A working outline is an outline you use for developing your paper. This is the outline where you lay out the basic structure of your paper. You must have a general and specific purpose; an introduction, including a grabber; and a concrete, specific purpose. You also need about three main points and a conclusion.
One strategy for beginning your working outline is to begin by typing in your labels for each of the elements. Later you can fill in the content.
When you look ahead to the full-sentence outline, you will notice that each of the three or so main points moves from the general to the particular. Specifically, each main point is a claim, followed by particular information that supports that claim so that the audience will perceive its validity. For example, for a paper about joining observations in Base SAS using Proc SQL, your first main point might focus on the idea that Proc SQL can be more efficient than the Merge statement. You might begin by making a very general claim, such as “One major advantage of using Proc SQL comes from the fact that datasets do not need to be explicitly presorted as Proc SQL will implicitly do the sorting for you,” and then become more specific by providing examples, syntax, or examples to support your primary claim.
A working outline allows you to work out the kinks in your paper, but more importantly it allows for paper reviewers to see the potential of the finished product. The working outline shouldn’t be thought of a “rough copy,” but as a careful step in the development of your message. It will take time to develop. The working outline will also help ensure that your abstract and your paper tie into one another.
Adapted from https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/public-speaking-practice-and-ethics/s15-02-types-of-outlines....
