Outlines are one way to organize information; they provide a structure that allows the writer to put things into a logical order so the paper flows nicely. One helpful thing about this particular assignment is that the basics for the outline are already there, because your instructor has given you what she expects to be included, some of which are:
The full list of what should be included can act like an outline checklist; as long as you include all sections in your outline, you have everything covered!
Outlines are generally set up using numbers and letters for main and supporting points. Typical outlines start with Roman numerals (I., II., III., etc.) as the broadest points, the big ones that encompass a lot of sub-points. Andy decides his first broad point is history and background of the disease, so that gets his first Roman numeral. Under that, he decides that the most important thing is describing what amyloidosis and prions are, so he gives that supporting point the A position. Under the capital letters come standard numerals, and then lower-case letters, and then small Roman numerals.
Andy can look at what the paper needs to include and arrange these into the main and sub-points in his outline, providing a little detail here and there from his research to help him get organized and get a jump on writing. He notes that for his paper, he doesn’t have much for the history, since prions were pretty much unknown until the 1980s—relatively new compared to diseases like rabies, plague, anthrax, and scores of others. But because prions are still somewhat mysterious and many people don’t know much about them, this is a good place to give his readers some background into the misfolding protein thing, and from there, it seems natural to him to put the symptoms and diagnosis in, too. Reading through what he puts down for his first section, he decides that the natural progression from describing what the disease is would be treating it, so he makes that his second main point (II).
Note that Andy included the brief citation information, including page numbers, in his detailed points from his research. This will make it much easier for him when he’s writing to get the full information relevant to that section—and to fill in the in-text citations!
Different students will have different organization and that isn’t wrong; some students may feel they want to separate their history and the symptoms and diagnosis into two main points or even three instead of lumping them into one; that’s OK. As long as the outline (and thus the paper) seems to have a logical flow to it, reorganizing the main points to suit your writing needs is a good idea.
Example: Andy’s first two main points in his outline:
Amyloid Protein A (AA) Amyloidosis in Cheetahs: A Race Against Death
Example Outline
Andy can continue to fill in his outline as he writes if he so chooses, adding more and more information, or he can use this as a guide to keep him on track when he writes. Some people don't find outlines useful in their writing process, and that's OK. There's more than one way to approach writing a paper; the trick is figuring out what way is right for you. Some students like to hand-write out sections on paper that they can cut apart physically and "rearrange" to see how it flows, while others may prefer a stream of consciousness writing style on a computer that they can then go back to later and clean up what they've written. Even if this (or another approach) is your preferred approach, you can still use the outline as a "checklist" to verify that you have indeed covered all of the points your professor wants.