While many people think that term papers and research papers are more or less the same, they have significant differences. For instance, the purpose of a term paper is to assess the level of knowledge that a student has on a particular topic. You can use any form of this example to write your outline. Everyone organizes differently, so it is important to do what works best for you. If you have any questions, feel free to come to the Writing Center and work with a tutor on creating your outline. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: For research papers, a formal outline can help you keep track of large amounts of information. The second level consists of topics which support the introduction, main ideas, and the conclusion. Each main idea should have at least two supporting topics listed in the outline. If your main idea does not have enough support, you should consider presenting another main idea in its place. This is where you should stop outlining if this access to all scientific papers is your first draft. Continue your research before adding to the next levels of organization.