STEP 6.  Writing a detailed, revised, or final outline


person writing at desk

Skim through all your notecards and organize them into groups of like topics according to your subject headings and the points in your tentative outline.  Look at the tentative central ideas and outline that you formulated earlier.  Does the information you have on your notecards support your main points?  You will now need to refine your central idea and develop the subtopics using parallel structure in your topical outline to accurately reflect the research that you have uncovered.  You may even decide at this point that you need to take additional notes.  After filling in the gaps in your research, go back to your outline a third time and subdivide to fill in the specific examples and details that you will discuss in your paper.