Formal Outlines

Class,

We will be looking at writing outlines, and I want to show you a few examples that can be used. Often in traditional English classrooms, professors would require a formal outline for research papers. I am including a sample of one below. Fortunately, recent scholarship in composition pedagogy has shifted from this very formal and archaic form to a much more simplified version, which I will go over in class. However, for those of you interested in learning this formal outline, I am including this sample. Feel free to use this model for your outline assignment or you are free to use a more simplified version, which I will also include in another post. I will keep this blog up for future reference for those of you heading off to College Composition after this--but most of you will not need it. When I got a Bachelor's in English, I only wrote formal outlines for one professor who was a bit more old school. But I did have to write a few for my Masters degree.  Like I said, these are largely falling to the wayside as composition teachers learn what helps our writing process and what seems like useless work.

So if formal outlines are useless, why am I teaching them? While I do agree the standard outline is too involved, a short and simple outline is a wonderful tool for both research and organization. When I have longer papers, I make outlines. I want to make sure I'm hitting every major part of the prompt and it gives me direction for research. And these insanely involved outlines almost write your paper for you. I certainly will not require this much work for your outline, but I want you familiar with this model.

FORMAL OUTLINE:

For a thousand years during the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church united the people of Europe.  But during the Renaissance period, dissatisfaction with the Church began to grow.  More and more people became alarmed at certain church practices.  One concerned person was Martin Luther.  After careful thought, he decided in 1517 to post the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  These theses, or statements, criticized clergymen for selling “indulgences,” pardons for sins.  Luther later attacked the Church for what he felt were other wrongdoings.  Many people rallied around Martin Luther and supported his stand against the Catholic Church.  Thus began the “Reformation,” a movement which caused thousands of Roman Catholics to become Protestants.  People were called Protestants because they “protested” against certain Church practices. 

1.     Causes of the Reformation

a.     Political Causes

                                          i.         Kings increased their power and challenged the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church.

1.     Strong nation-states were developing in England, France, and Spain.

2.     Some rulers objected to the influence that popes had in their countries.  King Philip IV of France kidnapped the pope after the pope ordered the French clergy not to pay taxes.  The papacy was moved to Avignon, France.  For the next 69 years, popes remained under the control of French kings.  This period from 1309 to 1378, was known as the “Babylonian Captivity.”  Then, in 1378, a second pope began to rule from Rome.  Both the French pope and Italian pope claimed to be the supreme spiritual authority.  This split within the Church, called the “Great Schism,” caused widespread confusion and was an embarrassment to the Church.

                                         ii.         Some Catholics believed that the Church was too involved in world affairs.  The suggestion was made that a council, instead of a pope, should hold power.

b.     Religious Causes

                                          i.         Serious abuses and wasteful spending hurt the image of the Catholic Church. 

1.     Money was raised by selling important positions in the Church.

2.     Other monies were collected from the sale of indulgences.  An “indulgence” reduced or eliminated the punishment for sins.

3.     Popes and higher clergy in Italy built beautiful palaces and enjoyed a rich lifestyle.

4.     Money was spent on a series of long and costly wars to defend the Papal States.

                                         ii.         Church officials gave too little attention to spiritual leadership at a time when interest in religion was growing among the common people of Europe.

                                       iii.         Desiderius Erasmus and other Christian scholars urged the Church to make reforms.

c.     Economic Causes

                                          i.         During the Middle Ages, when most people lived in farm villages, local clergy exerted considerable influence over people’s lives.

                                         ii.         But as trade increased and cities grew in size and wealth, people looked more to kings for protection.

2.     Major Events of the Reformation

a.     In 1517, Martin Luther, a monk and professor of theology, posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

                                          i.         Luther was angered by the sale of indulgences by a Wittenberg monk named Johann Tetzel.

                                         ii.         The Ninety-Five Theses criticized the selling of indulgences, saying that they did not pardon a person for their sins. 

b.     Luther’s call for reform was based on certain fundamental beliefs.  

                                          i.         He felt that a person could achieve salvation only through faith in God’s mercy.  This idea contradicted the Church’s teaching of good works as a way to salvation.  Luther said that man does not get closer to God by attending church, going on pilgrimages, or aiding the poor.

                                         ii.         The pope, he declared, was not the one to judge matters relating to God’s word and faith.  Only the individual man could make such judgments.

                                       iii.         Luther also believed that the Bible was the only guide for Christians. People did not need to participate in Church ceremonies or accept the authority of the pope, since the Bible said nothing about either. People should read the Bible themselves and not rely on priests for interpretation

c.     Luther continued to criticize the Church during the months following his posting of the Ninety-Five Theses.

                                          i.         The invention of movable type made it easy to print and distribute Luther’s ideas throughout Europe.

                                         ii.         In 1520, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther, declaring him a heretic.

                                       iii.         In 1521, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, ordered Luther to appear before the Imperial Diet, which was meeting in Worms, Germany.  

1.     The Diet demanded that he take back what he had said and written.  Luther said, “I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.”

2.     Charles V, in the “Edict of Worms,” declared Luther to be an outlaw.

d.     Luther led the Protestant movement until his death in 1546.

                                          i.         Lutherans presented the “Augsburg Confession” to the Diet at Augsburg, Germany.  It summarized the religious teachings of Martin Luther.

                                         ii.         At the time of Luther’s death, about half of the prices in the Holy Roman Empire had become Lutherans.  Many townspeople and peasants in Germany also joined the new Protestant faith.

e.     Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, declared war on the Lutheran princes, trying to force them to rejoin the Catholic Church.  Neither side was able to win the war.  In the “Peace of Augsburg,” Charles agreed to let each prince to decide whether he wanted his territory to be Catholic or Lutheran.

f.      Other reformers won followers across Europe as Protestant ideas spread from Germany to other countries.

                                          i.         Ulrich Zwingli made reforms in Switzerland.

1.     He ended the Catholic Mass, confessions, and indulgences.

2.     Services were held in undecorated buildings with sermons based on the Bible.

3.     Priests were permitted to marry.

                                         ii.         John Calvin organized a second Protestant movement in Switzerland.

1.     Calvin agreed with martin Luther that good works would not guarantee salvation.

2.     But Calvin disagreed with Luther’s contention that an individual could work toward salvation through faith in God.  Instead, he believed in “predestination,” the idea that God had already chosen those individuals who would eventually gain salvation.  

3.     Calvinists followed the strict morality of the Old Testament. 

4.     The ideas of the Calvinists spread to The Netherlands, France, Scotland, and England.

                                       iii.         Henry VIII of England broke away from the Catholic Church.

1.     Henry wanted to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon because she had not provided him with a son to inherit the throne.  He planned to marry Anne Boleyn hoping for a son.

2.     When the pope refused to annul (cancel) his marriage to Catherine, Henry took control of the English church, then married Anne Boleyn.

3.     Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, confirming that the king was the head of the Church of England, or Anglican Church.

3.     Results of the Reformation

a.     Europe was divided between Catholic countries in the south and Protestant countries in the north.

b.     The variety of religious beliefs in Europe helped promote “religious toleration,” or respect for an individual’s right to worship in his own way.

c.     The Protestant movement led to the “Counter Reformation,” a period of reform that strengthened the Church

d.     The “Protestant Ethic,” an attitude that encouraged hard work and careful management of money and material things, contributed to the growth of business and industry in Europe.

e.     Nationalism grew in countries that established state churches, like the Church of England.  “Nationalism” is a feeling of pride in one’s country.