Research Report Outline

The next milestone for your research report is to prepare an outline. This is the part of the project when all of the details start coming together, and you have an opportunity to organize the data you have collected. In addition, this outline is the first step of actually writing your research report. This outline asks you to include topic sentences for each major section of your research report. A topic-sentence outline is very similar to a traditional outline. The only difference is the inclusion of complete sentences rather than key terms. The topic sentences should serve the same purpose as a topic sentence in a paragraph-describes what the entire paragraph is about.

You may have already prepared a few of the items in this assignment. Now, you can gather the major sections of your research report and begin building it from a big picture perspective. Once the big picture is in place, the only thing left to do is insert the supporting details.

Include at least the following in your outline:

A topic sentence for the introduction
A topic sentence for the purpose of the report
A hypothesis
Five topic sentences for the body of the report
A topic sentence for your recommendations/conclusions

Use your own words and apply APA style, if necessary.