Sample Outlines

Introduction

First sentence: writer, title, text type, context, topic of the passage* → the heartbeat

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Include as many fundamental details of the passage as possible

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Text type → e.g. article, editorial, blog post, speech, cartoon, advertisement

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Context → where and when the passage was published

Second sentence: purpose, target audience

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Purpose

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fact-based passage → e.g. to describe, to inform, to explain

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opinion-based passage → e.g. to argue, to claim, to criticize

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Target audience that

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designates a specific group → e.g. competitive cyclists, tourists in Australia

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excludes a specific group → e.g. readers who are not experts on medicine, readers who have not experienced poverty

Organization by Techniques