10Research Strategies
  
   
Working Outline

The working outline has the research question or the thesis statement at the top. The main categories and sub-categories of information should be listed; traditional outline format may be used or the form can be less rigid. The researcher should make the first preliminary outline as soon as a survey of the topic is completed. New categories and sub-categories can be added as work progresses. The computer is wonderful for doing the outline because making changes in the text is so easy with a word processor. 
 
The headings and sub-headings on the outline are used as headings on the note cards. When the student researcher finds information she deems important to her topic, she either fits it into an existing category or creates a new one.

Key Idea
The outline keeps changing until the first draft is completed. The tension between what she expected and what she actually finds is a check-and-balance reminder that keeps the researcher in touch with her original idea stated in the research question and fleshed out in the research proposal.

 
 

 
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© 1999, 2000, 2002 Virginia Bower (Mars Hill College), Charlene Kiser (Milligan College), Kim McMurtry (Montreat College), Ellen Millsaps (Carson-Newman College), Katherine Vande Brake (King College). All rights reserved. This manual was made possible by a Culpeper grant from the Appalachian College Association; click here for information. If you encounter difficulties with these web pages, please notify kmcmurtry@montreat.edu.