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Advantages of Outlining:

In outlining, an organized listing of major topics is sub-divided by details and sub-details. This kind of organization has many advantages. In the first place, it helpsyou see the relationship between the major topics and the details that support them, and between the supporting details and the supporting sub-details. At the same time that it facilitates yourperception of these relationships, it also helps to increase your understanding of the content of the reading selection.
Outlining requires that you organize ideas in a logical manner for others valuablepurposes. As you categorize ideas into topics, supporting details, and sub-details, it is easier for you to get an idea of the author’s overall plan and of the structure he has used to expose hisideas. In other words, outlining helps you understand not only what the author says, but also how he says it.
A fourth advantage of outlining is that it makes it easier for you to retain importantideas. This is possible because outlining requires that the content be given in a very short form.
Finally, an outline constitutes a valuable source of information either for immediate or for furtherreference.

The form of the Outline

An outline may have from one to five levels. Details are categorized on the first level. Sub-details are categorized on the second, third, fourth and fifthlevels accordingly. The complexity of the material to be outlined or the fullness of the details determines the number of levels required to outline a given paragraph. Outlines consisting of one, two, orthree levels will probably suffice for most of the material that you usually read.
Numerals and letters are used to identify major topics, details and sub-details. Roman numerals are used for majortopics, capital letters for details, and Arabic numerals and small letters for sub-details.

Three basic forms of outlines:

A scratch outline is one that consists of a series of notes that are...