paragraph, depending on the subclaim. You may find you need more or fewer subsections, depending on what supporting points you need to establish in order to prove your thesis.
PREPARATION
Look back at the conclusion of your Literature Review. What existing gaps in the literature where more research needs to be done, areas where a different argument needs to be made, or parts of the story that need to be reconsidered did you identify? This is where you might be able to make a unique contribution to the conversation. Your thesis for the Researched Argument will likely fill one of these gaps, make one of these needed arguments, or reconsider one of these parts of the story.
Week 10’s lesson, Thesis Statements: Roadmapping the Researched Argument, will help you refine your thesis statement from there. After you refine your thesis, write an outline that will help you prove your thesis step by step. To write an effective outline for your Researched Argument, you should have a good grasp on the importance of subclaims to an argument. See Week 11’s lesson, How to Organize an Argument: Making Claims and Subclaims for resources and a breakdown of these concepts.
CONTENT & STRUCTURE
(You may find you need to establish more subclaims to effectively support your thesis. 3 is the bare minimum.)
Introduction
Topic overview to contextualize argument to come.
Situates your argument to come by identifying the general themes and arguments in the conversation. You might not talk about every camp, or every theme. Instead, you’ll focus on those that are the closest to your argument. These may be the camps, themes, or arguments that you are building on, either by agreeing or disagreeing with the positions.
Identifies major voices in the conversation that have influenced or refined your thinking and provides definitions for key terms.
States your unique, tension-filled thesis (main claim).
Section heading 1 (subclaim 1)
Grounds 1 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 2 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 3 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Implications of subclaim 1 on conversation
Transition
Section heading 2 (subclaim 2)
Grounds 1 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 2 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 3 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Implications of subclaim 2 on conversation
Transition
Section heading 3 (subclaim 3)
Grounds 1 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 2 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 3 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Implications of subclaim 3 on conversation
Transition
Section heading 4 (back to the main claim; synthesizing previous subclaims and evidence to tie-in to main claim)
Grounds 1 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 2 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Grounds 3 (with citation if applicable)
Warrants
Implications on conversation
Transition
Conclusion
Draws conclusions about topic described in introduction.
Predicts impact and implications of your research and discusses further applications of your paper.
Discusses what still needs to be learned, discussed, or researched.
Briefly summarizes how your research and work has altered or refined your thinking on the topic, including interesting discoveries or insights along the way.
Suggests new directions for the research to move in.
FORMAT & GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
.doc or .docx
academic heading and title
Times New Roman font and 1″ margins
All source material cited consistently (may be MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.—as long as it is consistent to a single style guide) with a works cited page at the end