1. Government Research Project compare and contrast essay
How to create the outline

2. Your task: Research and then write a comparative essay that shows the similarities and differences between the United States and your chosen country. Focus on the following six areas:
Government Systems
Economic Systems
Leadership Offices
Laws
Rights & Responsibilities of citizenship
Roles and rights of the media

3. You: COOL, Ms. Heck. But that’s a really big question
You: COOL, Ms. Heck! But that’s a really big question. How ever do I start?
Ms. HECK: Well, you start by thinking about how you will organize the information into useful, interesting chunks logically organized by content. Let’s call them PARAGRAPHS.
YOU: You are so pretty, Ms. HECK. But how do I know when to talk about the US, or my country, or laws, or the media? What order should it all go in so that it makes sense to my readers and also entertains them. I don’t want frustrated confused readers!!!!!
MS. Heck: Don’t panic. I have a plan. It’s called an OUTLINE.

4. The purpose of an outline is to make a plan for your paper
The purpose of an outline is to make a plan for your paper. That way you don’t write the whole 4 page paper only to realize it doesn’t make any sense. That makes people cry. Don’t cry. Plan.

5. Let’s review:
Thesis: A statement that tells the subject of your paper, and sometimes your opinion on that subject.
Topic Sentence: A statement that tells the subject of the paragraph.
Concrete Detail: A fact that supports your Topic Sentence. This could be a stat, fact, research, or a quote from an expert.
Commentary: Your own ideas that tell why the Concrete detail is important….what does it prove, what does it mean, what are some examples?
Conclusion Sentence: Restates the topic of the paragraph and draws conclusions from the facts if needed.

6. In outline format, it looks like this:
Thesis: Just write the word Thesis on your outline. It doesn’t get a number.
I. Topic Sentence
A. Concrete Detail: A fact that supports your Topic Sentence. This could be a stat, fact, research, or a quote from an expert.
1. Commentary: Your own ideas that tell why the Concrete detail is important….what does it prove, what does it mean, what are some examples?
2. Have as many commentary as you need to fully support or explain your concrete detail.
B. Concrete Detail: Another fact to explain (if needed) .
1. Commentary:
2. Have as many commentary as you need
Conclusion Sentence: put this in your essay, but you don’t really need to outline it since it says the same thing that your topic sentence said, in diff words

7. What is the difference between the outline and the essay?
The outline is the plan. The content is the same, the order of ideas is the same. Only the format is different.
Here’s a metaphor for you: It’s about building a wall.
Here’s another one: It’s about a skeleton.

8. THE UNITED STATES
YOUR COUNTRY
Government Systems
Economic Systems
Leadership Offices
Laws
Rights & Responsibilities of citizenship
Roles and rights of the media

9. Option 1: Subject by subject.
Thesis: The US and my country are both similar and different in their government and economic systems.
The United States
A. Government Systems. 1. 2. 3.
B. Economic Systems Laws
C. Leadership Offices
D. Laws
E. Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship
F. Roles and rights of the Media Bla diddy bla
And then, you have to do it ALL AGAIN for the other country, and you can see that this is a very long paragraph with no breaks and I got bored around “C, Leadership Offices”, and by the time I get to my country I’ve forgotten what I’ve said about the US, and I need a snack but there’s no where to stop so I really don’t like this organizational structure.

10. Option 2: Point by Point
Thesis: The US and my country are both similar and different in their government and economic systems.
Government Systems
A. US 1. 2.
B. Other country
II. Economic Systems
II. Leadership Offices
2. Bla Diddy Bla
NOTE: TWO is not a magic number. Sometimes you might need 5 commentary. Sometimes none at all.
EX: “The US has three branches of government” might need more explanation. (What are they called and what do they do? )
While “The legal drinking age in the US is 21” really doesn’t require any more discussion.

11. Option 2: Point by Point
Thesis: The US and my country are both similar and different in their government and economic systems.
Government Systems
A. US 1. 2.
B. Other country
II. Economic Systems
II. Leadership Offices
2. Bla Diddy Bla
NOTE: Now, this solves the problem of forgetting what I said about the US by the time I read about the other country, since they’re right next to each other, BUT this is still a long paragraph. That’s cool. It’s shorter than the last one. BUT….you could be WILD and CRAZY and you could…..

12. Option 2: Point by Point
Thesis: The US and my country are both similar and different in their government and economic systems.
Government Systems US A. 1. 2. B.
II. Government Systems Other Country
III. Economic Systems US
2. Bla Diddy Bla
NOTE: B would be optional. IF you have more to say and it’s essential and FACTUAL, NOT OPINION, then add it. IF you don’t, then don’t. It’s cool.
NOTE: Now we have short paragraphs, with each point next to each other, which aids in memory and understanding. There are twice as many paragraphs this way, but you have more space for details and more breaks for your poor little reader’s brain.

13. Other country also has… Other country has never….
Thesis: The US and my country are both similar and different in their government and economic systems.
Government Systems
A. US 1. 2.
B. Other country
II. Economic Systems
II. Leadership Offices
2. Bla Diddy Bla
With this structure, it’s kind of nice because it’s really clear where you use comparative words. In the A part, The US, you just tell what you learned. Include your definitions, research, quotes, etc. Just tell it.
But then, when you get to B in each paragraph, the other country, you start using comparative wordsl.
For example:
Unlike in the US,
Just like in the US,
Similar to the US,
In contrast to,
However,
Other country also has…
Other country has never….

14. Red= Just tell me what you learned (and cite it!)
Thesis: The US and my country are both similar and different in their government and economic systems.
Government Systems
A. US 1. 2.
B. Other country
II. Economic Systems
II. Leadership Offices
2. Bla Diddy Bla
Red= Just tell me what you learned (and cite it!)
Purple = Now compare other country to the US.

15. SO, as you research, you can fill in the info you find on the outline and you will automatically know where it goes and where it will be when you change your outline into a paper. It’s a wonderful thing, really, because it:
Makes your research more focused, which means faster.
Reduces your thinking time as you write, which means easier and faster.
It makes the writing of the actual paper easier and faster
Which gives you more time to party or watch Clueless.

16. One more thing before you start researching and outlining.
Don’t forget you will need both a full citation and an in text citation for every source that you use in the paper.
For every source you use, write down the following:
Author (if there is one)
Title of the page
Title of the bigger page
Who published it
The date it was published
The entire URL
The date you found it.

17. We’ll do one together.

18. We just created what is called the FULL citation
We just created what is called the FULL citation. It goes on the Works Cited page at the END of the paper.
However, you also need an in-text citation, IN the TEXT of the paper, to tell the readers WHICH source THAT fact came from.
So, If we have an full citation that starts with an author’s name, the intext citation needs the first word and the location of the quote, so it would look like this: (Smith 42).
Most of our sources, thought, won’t have an author, so you still take the first word and the location, so it might look like this: (“Russia” 43).
BUT most of our sources are electronic and don’t have page numbers. Here, you have options.
Put the paragraph number like this: (“Russia”, para. 3).
Put the line number like this: (“Russia”, ln. 3).
Put nothing, because who wants to count out 123 paragraphs or lines? Like this: (“Russia”).

19. I want you to put your in-text citation IN YOUR OUTLINE. Like this:
Laws
The US
The drinking age nation-wide is 21
Abortion is legal.
3. Liberal gun laws that vary by state
a. The US has more guns per capita than any other nation (“Small”).
B. Australia
1. The drinking age is 18 (“Drinking” para. 3).
2. Abortion is legal (“Medical”) 3.

20. What to do now:
Pick a country.
Open the MLA template you have already created. Make a copy. Title it “Government Comparison Outline”. Move it from your English folder to your Government folder.
Make an outline following one of the structures I taught you today .
Start researching.
Fill in your outline with the information as you find it.
Write down citation info for every source you use.