After doing all the research and finding the sources, create an outline of your paper to organize your thoughts. Look at your notes and group all the information that fits together. For example, if you found information about a person’s childhood in three different sources, group all this information in one section of your paper.
Format your outline in the following way:
- Introduction (Thesis Statement)
- Main heading/idea of section #1
- Supporting detail 1
- Supporting detail 2
- Supporting detail 3
- Main heading/idea of section #2
- Supporting detail 1
- Supporting detail 2
- Supporting detail 3
- Main heading/idea of section #3
- Supporting detail 1
- Supporting detail 2
- Supporting detail 3
- Conclusion
- You may break each section into multiple paragraphs. For example, in Main Heading/Idea Section #1 you could have three paragraphs – each one providing more information about one supporting detail. For example, if you are writing about a person's life, and the Main Idea of Section # 1 is the person's childhood, you could have three separate paragraphs -- one each for his birth and family, early childhood, and the highs school/college years.
- Once you have the outline, you should be able to fill in the information for each section to create the first draft of your paper.