Business Communication II

Session 5

Formats of Outlines
Types of Outlines
Methods of Outlining
Degrees of Heading

by
Irfan Sheikh
Methods of Outlining
It is becoming your table content.

Before writing the report, the outline helps you to:

 See the relationship between topics,
 Compare proportions and headings,
 Check for loopholes in logical order,
 Eliminate overlapping.

You need to consider:

 Types of Heading,
 Formats of Outline,
 Parallelism in Heading.
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 Methods of Outlining (Continued)

Types of Heading
Types of Heading: For wording heading, you can choose from Four
type of heading:

1. Topic: single words (nouns), a few words, or short phrases.

Globalization

2. Complete sentence heading: Globalization is a Syndrome of

Process and Activities

3. Imperative sentence heading: Keep Driving Record Clear

4. Variant heading: Improving Employees’ Productivity
5.

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 Methods of Outlining (Continued)

Types of Heading
 A good “Heading” should indicate
the “Subject Matter”.
 It is better not to use more than eight
words.
 If your topic is one word, make sure
that the word not to be too “Broad”.


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 Formats of Outline:
After choosing your organizational plan and the wording of your main
headings, you next choose a way to show levels “degrees) for various items in
your outline.

For long report, Three ways to number heading degrees.

1. Numeral-Letter Combination: It is used in business.

2. Decimal System: It is used in scientific and technical reports.

3. Letter- Numeral Combination: It is used by those who prefer letters

before main heading and they do not need the additional degree that is possible Roman
numerals.

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Degree of Heading Numeral-Letter Combination:

1st I.
Introduction 2d A.
2d B.
2d C.

1st II.
2d A.
Text/ 3d 1.
Discussion 3d 2.
2d B.
3d 1.
3d 2.
4th a.
4th b.
5th (1)
5th (2) (Continue..)

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 1st III.
2d A.
Text/ 3d 1.
Discussion 3d 2.
2d B.
3d 1.
3d 2.

1st IV.

2d A.
3dh 1.

3d 2.
2d B.
3d 1.
3d 2.

Terminal 1st
2d

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Five Important Cautions:
1. Place the most important ideas (Criteria) in the highest degrees of
heading, considering report length, subject matter, and reader.
2. Try to balance the sections as well as possible. For example, if
section II.A, had 12 subheading and section II.B had no
subheading, the proportion would be lopsided. Then try to narrow
the scope of heading II.A (by rewarding it and by rearranging facts)
and broaden II.B.
3. Have at least two subheading if you divide any topic;
For example, A.1 and A.2 never ever only A.1.
4. The number of section headings neither too many nor too few.
Usually three to seven main sections are desirable.
5. Do not consider the report title as a section heading, and do not
begin the first sentence with exactly the same words as the heading.

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 Parallelism in Heading:
• For parallel, consistent, and construction all headings of the same degree
within any part of an outline should be parallel to each other. They should
have the same grammatical form- all nouns, all phrases, or all sentences. For
example, the following headings should be parallel to each other:

I, II, III, IV, V.

A, B, C under I.
1, 2, 3 under II.A
1 and 2 under II.B

a and b under II.B.2…etc. However, subheadings 1, 2, 3 under II.A need not

be parallel with subheadings 1 and 2 under II. B, and other third-degree
subheadings in other sections.

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 90

80

70

Visual Aids:
60

50
E ast
40 W est
Nor th
30

20

10

0
1st Qtr 2nd 3r d Qtr 4th Qtr
Qtr

To improve both readability and appearance of a report, you should use

heading and when desirable also graphic materials.

Heading and Subheading as Directional Signs:

The headings you have selected for your final outline will be directional
signs for the reader of the finished report. Headings help direct the reader
through the entire presentation.

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 System of styling the headings:

1. FIRST-DEGREE HEADINGS (Centred and in all capitals-caps)

2. Second- Degree Headings

( Centred, caps and lowercase, underlined)
3. Third-Degree Headings
(left margin, caps and lowercase, underlined)
4. Fourth-degree headings.
(Indented, underlined, lowercase; paragraph begins
on same line).

5. Fifth-degree headings (Indented, underlined; sentence begins

with the heading).

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 Sample Graphics for Quantitative
and Other Data

 Tables
90

80
70

 Bar Graphs
60

50
East
40 West
30 North

20
10

 Pie Charts
1st Qtr 2nd 3rd 4th Qtr
Qtr Qtr

 Line Graphs etc.

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Cover Design and Wording of Title
Wording Title Includes:

Who: the company

What: the subject matter
When: the year
Where: the country
Why: the objective

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How to Make References

1. Author Name (Year) Title, PP. (2-5).

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