The fourth step in writing a report is outlining. An outline is a writing plan. It helps you organize what you want to write about in a logical order. Many practice activities can be done to teach outlining. Start out by practicing assembling an outline. The teacher can give the child a selection to read and an envelope containing a cut-up outline of the selection. The students task is to assemble the outline correctly. This method is easier than copying the pieces of an outline because the students can arrange and rearrange them until they look right. This is an excellent activity to teach outlining skills before the students are asked to make an outline of their own. The students can exchange with their classmates so that they have enough practice with it.
Them the parts of an outline should be introduced. Every outline has a title. The main topics are written next to Roman numerals. 8subtopics are ideas or information about the main topic. They are written next to capital letters below the main topics. Details that tell about the subtopics are written next to numbers below the subtopics. The students should see a sample of the set up of a blank outline so they can get a picture of what it looks like. For example:
TITLE
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I. MAIN TOPIC
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A. SUBTOPIC
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1. DETAIL
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2. DETAIL
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B. SUBTOPIC
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II. MAIN TOPIC
Once the students have seen the form than a variety of practice activities on outling can be done varying from giving the students an outline of a reading selection with some major headings and other items provided where they must fill in the rest to reading a selection and outlining it from scratch.
Spend as much time as necessary on this section. You may need a week or more depending on how well your students grasp it. Once they have this under their belt, have the class outline the notes Ted took on Brazil in the last step. They must decide what Ted will write and the order Ted will write the information in. When all the students have made their outline collect them and see if they have the idea. If not, more practice activities are needed. If so then return the outlines and have the class come up with an agreed upon outline on the board. An example of what the beginning of what Ted’s outline could look like is:
The Amazon Region of Brazil
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I. Introduction
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A. Facts about Amazon Region
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1. Location
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2. importance
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3. population
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B.
When this lesson is completed and understood, have them outline their own notes. Again, take as much time as needed. It is important that this is done accurately because this will be the basis for writing the report.