Outlining

You may not be familiar with outlining, but it’s a way of taking a large amount of information presented throughout the semester and condensing it in a manageable format that will help you learn, study and memorize. There is no “right way” to outline but it is recommended by the offices of ASP that you outline using the “IRAC” format.

Use your outline as a study tool and continually update and review past information.

Try different methods to best comprehend the material in your outline:

  1. Condense your outline from a large size to a small size to an even smaller size (“plan of attack outline” that is 5 pages long)
  2. Highlight certain parts of your outline and then transfer those highlighted parts to flash cards to help with memorization
  3. Reorganize your outline throughout the semester to better understand how topics, issues and rules relate to a larger picture

Click here for an example and guide to outlining. Keep in mind that outlining differs depending on student and course.