APA Essay Outline Template

If you are writing an APA paper, you may have also been asked to provide an APA outline.  However, if you have been looking for how to write an APA outline, you may find yourself floundering because the examples out there contradict each other.  That is because there is not actually a standard format for an APA outline.  As long as the outline complies with the style guidelines established for APA papers, you have some leeway for how to write your APA outline.  The guidelines you need to make sure you incorporate are: use a 12-point font (Sheriff, Times New Roman, or Courier); double space; page numbers in the upper right of the paper; use 1 inch margins; and do not use underlined text.  You may be asked to provide a decimal outline, but unless that is the specific assignment, stick to the standard Roman numeral outline format.  You will see that, for a basic APA paper, the outline is literally identical to the outline for a standard five-paragraph essay.  

I. Introduction

A. Supporting statement 1

B. Supporting statement 2

C. Supporting statement 3

D. Thesis

II. Supporting statement 1

A. Evidence

B. Evidence

C. Evidence

III. Supporting statement 2

A. Evidence

B. Evidence

C. Evidence

IV. Supporting statement 3

A. Evidence

B. Evidence

C. Evidence

V. Conclusion

A. Restate thesis

B. Restate supporting statement 1

C. Restate supporting statement 2

D. Restate supporting statement 3

APA Essay Outline Example

The APA essay is the standard format for many academic essays, though English (ELA) essays and many essays in the humanities may be written in MLA format.  APA format lets you use the standard five-paragraph format for creating your essays.  Of course, if your paper needs to be longer than five paragraphs, you can easily expand your outline.  In fact, for larger papers, rather than using just a sentence to explain each point, you might use a paragraph or more.  While you can expand your outline to reflect that, you can also create a basic outline that allows you to flesh it out more while writing your essay.  For our example, we are writing an outline for an informative or expository essay about the opioid epidemic.   

I. Opioid Epidemic

A. What is the opioid epidemic

B. What are opioids

C. What caused the opioid crises

D. Opioid deaths 

E. What can be done to stop the crises

F. The opioid epidemic is ravaging parts of America and current interventions have been unsuccessful; if something is not done, the problem will only get worse

II. Define the opioid epidemic

A. Rapid increase in opioid usage in the U.S. since 1990s

B. Significant increase in deaths from opioid usage, which has actually altered life expectancy in the U.S.

C. Resulting changes in prescriptions have impacted pain management.

III. Define opioids

A. Drugs that bind to opioid receptors

B. Opiates are naturally occurring opioids derived from the opium poppy

IV. Causes of the opioid crises

A. Creation of synthetic opiates which drug manufacturers said were non-addictive

B. Over- prescription of opioids

C. Laws meant to reduce opioid addiction have left many people with chronic pain or addiction looking for alternatives

V. Opioid deaths

A. In 2017, 47,000 Americans died of opioid addiction

B. 118,000 worldwide deaths

C. So significant it is impacting life expectancy

VI. How to stop the crises

A. More caution with initial prescription of opioid pain relievers

B. Increase the availability of overdose reducing drugs like Naloxone

C. Improve pain management

D. Improve statistics and reporting to better understand the problem

VII. Conclusion

A. Without intervention the opioid epidemic will only get worse.

B. The opioid crises has complex causes

C. It has led to a number of deaths in the U.S. and abroad

D. There are steps that can be taken to reduce the impact of the crises