Reverse Outlining

Hi, my name is Avery and I’m a class of 2024 Writing Center consultant. I’m studying English Literature with a minor in Poverty & Social Justice. At Elon, I’m part of the Honors Fellows program and a member of Danceworks (April 2023).

Struggling with a completed draft that doesn’t quite say what you want it to? A reverse outline can help. By breaking your paper down into its main points, this technique gives you a clearer view of structure, flow, and argument strength, making revisions less overwhelming and more effective.

Reverse Outlining: See the Forest for the Trees

Reverse outlines are great for helping with organization and structure. They help you evaluate how your ideas flow in a fully written draft, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of your argument, and assess the effectiveness of your thesis or main idea. By breaking your writing into its core components, you can see whether each paragraph is doing its job and whether your evidence is placed in the most impactful spot.

You can also use reserve outlines to make sure your structure is logical and all of your supporting evidence connects back to your thesis statements, which is critical in an effective piece of writing. Sometimes, simply reorganizing content you’ve already written can give your ideas more punch, and reverse outlining makes that process feel much less overwhelming.

Remember you can visit the Writing Center for help with this step.

To write a reverse outline:

1. Start with a completed draft.

2. Write one sentence or bullet point for each of the main points in your draft.

3. Ask yourself questions such as: “Does each paragraph relate to and support my argument?” or “Am I repeating myself?”.

For more information, check out this article from the University of Wisconsin-Madison:

Using AI to Jumpstart Your Reverse Outline

If you’re not sure where to start, AI tools can help you with the first step. You can copy and paste your draft into a program and ask it to summarize each paragraph. This can be a quick way to spot patterns, disorganization, or repetition that you may not have noticed while writing.

That said, AI doesn’t know your intent, voice, or goals. It can’t ask follow-up questions or help you brainstorm a stronger thesis. That’s where a Writing Center consultant can really make a difference. Talking through your outline with another writer can lead to new ideas, clearer structure, and stronger arguments.

Works Cited

Creating a reverse outline. The Writing Center. (n.d.). https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/reverseoutlines/