FREE 10+ Chapter Outline Samples in MS Word | Google Docs | Pages | PDF

Have you considered publishing your own novel or poem collection? Perhaps are you a college student working on your thesis paper? Or a high school student making a project analysis for your chemistry class? Maybe you know someone who loves recording a journal about a wide array of self-help books? Or are you a book reviewer who consciously analyzes and criticizes a certain material? These things commonly require the use of an outline. However, it appears to be a challenging task to deal with. That’s why we are bringing you free chapter outline samples you can download to guide you in your work or activity.

10+ Chapter Outline Samples

1. Lesson Plan Outline Template

2. Outline of the Chapter Plan

3. Dissertation Outline Template

4. Chapter Outline of Sub Project Plan

5. Annotated Chapter Outline Template

6. Chapter Outline Template

7. Chapter Outline Format Template

8. Sample Study Outline Template

9. Chapter Outline Note Template

10. Simple Chapter Outline Template

11. Grades 1-5 Chapter Outline

What is a Chapter Outline?

A chapter outline is basically an organized overview of a particular chapter from various reading materials or written documents which include textbooks, non-fiction books, handbooks and manuals, novels, thesis papers, exam papers, research reports, etc. It helps a person to have a glimpse and get the full picture of the specific material given.

Also, it is a useful tool for authors and writers in organizing their ideas and concepts, significant in envisioning the flow and outcome of their projects. Plus, students and readers frequently use this part in finding the highlighted points of the chapter, necessary for learning and absorbing the content of their materials.

How to Write a Chapter Outline?

The book “Writing Bestselling Children’s Books” explained that having a chapter outline is like being inside a safety net, it is something to turn to if you feel that your writing is losing focus or momentum because you don’t quite know where you’re traveling. It’s fine and normal to be cautious of excessive planning, but you must remember that you are the one who controls the outline, not itself. So, we provide in this section some useful tips that you should consider in writing a chapter outline:

1. Brainstorm all of the ideas and topics of the chapter

An article written by Julie Neidlinger of CoSchedule recommended using word association as it works better as a technique to get creative juices  flowing when you don’t want to bother with over-thinking how words are connected. You can do this by starting with a word or two, and writing down the first words that come to your mind. Avoid overthinking the process. Let yourself be surprised at the words that pop into your head, particularly as you get warmed up.

2. Write your ideas down on by mind-mapping or clustering

Based on an article published by Lumen Learning suggested the use of mind-mapping or clustering. These methods can help you become knowledgeable about different ways in thinking about a subject. To do this, write your general subject down in the middle of a piece of paper. After that, take a whole sheet of paper as you quickly jot down ideas connected to that subject. If an idea generates other ideas, link them together using lines and circles to form a cluster of ideas. Creating lines and circles in this process shows visually how your ideas are relevant to one another and to the main subject.

3. Review your ideas and link similar ideas together

Reevaluate what you have written in your draft about your book project. Contemplate what specific ideas or concepts that are necessary and related to your work. It’s like refining the words you collected from the start and taking only the essential bits of information, leaving the random and excess parts behind.

4. Decide on the overall theme

Assess your perspective about your work. Identify the subject revealed in the material. C.S. Lakin, an author, editor and the one behind the Live Write Thrive blog, often calls the theme “the heart of a story.” Consider this: What should be the theme fulfilled in order to become the heart of a story? So, think deeply and carefully decide what your overall theme will be according to the information you gathered.

FAQs

Take note that every textbook, novel, or any literature out there varies from one another and may need a slightly altered outlining process.  So, if you are an aspiring author or novelist, you may need to send your publisher a chapter by chapter outline of your book. This is an important part of helping the publishers have a look at your entire book without the need of reading the full content of your work. Therefore, we are glad to provide you with some downloadable and printable chapter outline samples here in various formats. Simply click the templates in this article and start downloading now!