Informative Essay Outline Template

It is important to keep the goal in mind when you are writing an informative essay.  Informative essays provide information about a topic to a reader that is unfamiliar with the topic, or at least with the level of detail contained in the essay.  Informative essays should have plenty of information, and may provide the type of information that someone could use to make judgments or decisions, but are not the same as persuasive essays because the goal is not to encourage someone to embrace a particular position, but to give them the information they need to make their own decision.  

Some people love to write an essay and then create an outline.  Others see outlines as tools to help guide their writing and create an outline, even when it is not part of a writing assignment.  To be perfectly honest, the approach we take depends on the topic.   However, if you are having problems deciding how to write an informative essay, starting with a strong outline can make the writing process much easier.  Once your outline is written, all you have to do is flesh out your statements into full sentences.  

For our example, we are using the basic five-paragraph format, since it reflects the standard in most academic writing.  However, you can easily modify it by adding additional parts to your outline and then to your essay. 

I. Introduction

A. Fact 1

B. Fact 2

C. Fact 3

D. Thesis

II. Fact 1

A. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

B. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

C. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

III. Fact 2

A. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

B. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

C. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

IV. Fact 3

A. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

B. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

C. Supporting Statement/ Explanation

V. Conclusion

A. Restate Thesis

B. Restate Fact 1

C. Restate Fact 2

D. Restate Fact 3

E. Closing statement

Informative Essay Outline Example

This example outline is based on a basic five paragraph informative essay, designed to give a basic overview of a topic to a reader without prior knowledge of the topic.  The subject of this outline is human trafficking.  

I. There are more humans enslaved today than at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

A. Human trafficking is modern day slavery.

B. Human trafficking is often hidden.

C. Most victims of human trafficking are women and children

D. Human trafficking is a complex social issue, but solving it requires a thorough understanding of the victims and the perpetrators.

II. Human trafficking is modern day slavery.  

A. Buying and selling people is slavery.

B. Victims are often taken or bought from their families under false pretenses.

C. Once trafficked, victims are unable to escape their circumstances.

III. Human trafficking is often hidden.

A. Slavery is illegal in all modern nations, but six nations still openly allow it

1. Mauritania

2. India

3. China

4. Uzbekistan

5. Libya

6. North Korea

B. Slavery may go by other names

1. Debt bondage

2. Forced child labor

3. Forced marriage

4. Intergenerational bonded labor

5. Child prostitution

6. Sexual exploitation

7. Forced labor

C. Trafficking victims may be threatened or coerced to conceal their status.

IV. Most victims of trafficking are women and children.

A. More than 70% of enslaved people worldwide are women and children. 

B. Over half of U.S. criminal trafficking victim prosecutions involve only child victims. 

C. The sex trade is a major component of trafficking.  

V. Even though it is an invisible problem, trafficking is a serious issue. 

A. Human trafficking appears complicated, but it has the same basic roots of any type of slavery; people in power exploiting vulnerable populations. 

B. Trafficking is a polite term; the buying and selling of people is slavery.

C. Because it is hidden, modern slavery is easy to ignore.

D. High-risk victims are often ignored by society.

E. Although most members of society are not human traffickers, it is a society wide problem that will require a concerted society-wide effort to solve.