Key Word Outlining (w/ examples)

WHY IS KEY WORD OUTLINING SO IMPORTANT?

Key Word Outlining is an efficient note-taking method which also helps make your writing original.  When the “rules” are followed, you are freed from the wording of the original source. Once you learn and practice key word outlining, you will never need to plagiarize or “copy and paste” to produce a paper. Key Word Outlining trains you to minimally note the information you need, leaving you free to write in your own words.

Saying things in one’s own way is completely natural. After hearing someone relate a story or an interesting news item, no one uses the words of the original speaker when repeating the information. People tend to remember the facts that they think are the most important or most interesting and repeat them in their own words.

Unfortunately, words on a page are not so easily escaped. The challenge in writing from written sources is to get away from the original source so that the language that comes out is itself original. Key Word Outlining is the easiest way to escape the trap of repeating a source.

HOW TO MAKE A KEY WORD OUTLINE

Here are the “rules” for beginning key word outlining:

1. For each sentence or fact, pick out 3 words that are most important. These words should convey the most information facts.   
2. You may use abbreviations, symbols, and numbers in place of words.  These are “free”; they do not count as your 3 words.  Use standard abbreviations. The symbols should be recognizable enough that you will be able to remember what they mean when you come back to your outline at a later time.
3. For each fact, list 3 Key Words and any needed numbers, symbols, and abbreviations.  
4. Do not try to reproduce entire sentences for your outline. Be as brief as possible.  You want to be able to write the ideas in your own words.  Using too many words from the original makes it difficult to be original.
5. You may use synonyms in your KWO in place of the original word(s).  Sometimes a good synonym can be used to take the place of 2-3 words.
6. HANDWRITE YOUR KWO!

source: https://writingwithjennifer.com/2022/10/03/the-foundation-of-iew-writing-key-word-outlining/

EXAMPLES of KWOs 

Here is a simple one:

Here is a more complex one. This writer forgot to number the lines.

Here is one more example. This writer forgot the title and to number the lines

The writer also forgot to skip a space between lines.

Here is a KWO about the Amazon Rainforest. Note the quick symbols:

cat - animals

leaves = plants

Compare the KWO to the essay under it.

Amazon Rainforest

The largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon rainforest, is a habitat for many plants and animals. It is located in the northern part of South America and is home to millions of animal and plant species. The Amazon has an enormous biodiversity. Over ⅔ of the world’s flowering plants are found in the Amazon! The Amazon Rainforest has an astounding amount of land with 2,123,562 square miles. In the rainforest, there are millions of plant species, many still unrecorded. Many herbs found in the Amazon rainforest are used for medicines and many flowers are used as several types of herbal tea. The plantation in the Amazon rainforest provides a habitat for over 2.55 million species of animals. The Amazon rainforest is home to over 427 species of mammals, 1,300 species of birds, 378 species of reptiles, 400 species of amphibians, a whooping 2.5 million insects, and over 3,000 species of freshwater fish. The canopy of the Amazon Rainforest is extremely thick. In fact the Amazon’s floor is in permanent darkness, so the canopy is growing thicker to compete for sunlight. It is so thick that it takes about 10 minutes for water to reach the ground when it rains! Another important role of the Amazon rainforest is that it reduces climate change. This is because the rich vegetation takes carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and changes it into oxygen, which limits global warming. This amazing biodiverse rainforest is a true treasure of our Earth.