Library Research Guide

Writing an Preliminary Outline

The outline is the foundation of the paper/project. If you have researched your topic thoroughly, the outline should come easily. Students have trouble with the outline if they do not have enough information. Every paper is going to have an introduction, conclusion, and body paragraphs in between, so that is where you begin. If you are a more visual learner, you may want to create a Web diagram before transferring the information into outline form. The rough draft will be written from this outline so the more details you have, the easier it will be to write the rough draft; thus include quotes, paraphrases and a reference to your note-cards. Be sure to save often as you type and in multiple locations i.e. floppy disk, hard drive, CD, travel drive or School Loop etc.

Introduction
1. Time-- 1950s
2. Place-- Latin America
3. Significance/importance-- Che is a cultural icon of mythic proportions
4. Thesis: Ernesto “Che” Guevara was thrust into a revolutionary life by witnessing the hardships of the people he encounters on his motorcycle trips through Latin America as a young man.
5. Transition statement to main body of paper
First Body Paragraph
Topic Sentence: The history of Latin America illuminates the issues that led to such a rift between the rich and poor.
1. Economic history
  1. cash crop dependency
  2. dependent industrial development
2. Political history
  1. cycle of stability & instability
  2. history of inequitable political/military power
  3. the military coups-- change governments
  Transition Sentence: This dependence on the industrial world was the climate that Che experienced as a child and young adult.
Second Body Paragraph
Topic Sentence: Che Guevara was acutely aware of the lack of medical care for the poorest in Latin America, as a medical student this struck him as cruel and unusual punishment secondary only to the poverty.
1. servant women-Asthma
2. leper colony
3. United Fruit Company hospital
  Transition sentence: Che found that poor health was often the result of poor working Conditions.
Third Body Paragraph
Topic Sentence: Che came to realize throughout his travels that the exploitation of labor was an area in need of reform.
1. Chilean miner-imprisoned for striking
2. United Fruit Co. workers
3. Copper mine in Peru
  Transition Sentence: The brutal working conditions, low pay and inability to improve those conditions through labor unions led to grinding poverty.
Fourth Body Paragraph
Topic sentence. The brutal poverty he witnessed was difficult to understand coming from an affluent family.
1. Machu Picchu
2. Guatemala
3. Florida
  Transition sentence: Che’s motorcycle trips brought him into contact with other people who were working with revolutionary causes.
Fifth Body Paragraph
Topic sentence: Che’s introduction to Ricardo Rojo will alter his course in life forever.
1. Meeting Ricardo Rojo
2. The Arbenz government & coup & resistance-history
3. Che’s role in Guatemala
  Transition sentence: Guevara’s flight from Guatemala to safety in Mexico led to his involvement in the Cuban revolution.
Sixth Body Paragraph
Topic sentence: The Cuban revolution was an attempt like other Latin American revolutions to bring economic and social equity to the most oppressed people.
1. History of Cuba in 1950s
2. Fidel Castro’s role in Cuban revolution
  Transition Sentence: Fidel Castro’s vision for Cuba sparked Che’s Humanitarian spirit.
Seventh Body Paragraph
Topic sentence: Che was a prominent figure in both the revolution and the new government that followed.
1. Che’s role in Cuban revolution
2. Che’s positions in post-revolutionary government
  Transition Sentence: Although, he left Cuba to pursue his Pan-America Plan, Che left a imprint on Cuba that is still tangible today, fifty years later.
Conclusion
Topic sentence: Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s personal contact with the oppressed led him to a career in revolutions.
1. Connect Che’s role(s) with earlier experiences.

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