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FigJam Build a strong foundation with our essay plan template

No shaky arguments here. Whether it’s a class assignment, personal statement, or a missive on the company blog, FigJam’s essay writing plan will help you construct a stronger essay outline from the ground up.

Essay plan template

Share ideas, hone arguments, and refine your writing with our collaborative essay plan template.

Nail down your message

Organize evidence, strengthen supporting arguments, and hammer your main point home with our essay planning sheet.

Create flow: Maintain a cohesive writing process with an essay planning template that clarifies how one section leads to the next.

Evaluate your argument from all sides: Crystallize your claim and test it out from new angles in a visual format.

Do your research: Fact check your work and sources before writing by laying out supporting evidence on an easy-to-read outline.

FigJam Make a statement together

Writing doesn’t have to be a solo act. FigJam’s Community-built widgets make it easy to draft with collaborators and source feedback from trusted peers. Fold in new ideas and fine-tune existing arguments with Badge, Storymapper, and Lil notes.

Break it down, then build it up

Perfect the nuts and bolts of your essay with a well-organized essay plan example. Next, find new ways to tell your story with templates from our Community.

Story mapping

Design a compelling narrative step by step.

Compare and contrast the main points in your essay.

Other templates from the community

Share your message with peers, mentors, and more with interactive templates.

How to write an essay plan?

If you’re wondering how to plan an essay or how to write an effective essay plan with important points and supporting details, just tap into our free essay plan example to get started. From there, you’ll be prompted to break your essay down into the following sections:

• Introduction
• Body paragraph #1
• Body paragraph #2
• Body paragraph #3

Fill in each of these sections with relevant information and credible sources. Then, share it with your trusted collaborators and peers to make sure your argument sings.

What are the 5 aspects of planning an essay?

The 5 aspects of planning an essay correspond to the 5 main sections of your essay: the introduction, the 3 body paragraphs, and the conclusion.

• Introduction – Planning an introduction involves writing a thesis statement and a brief list that outlines the order of your supporting arguments.
• Body paragraphs (3) – As you plan your 3 body paragraphs, you’ll collect evidence—from credible sources—that backs up any supporting detail, arguments, and thesis.
• Conclusion – While you conceptualize this final section, consider how you can open up the floor for further conversation after the essay ends. Are there any related questions you wished you’d asked? What makes this a relevant topic—today? Jot down all of your ideas on a planning sheet for essays.

What is a good structure in an essay?

Many essays follow the classic 5-part structure—the introduction that states your main argument, the 3 points supporting that claim, and the conclusion that wraps everything up.

Keep in mind, however, that you don't have to follow this essay planning example exactly. Some of the best essays break the mold—so don’t be afraid to customize your essay planning sheet or collaborate on a creative structure as you outline.

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• Teacher Planner Templates

Essay Planner Template

Description:

This great planner will help you make an argumentative, persuasive, and informative essay from introduction to expository moments. Pick a paper size that suits you, download the PDF template, and print it as you start writing your story with pre-prepared materials and creative ideas for your essay.

Sections available in this template:

• Possible Title (1, 2, 3);
• Ideas & Key Points.

Select theme

Printing layout and cutting marks preview

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Customer reviews

I know it might sound over enthusiastic, but I used to have this planner on my reMarkable, and it was kind of my beacon. I missed it so much when I lost my tablet. Now I have a BOOX and bought a new planner, and you can't possibly know how happy I am. 

(On the other hand, I don't know why I had to create a new account, but it doesn't matter).

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Lots of planning pages to use

Very well thought out and easy to use.

Love it, this planner is amazing.

Everything you ever wanted is right here.

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Essay Mapping Tool

Instructions.

Effective writing at university is a process:

Analyse the task → Gather content → Plan → Draft → Edit

This tool may help you to bridge from planning to drafting by helping you arrange your sentences in a logical order. It also provides tips for each component of an essay – the introduction, body, and conclusion. It can be used to improve your understanding of essay writing in general or as a planning tool for one of your university assignments.

Because this tool is for your personal use only, you may decide to write in bullet points, but we recommend full sentences. Once you have filled in each section, a complete essay overview will be generated which can be printed.

1. Introduction

Three paragraphs planning spaces have been provided for you. You can add or delete as necessary.

The purpose of the body is to logically develop the points made in your thesis and outline statements. There are no rules about the number of paragraphs required in assignment, but in general, you are advised to develop one idea per paragraph. This is done with a clear and coherent structure which introduces the topic in a topic sentence, defines or clarifies which aspect of the topic you are going to discuss, develops and supports your discussion and (optionally) concludes your discussion.

A topic sentence generally has two parts. You may refer to the overall essay topic and also introduce the specific aspect you plan to discuss in this paragraph. This is referred to as topic + controlling idea . You can also use a topic sentence to link to or contrast with the previous paragraph. This is an effective strategy to use with the second body paragraph onwards. You may choose to conclude the paragraph with a summary sentence; however, you are advised not to overuse this type of sentence as it may seem repetitious.

Cohesion and coherence refer to how effectively sentences are connected and how smoothly the writing flows. This is not simply achieved by following a logical paragraph structure, but also by using linking words (e.g. however/furthermore/consequently ) and referring words (e.g. this/that/these/those )

When you develop your argument, remember to use a range of support. You can use examples, logical reasoning, speculation, statistics and citations

Paragraph 1

Write the topic and controlling idea (one sentence).

Support your controlling idea using evidence, examples, elaboration or explanations. Do not go off topic. Do use in-text references.

Sum up the paragraph and link to your thesis OR link to the next paragraph (one sentence).

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3, 3. conclusion.

The purpose of the conclusion is to summarize the key points you have discussed; however, it often contains a paraphrase of the thesis statement. This helps link the whole essay together. A conclusion may also contain a statement which links the essay to the broader topic or suggests a future action.

You can begin with the phrase ' In conclusion, ' but there are other phrases you could consider: In summary/This assignment has…/In this essay, I have… . Avoid Finally/Briefly/

Remember to reference any sources you have used. Refer to CDU Library for more information on referencing.

Introduction

To save as a PDF, click the Print button and then change your printer destination to "Save As PDF".

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Essay Planner template

Helpful for Education Idea Generation Mind Mapping Planning .

Ayoa’s Essay Planner template simplifies the process of writing an academic essay by allowing you to brainstorm great ideas, then put your arguments into a clear and defined structure ready for you to turn into a cohesive and well-researched paper.

Ready to get started with this template? It’s ready and waiting in Ayoa! Create your account , then simply open the app , select ‘create mind map’ from the homepage and choose this template from the library.

What is included in the Essay Planner template?

Writing an essay can be an overwhelming and time-consuming task for any student, whether you’ve written dozens before, or this is the very first time you’ve put pen to paper for this task. You could have plenty of great points ready and waiting, but no idea how to start your essay and actually begin writing. On the other hand, you could be struggling to generate ideas in the first place! Whatever the issue, Ayoa’s Essay Planner template provides you with the perfect canvas to brainstorm ideas for various types of essays, flesh out your arguments, then put them into a clear and defined structure.

No matter the subject or topic you’re writing about, every essay should follow the same basic structure with an intriguing introduction, a body that contains a number of points or arguments to be explored in detail, and a concise conclusion that sums up the findings of your essay. Our Essay Planner template (which is formatted in the style of a colorful, visual mind map ) provides you with prompts for each of these sections, so you can determine what you’ll be exploring and conduct some helpful research before you begin writing.

The reason you should use a mind map to plan an essay is because they are well-known for their ability to boost idea generation, organization and memory.

Why should you use the Essay Planner template?

Our Essay Planner template provides you with prompts for each of the sections of your essay to help you establish what you want to write before you get started. You can also use our template to make notes of helpful information (such as quotes, excerpts, statistics and links to articles) that you want to include or reference in your essay. By having this information all in one place, and knowing exactly what points you’re going to make, you can make the process of getting your words down both quicker and easier when the time comes. This is because you won’t be interrupted by needing to conduct additional research, and you’ll also be less likely to run out of steam halfway through writing.

The reason that our Essay Writing template is in the style of the mind map is due to the fact that they are proven to boost our ability to think creatively. The interconnecting branches of a mind map mirror our brain’s natural thinking processes, which can help us to generate more creative ideas. Our brains also love visuals, and the different visual cues you can include in a digital mind map (such as shapes, colors and images) can also help our brains to make associations and get out creative juices flowing.

The interconnecting branches of a mind map also perfectly demonstrate the way a process (in this example, writing an essay) should flow and the way various ideas connect to each other, which can make structuring your work incredibly simple. You can also add attachments, notes, comments and checklists to individual branches of your mind map, so everything you need to start writing is in one place!

How to use our Essay Planner template

Unsure of how to write an essay or struggling to find inspiration for your next report? Using our Essay Planner template will get you ready to get started as quickly as possible! Discover how to use our template below.

To access the template, sign up to Ayoa . Once you've signed up, navigate to the homepage to create a new whiteboard , mind map or task board and choose this template from the library .

When you open the template, you will see that we’ve already included examples to help you get started. Beginning with the central idea (the circle in the middle of your mind map), briefly outline what topic you will be exploring in your essay. To do this, double click on the text to bring up a menu of options. From here, you can change the color and size of your text, make it bold, underline it, add emojis, and more.

Tip: You can also click the paintbrush icon to bring up a side panel with options to change how your central idea looks by changing the shape and image.

Now it’s time to start planning your essay. Navigate to the ‘introduction’ section of the mind map and use the attached sub-branches to briefly outline the summary of your essay and what your goals are. Ask yourself: what are you hoping to achieve? What are you expecting the outcome of your essay to be? Use your answers to form the basis of your introduction. To edit an existing branch, double click on the text. To add a new sub-branch, click on the branch you want it to be connected to, then click the green arrow that appears.

Use the next few branches to determine what points you will argue in your essay. In as few words as possible, write what these are in the ‘argument’ branches. You should then use the sub-branches to go into more detail – you may want to include statistics, quotes and excerpts to back up your argument.

Mind maps should contain singular short sentences to avoid it becoming ‘cluttered’ or overwhelming. If you want to go into more detail, you can easily attach files, comments, notes and checklists to individual branches of your mind map. To do this, click on the branch you want to add more detail to, and this will bring up a menu of options. To discover what each one does, simply hover over the icon with your mouse!

Once you’ve outlined what you will cover in the body of your essay, it’s time to plan your conclusion. This will be a concise summary of everything you covered and what you have discovered from your research and analysis. In some cases, you might not know what your conclusion will be until after you’ve covered the main points and arguments of your essay. If this is the case, feel free to fill out this section of the map after you’ve done this.

Now that you have your plan, it’s time to start writing! Use the hierarchical structure of the mind map to structure your essay, developing the branches into sentences and paragraphs. Keep your mind map open so you can keep referring back to it and ensure that you’re staying on track.

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Submit your template

Created a template that you think others might find useful?

Created a template that you think others might find useful? Submit your template by following the steps below:

Open the board you would like to submit as a template. Click the settings (cog) icon in the top right hand corner and select ‘Create Template.’ Name the template and click ‘Create Template’ again to confirm.

Once your new template has opened, click the settings icon once again and select ‘Share Template’, ‘Public Share’ and then ‘Yes’. Copy the public sharing URL that is generated.

Please note that by making your template public, anyone with access to this link will be able to view your template.

Email your template URL along with your name, the template name and a short description of your template to [email protected].

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Essay Planner Template

More PESTLE Analysis Template

About the Essay Planner Template

• Prompts of introduction
• Prompts of the main body
• Conclusion prompts
• Visual assistance tools

Why should you use the essay planner template?

How to use our essay planner template.

• First of all, you need to choose whatever template you like. So first, go to the homepage and choose the create a new option. There you find the dashboard and the library to choose the templates present there.
• Secondly, start to open the template. Most of the sample examples will already be there to help you to write. Start writing the main idea and brief the subject of the essay by clicking on the menu of the dashboard. Now you will be presented with multiple options to change the sizing and outlook of your writing. You can change the colors, add emojis, and format as well.
• Now start with the introduction segment and use the mind map option on the dashboard. There you would find branches that can help you map the essay and specify the vision of the essay's introduction section. This is where you want to ask the following questions: What is the main goal of this segment of the essay? Or what is the desired outcome? Use the other branches to specify the goal of the essay. Make sure that it is brief. This would be the main argument of the essay. If you want to get into more detail, you can choose the subbranches as well. With those, you can add up various quotes and other data to back up your argument.
• When it comes to mind maps, make sure that the sentences are not long and stuffy because stuffy sentences can overwhelm the readers. At this point, you can add up various other things such As pictures, comments, sidenotes, points, etc. If you want to add up things to your mind map, you can go towards the menu of options and choose whatever you desire to add. Choose the file and add it.
• Now that the body line of your essay is ready, can you have filled up all their content within the essay? You need to write the conclusion now. While working on the conclusion, make sure to make it as short as it can while making sure all the important points are added into it according to the research in data. In few cases, conclusions are not that visible and hard to write; however, you can just summarize what you have written in the essay and come up with the best conclusion. You can edit the conclusion with the additional options in the dashboard to make it seem more professional.
• Now it is time to write the final draft of the essay since you have come up with all the technical structure of the essay. Now gather all the branches you have come up with and change them into essay content and paragraphs. Finally, open your mind maps on the side so you can be on track.

Essay Planning & Writing Tips

• The thesis statement should be captivating and comprehensive: it is important to create a captivating PC statement as it provides the purpose and need of the topic of your essay. It is the core of the essay that holds all the scopes and limitations of your writing skills. You need to make sure it is short and up to that topic's need.
• Every paragraph must have a topic sentence: a topic sentence is important to guide the scheme of sentences. A topic sentence can also be an argument or just an idea statement. Once you state the topic sentence, all you need to do is provide evidence in that paragraph to support it.
• Create a brief and effective conclusion: the conclusion should be well structured and planned because it is important, as it encompasses all the data within the context. There should be the addition of important points with brief closing lines. This way, your piece would be professional-looking and strategically right.

Related Templates

How to plan an essay: Essay Planning

• What's in this guide
• Essay Planning
• Additional resources

How to plan an essay

Essay planning is an important step in academic essay writing.

Proper planning helps you write your essay faster, and focus more on the exact question.  As you draft and write your essay, record any changes on the plan as well as in the essay itself, so they develop side by side.

One way to start planning an essay is with a ‘box plan’.

First, decide how many stages you want in your argument – how many important points do you want to make? Then, divide a box into an introduction + one paragraph for each stage + a conclusion.

Next, figure out how many words per paragraph you'll need.

Usually, the introduction and conclusion are each about 10% of the word count. This leaves about 80% of the word count for the body - for your real argument. Find how many words that is, and divide it by the number of body paragraphs you want. That tells you about how many words each paragraph can have.

Remember, each body paragraph discusses one main point, so make sure each paragraph's long enough to discuss the point properly (flexible, but usually at least 150 words).

For example, say the assignment is

Fill in the table as follows:

Next, record each paragraph's main argument, as either a heading or  topic sentence (a sentence to start that paragraph, to immediately make its point clear).

Finally, use dot points to list useful information or ideas from your research notes for each paragraph. Remember to include references so you can connect each point to your reading.

The other useful document for essay planning is the marking rubric .

This indicates what the lecturer is looking for, and helps you make sure all the necessary elements are there.

Pathways and Academic Learning Support

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• Next: Additional resources >>
• Last Updated: Feb 15, 2024 1:23 PM
• URL: https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/essay_planning

Essay Writing Guide

Essay Outline

Last updated on: Jun 10, 2023

A Complete Essay Outline - Guidelines and Format

By: Nova A.

13 min read

Reviewed By: Melisa C.

Published on: Jan 15, 2019

To write an effective essay, you need to create a clear and well-organized essay outline. An essay outline will shape the essay’s entire content and determine how successful the essay will be.

In this blog post, we'll be going over the basics of essay outlines and provide a template for you to follow. We will also include a few examples so that you can get an idea about how these outlines look when they are put into practice.

Essay writing is not easy, but it becomes much easier with time, practice, and a detailed essay writing guide. Once you have developed your outline, everything else will come together more smoothly.

The key to success in any area is preparation - take the time now to develop a solid outline and then write your essays!

So, let’s get started!

On this Page

What is an Essay Outline?

An essay outline is your essay plan and a roadmap to essay writing. It is the structure of an essay you are about to write. It includes all the main points you have to discuss in each section along with the thesis statement.

Like every house has a map before it is constructed, the same is the importance of an essay outline. You can write an essay without crafting an outline, but you may miss essential information, and it is more time-consuming.

Once the outline is created, there is no chance of missing any important information. Also, it will help you to:

• Organize your thoughts and ideas.
• Understand the information flow.
• Never miss any crucial information or reference.
• Finish your work faster.

These are the reasons if someone asks you why an essay outline is needed. Now there are some points that must be kept in mind before proceeding to craft an essay outline.

Easily Outline Your Essays In Seconds!

Prewriting Process of Essay Outline

Your teacher may ask you to submit your essay outline before your essay. Therefore, you must know the preliminary guidelines that are necessary before writing an essay outline.

Here are the guidelines:

• You must go through your assignments’ guidelines carefully.
• Understand the purpose of your assignment.
• Know your audience.
• Mark the important point while researching your topic data.
• Select the structure of your essay outline; whether you are going to use a decimal point bullet or a simple one.

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How to Write an Essay Outline in 4 Steps

Creating an essay outline is a crucial step in crafting a well-structured and organized piece of writing. Follow these four simple steps to create an effective outline:

Step 1: Understand the Topic

To begin, thoroughly grasp the essence of your essay topic. 

Break it down into its key components and identify the main ideas you want to convey. This step ensures you have a clear direction and focus for your essay.

Step 2: Brainstorm and Gather Ideas

Let your creativity flow and brainstorm ideas related to your topic. 

Jot down key pieces of information, arguments, and supporting evidence that will strengthen your essay's overall message. Consider different perspectives and potential counterarguments to make your essay well-rounded.

Step 3: Organize Your Thoughts

Now it's time to give structure to your ideas. 

Arrange your main points in a logical order, starting with an attention-grabbing introduction, followed by body paragraphs that present your arguments. 

Finally, tie everything together with a compelling conclusion. Remember to use transitional phrases to create smooth transitions between sections.

Step 4: Add Depth with Subpoints

To add depth and clarity to your essay, incorporate subpoints under each main point. 

These subpoints provide more specific details, evidence, or examples that support your main ideas. They help to further strengthen your arguments and make your essay more convincing.

By following these four steps - you'll be well on your way to creating a clear and compelling essay outline.

Essay Outline Format

It is an easy way for you to write your thoughts in an organized manner. It may seem unnecessary and unimportant, but it is not.

It is one of the most crucial steps for essay writing as it shapes your entire essay and aids the writing process.

An essay outline consists of three main parts:

1. Introduction

The introduction body of your essay should be attention-grabbing. It should be written in such a manner that it attracts the reader’s interest. It should also provide background information about the topic for the readers.

You can use a dramatic tone to grab readers’ attention, but it should connect the audience to your thesis statement.

Here are some points without which your introduction paragraph is incomplete.

To attract the reader with the first few opening lines, we use a hook statement. It helps engage the reader and motivates them to read further. There are different types of hook sentences ranging from quotes, rhetorical questions to anecdotes and statistics, and much more.

Are you struggling to come up with an interesting hook? View these hook examples to get inspired!

A thesis statement is stated at the end of your introduction. It is the most important statement of your entire essay. It summarizes the purpose of the essay in one sentence.

The thesis statement tells the readers about the main theme of the essay, and it must be strong and clear. It holds the entire crux of your essay.

Need help creating a strong thesis statement? Check out this guide on thesis statements and learn to write a statement that perfectly captures your main argument!

2. Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs of an essay are where all the details and evidence come into play. This is where you dive deep into the argument, providing explanations and supporting your ideas with solid evidence. 

If you're writing a persuasive essay, these paragraphs will be the powerhouse that convinces your readers. Similarly, in an argumentative essay, your body paragraphs will work their magic to sway your audience to your side.

Each paragraph should have a topic sentence and no more than one idea. A topic sentence is the crux of the contents of your paragraph. It is essential to keep your reader interested in the essay.

The topic sentence is followed by the supporting points and opinions, which are then justified with strong evidence.

3. Conclusion

When it comes to wrapping up your essay, never underestimate the power of a strong conclusion. Just like the introduction and body paragraphs, the conclusion plays a vital role in providing a sense of closure to your topic. 

To craft an impactful conclusion, it's crucial to summarize the key points discussed in the introduction and body paragraphs. You want to remind your readers of the important information you shared earlier. But keep it concise and to the point. Short, powerful sentences will leave a lasting impression.

Remember, your conclusion shouldn't drag on. Instead, restate your thesis statement and the supporting points you mentioned earlier. And here's a pro tip: go the extra mile and suggest a course of action. It leaves your readers with something to ponder or reflect on.

5 Paragraph Essay Outline Structure

An outline is an essential part of the writing as it helps the writer stay focused. A typical 5 paragraph essay outline example is shown here. This includes:

• State the topic
• Thesis statement
• Introduction
• Explanation
• A conclusion that ties to the thesis
• Summary of the essay
• Restate the thesis statement

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Essay Outline Template

The outline of the essay is the skeleton that you will fill out with the content. Both outline and relevant content are important for a good essay. The content you will add to flesh out the outline should be credible, relevant, and interesting.

The outline structure for the essay is not complex or difficult. No matter which type of essay you write, you either use an alphanumeric structure or a decimal structure for the outline.

Below is an outline sample that you can easily follow for your essay.

Essay Outline Sample

Essay Outline Examples

An essay outline template should follow when you start writing the essay. Every writer should learn how to write an outline for every type of essay and research paper.

Essay outline 4th grade

Essay outline 5th grade

Essay outline high school

Essay outline college

Given below are essay outline examples for different types of essay writing.

Argumentative Essay Outline

An  argumentative essay  is a type of essay that shows both sides of the topic that you are exploring. The argument that presents the basis of the essay should be created by providing evidence and supporting details.

Persuasive Essay Outline

A  persuasive essay  is similar to an argumentative essay. Your job is to provide facts and details to create the argument. In a persuasive essay, you convince your readers of your point of view.

Compare and Contrast Essay Outline

A  compare and contrast essay  explains the similarities and differences between two things. While comparing, you should focus on the differences between two seemingly similar objects. While contrasting, you should focus on the similarities between two different objects.

Narrative Essay Outline

A narrative essay is written to share a story. Normally, a narrative essay is written from a personal point of view in an essay. The basic purpose of the narrative essay is to describe something creatively.

Expository Essay Outline

An  expository essay  is a type of essay that explains, analyzes, and illustrates something for the readers. An expository essay should be unbiased and entirely based on facts. Be sure to use academic resources for your research and cite your sources.

Analytical Essay Outline

An  analytical essay  is written to analyze the topic from a critical point of view. An analytical essay breaks down the content into different parts and explains the topic bit by bit.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Outline

A rhetorical essay is written to examine the writer or artist’s work and develop a great essay. It also includes the discussion.

Cause and Effect Essay Outline

A  cause and effect essay  describes why something happens and examines the consequences of an occurrence or phenomenon. It is also a type of expository essay.

Informative Essay Outline

An  informative essay  is written to inform the audience about different objects, concepts, people, issues, etc.

The main purpose is to respond to the question with a detailed explanation and inform the target audience about the topic.

Synthesis Essay Outline

A  synthesis essay  requires the writer to describe a certain unique viewpoint about the issue or topic. Create a claim about the topic and use different sources and information to prove it.

Literary Analysis Essay Outline

A  literary analysis essay  is written to analyze and examine a novel, book, play, or any other piece of literature. The writer analyzes the different devices such as the ideas, characters, plot, theme, tone, etc., to deliver his message.

Definition Essay Outline

A  definition essay  requires students to pick a particular concept, term, or idea and define it in their own words and according to their understanding.

Descriptive Essay Outline

A  descriptive essay  is a type of essay written to describe a person, place, object, or event. The writer must describe the topic so that the reader can visualize it using their five senses.

Evaluation Essay Outline

Problem Solution Essay Outline

In a problem-solution essay, you are given a problem as a topic and you have to suggest multiple solutions on it.

Scholarship Essay Outline

A  scholarship essay  is required at the time of admission when you are applying for a scholarship. Scholarship essays must be written in a way that should stand alone to help you get a scholarship.

Reflective Essay Outline

A reflective essay  is written to express your own thoughts and point of view regarding a specific topic.

Getting started on your essay? Give this comprehensive essay writing guide a read to make sure you write an effective essay!

With this complete guide, now you understand how to create an outline for your essay successfully. However, if you still can’t write an effective essay, then the best option is to consult a professional academic writing service.

Essay writing is a dull and boring task for some people. So why not get some help instead of wasting your time and effort?  5StarEssays.com is here to help you. All your  do my essay for me  requests are managed by professional essay writers.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the three types of outlines.

Here are the three types of essay outline;

• Working outline
• Speaking outline
• Full-sentence outline

All three types are different from each other and are used for different purposes.

What does a full-sentence outline look like?

A full sentence outline contains full sentences at each level of the essay’s outline. It is similar to an alphanumeric outline and it is a commonly used essay outline.

What is a traditional outline format?

A traditional essay outline begins with writing down all the important points in one place and listing them down and adding sub-topics to them. Besides, it will also include evidence and proof that you will use to back your arguments.

What is the benefit of using a traditional outline format and an informal outline format?

A traditional outline format helps the students in listing down all the important details in one palace while an informal outline will help you coming up with new ideas and highlighting important points

As a Digital Content Strategist, Nova Allison has eight years of experience in writing both technical and scientific content. With a focus on developing online content plans that engage audiences, Nova strives to write pieces that are not only informative but captivating as well.

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Expository writing is an increasingly important skill for elementary, middle, and high school students to master. This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline that includes an introductory statement, main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas. The tool offers multiple ways to navigate information including a graphic in the upper right-hand corner that allows students to move around the map without having to work in a linear fashion. The finished map can be saved, e-mailed, or printed.

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This strategy guide explains the writing process and offers practical methods for applying it in your classroom to help students become proficient writers.

This strategy guide clarifies the difference between persuasion and argumentation, stressing the connection between close reading of text to gather evidence and formation of a strong argumentative claim about text.

Students will identify how Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of nonviolent conflict-resolution is reinterpreted in modern texts. Homework is differentiated to prompt discussion on how nonviolence is portrayed through characterization and conflict. Students will be formally assessed on a thesis essay that addresses the Six Kingian Principles of Nonviolence.

Students develop their reading, writing, research, and technology skills using graphic novels. As a final activity, students create their own graphic novels using comic software.

Students are encouraged to understand a book that the teacher reads aloud to create a new ending for it using the writing process.

While drafting a literary analysis essay (or another type of argument) of their own, students work in pairs to investigate advice for writing conclusions and to analyze conclusions of sample essays. They then draft two conclusions for their essay, select one, and reflect on what they have learned through the process.

Students analyze rhetorical strategies in online editorials, building knowledge of strategies and awareness of local and national issues. This lesson teaches students connections between subject, writer, and audience and how rhetorical strategies are used in everyday writing.

It's not easy surviving fourth grade (or third or fifth)! In this lesson, students brainstorm survival tips for future fourth graders and incorporate those tips into an essay.

Students explore the nature and structure of expository texts that focus on cause and effect and apply what they learned using graphic organizers and writing paragraphs to outline cause-and-effect relationships.

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Turn planning your essay into an exciting and entertaining process. By writing down the relevant information in the essay outline template, your narrative will turn out to be concise, informative, and persuasive, and you will be able to argumentative answer any questions from the teacher, emphasizing the importance of your opinion regarding this or that part of the text.

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Hundreds of Jan. 6 Prosecutions—Including Donald Trump’s—Are Suddenly in Peril at the Supreme Court

Will the Supreme Court jeopardize the prosecution of more than 350 defendants involved with Jan. 6, including Donald Trump, by gutting the federal statute that prohibits their unlawful conduct? Maybe so. Tuesday’s oral arguments in Fischer v. United States were rough sledding for the government, as the conservative justices lined up to thwap Joe Biden’s Department of Justice for allegedly overreaching in its pursuit of Jan. 6 convictions. Six members of the court took turns wringing their hands over the application of a criminal obstruction law to the rioters, fretting that they faced overly harsh penalties for participating in the violent attack. Unmentioned but lurking in the background was Trump himself, who can wriggle out of two major charges against him with a favorable decision in this case.

There are, no doubt, too many criminal laws whose vague wording gives prosecutors near-limitless leeway to threaten citizens with decades in prison. But this isn’t one of them. Congress wrote a perfectly legible law and the overwhelming majority of judges have had no trouble applying it. It would be all too telling if the Supreme Court decides to pretend the statute is somehow too sweeping or jumbled to use as a tool of accountability for Jan. 6.

Start with the obstruction law itself, known as Section 1552(c), which Congress enacted to close loopholes that Enron exploited to impede probes into its misconduct . The provision is remarkably straightforward—a far cry from the ambiguous, sloppy, or muddled laws that typically flummox the judiciary. It’s a mainstay of the Department of Justice’s “Capitol siege” prosecutions, deployed in about a quarter of all cases. Overall, 350 people face charges under this statute, Trump among them , and the DOJ has used it to secure the convictions of about 150 rioters . It targets anyone who “corruptly … obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.” And it clarifies that an official proceeding includes “a proceeding before the Congress.”

The government argues that some rioters attempted to “obstruct” an “official proceeding” by halting the count of electoral votes through “corrupt” means. That includes Joseph Fischer, the defendant in the current case. Fischer, who served as a police officer before Jan. 6, allegedly texted that the protest “might get violent”; that “they should storm the capital and drag all the democrates [sic] into the street and have a mob trial”; and that protesters should “take democratic congress to the gallows,” because they “can’t vote if they can’t breathe..lol.” Video evidence shows Fischer assaulting multiple police officers on the afternoon of Jan. 6 after breaching the Capitol.

Would anyone seriously argue that this person did not attempt to corruptly obstruct an official proceeding? For a time, it seemed not: 14 of the 15 federal judges—all but Judge Carl Nichols in this case—considering the charge in various Jan. 6 cases agreed that it applied to violent rioters bent on stopping the electoral count. So did every judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit except one, Judge Gregory Katsas. Both Nichols and Katsas were appointed by Trump. Their crusade to kneecap the law caught SCOTUS’ attention, and the court decided to intervene despite overwhelming consensus among lower court judges. The Supreme Court’s decision will have major implications for Trump: Two of the four charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith in the former president’s Jan. 6 prosecution revolve around this offense. A ruling that eviscerates the obstruction law would arguably cut out the heart of the indictment.

At least three justices seem ready to do just that. Justice Clarence Thomas—back on the bench after yesterday’s unexplained absence —grilled Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar over the law’s application to Jan. 6. “There have been many violent protests that have interfered with proceedings. Has the government applied this provision to other protests in the past?” Thomas asked, as if to nail the Justice Department for inconsistency and reveal some improper motive for wielding the law against violent insurrectionists. Justice Neil Gorsuch trolled Prelogar by alluding to Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s infamous fire alarm incident . “Would pulling a fire alarm before a vote qualify for 20 years in federal prison?” he asked. Justice Samuel Alito joined in to ask about “protests in the courtroom” when an audience member interrupts the justices and “delays the proceeding for five minutes.”

“For all the protests that have occurred in this court,” Alito noted pointedly, “the Justice Department has not charged any serious offenses, and I don’t think any one of those protestors has been sentenced to even one day in prison.” Why, he wondered, weren’t they charged under the obstruction statute?

Alito, audibly angry, continued: “Yesterday protestors blocked the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and disrupted traffic in San Francisco,” he told Prelogar. “What if something similar to that happened all around the Capitol so … all the bridges from Virginia were blocked, and members from Virginia who needed to appear at a hearing couldn’t get there or were delayed in getting there? Would that be a violation of this provision?”

To be clear, this is trolling: There is simply no comparison between a violent attack on the Capitol and protests that take the form of civil disobedience. And these justices expressed no similar concern about an ongoing red-state effort to persecute peaceful protesters who participate in Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Gorsuch and Alito’s hypotheticals ignore the reality that there are two layers of protection between minor protests and this rather major law. First, the Constitution affords prosecutorial discretion to the executive branch, allowing the Department of Justice to decide when an illegal “protest” is dangerous enough to warrant the use of a criminal law like the obstruction statute. Second, prosecutors must always prove the alleged offense to a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, creating a democratic check on the abusive use of a stringent law to punish a silly crime.

Prelogar highlighted this latter point, explaining that juries have indeed acquitted Jan. 6 defendants of obstruction. If prosecutors ever apply this (or any other) criminal statute to a questionable set of facts, they may always be thwarted by a jury. That is how the system is meant to work.

This kind of behavior from Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito is no surprise at this point. And the liberal justices countered them as best they could. What’s troubling is that the other conservative justices jumped in to join the pile-on. Chief Justice John Roberts insistently pressed Prelogar to prove that the Justice Department has interpreted and enforced the obstruction law consistently in the past. This question ignored the fact that, as Prelogar reminded the court, there has never been any crime like the assault on the Capitol , so the agency had no prior opportunity to apply the law in any similar way.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested that the Justice Department didn’t really need this statute because it has other laws at its disposal. “There are six other counts in the indictment here,” he told Prelogar. Why “aren’t those six counts good enough just from the Justice Department’s perspective given that they don’t have any of the hurdles?” Of course, the DOJ brought the obstruction charge specifically because it was more serious than the others; prosecutors felt an obligation to enforce Congress’ strong protections against intrusions on official proceedings, including those in the Capitol. Kavanaugh appears to think the DOJ should have settled for a smattering of lesser charges. Justice Amy Coney Barrett was not so obtuse; she earnestly worried that the statute was too broad and fished around for narrowing constructions. Yet she seemed unsatisfied with the many options Prelogar provided to keep the law limited to the most egregious interruptions of government business.

What all six justices seemed tempted to do was rip up Section 1552(c) because it happens to include another sentence that applies to the destruction of evidence and other official documents. Jan. 6 rioters didn’t destroy evidence, this argument goes, so they can’t be culpable under a law. That reading is untenable , something Prelogar impressively reinforced at every turn on Tuesday, but it may be attractive if a majority wants to defuse this statute before it’s used against Trump in a court of law.

Smith’s indictment of the former president for his participation in Jan. 6 doesn’t entirely hinge on obstruction. It does, however, weave obstruction into both the facts and the legal theory of the case, placing it at the center of a broader criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. If SCOTUS defuses the law now, Smith would have to scrap two of four charges and restructure the entire indictment, making it that much easier for Trump to demand further delay and, eventually, evade a conviction.

The justices know this. They should have been on their best behavior on Tuesday to avoid any glimmer of impropriety. It was already profoundly disturbing that Thomas sat on the case given his wife’s involvement with the attempt to overturn the election. The other justices’ faux concern about overcriminalization of protesters only added to the foul smell emanating from arguments. There’s no telling how Fischer will turn out; maybe the liberal justices will help their colleagues rediscover their better angels behind the scenes. From Tuesday’s vantage point, though, the argument was a bleak reminder of how easy it is for cloistered jurists to wish away the massive stakes of a case like this.

‘Forced’ move: Rwandans grapple with own fears over UK asylum seeker plan

Amid high unemployment and a housing crisis, many in Rwanda are apprehensive about the $272m UK migrant deal criticised by rights groups.

Kigali, Rwanda – Lush hills draped in verdure belie the controversies surrounding two locations in Kigali that may soon host hundreds of people who had no plans of ever living in Rwanda.

In northern Kigali, Hope Hostel sits on a hill overlooking the capital.

Keep reading

Uk passes law to send asylum seekers to rwanda after months of wrangling, what’s the uk’s ‘unlawful’ rwanda immigration plan, how has the genocide against the tutsis affected rwanda’s youth.

Across town in the southwest sits the Bwiza Riverside Estate, where manicured greenspaces, fences and small plots of land paint a picture of a quaint neighbourhood – one that, despite its suburban charm, also feels sterile and artificial.

Rwanda’s government has earmarked the two sites to host asylum seekers expected to be sent from the United Kingdom as part of a 220-million-pound ($272m) deal to relocate refugees landing on British shores to the East African country.

After months of wrangling and concerns over the human rights implications of the deal, the UK’s parliament passed the bill late on Monday.

It is expected to become law soon despite a cascade of issues regarding the plan’s feasibility, cost and legality and continued criticism from refugee rights activists.

Known locations

The Hope Hostel neighbourhood on the outskirts of Kigali bustles with street sellers, moto taxis and imposing villas.

According to its managing director, Ismael Bakina, the hostel has 50 double rooms, which can host up to 100 guests.

Initially, the hostel had a different purpose. Until two years ago, it housed survivors of the 1994 genocide , which killed almost a million people, mostly minority ethnic Tutsis. But after former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel visited the premises on a tightly controlled tour in 2022, the survivors were evacuated without housing alternatives.

For now, the hostel sits empty, awaiting the political process in the UK to reach a conclusion. Bakina told Al Jazeera it is ready to receive asylum seekers as soon as the first flights take off.

In the surrounding neighbourhood, Rwandans were hesitant to speak to Al Jazeera about the deal. Rights groups have often criticised Rwanda for its repressive political environment and restrictions of freedoms of expression. Journalists, opposition figures and activists have also been jailed or disappeared after criticising the government . Residents who did share their views did so anonymously, and some offered a more neutral take.

One 35-year-old woman named Dativ told Al Jazeera the plan sounded like a great idea because money would come into Rwanda and asylum seekers would bring more employees into the service sector. Rwanda’s economy mainly relies on services, tourism and agriculture.

A 45-year-old man who works as a taxi driver in the same neighbourhood and who refused to give his name, said it could go both ways: Rwandans could have more work but the relocated asylum seekers could also be competing with locals for job opportunities.

A Rwandan government spokesperson said asylum seekers from the UK would receive training and be introduced to the job market.

But Rwandans face an employment crisis with 15 percent of the labour force unemployed in 2023, according to the World Bank, and the youth unemployment rate was even higher at more than 20 percent.

These worries are shared on the condition of anonymity by some citizens. The asylum seekers “went to the UK to look for a better life, not to get tickets to come here”, one Kigali resident, a middle-aged man in a suit, told Al Jazeera.

“Will the government give them jobs or something to do here? They didn’t go [to the UK] for fun, so do you think when they come they will have the same life here they would have had there?”

Unemployment and housing crisis

The UK has provided Rwanda with an initial 220 million pounds ($272m) to take in asylum seekers for five years and has committed 370 million pounds ($456m) over the next five years, regardless of how many people are sent to Rwanda. But when the law passes, each asylum seeker would cost UK taxpayers about 1.8 million pounds ($2.2m), according to the UK auditor.

“We won’t be able to give them jobs. They’ll have money from the UK, but after that finishes, what happens?” Frank Habinenza, head of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and the only opposition politician elected to parliament, told Al Jazeera.

“We are a small economy with high unemployment and few jobs,” added the aspiring candidate in July’s presidential election.

Kigali has more than 1.2 million inhabitants and its population is increasing while Rwanda has one of the highest population densities in sub-Saharan Africa.

More than half the country’s estimated 13 million people live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.

As Kigali’s population expands, housing demand is also escalating, and the government’s decision to repurpose spaces for asylum seekers has ignited a maelstrom of opinions behind closed doors.

Thousands of people were left homeless after the government demolished informal housing in Kigali in 2019, offering only about $100 per person for temporary relocation to those who owned the property they were occupying at the time of the demolition.

Kigali’s administration estimates that 60 percent of the population live in informal settlements that are subject to natural risks induced by climate change while only 9 percent of Rwandans can afford the cheapest houses on the market. The average monthly income per household is about $100.

The shortage of affordable housing is set to double by 2050 as the city’s population increases and the government fails to achieve its housing development goals.

In southern Kigali, the Bwiza Riverside Estate looks deserted. It was advertised during a carefully managed visit by the former UK Home Secretary Suella Bravemen as the place where asylum seekers will be housed.

The development was built with the help of the government in Kigali to provide affordable housing to Rwandans. It offers different price ranges and sizes, and the homes selling for under $30,000 can be bought only through a government programme that helps citizens buy affordable housing with loans from Rwanda’s development bank. For houses above that price, the client deals directly with ADHI, the developer of the housing complex.

The managing director of ADHI told local media in February that it had sold almost 70 percent of the affordable homes, which were supposed to house asylum seekers from the UK. A government spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the figure “is simply not true” because it has been involved in the development of the complex in partnership with ADHI from the beginning. The developer has not replied to repeated requests for comment.

“The Rwandan government wanted to show Suella Braveman they had enough houses for refugees, so they showed the Bwiza estate,” said Victoire Ingabire, an opposition politician formerly imprisoned and barred from politics due to her strong criticism of the government.

“It was a PR move because they didn’t know if the deal would happen, so they just wanted to show them something, and that was what they had at the time.”

A government spokesperson told Al Jazeera that Rwanda has negotiated agreements with other facilities and will sign leases when flights are confirmed, but declined to provide details.

In total, Hope Hostel and Bwiza Riverside Estate could house an estimated 500 people. In 2023, almost 30,000 people arrived in the UK on small boats. It would cost 5 billion pounds ($6.2bn) to send the same number of asylum seekers in the first five years to Rwanda, according to leaked Home Office documents.

“We have been clear the scheme is uncapped, and we remain focused on getting flights off the ground as soon as possible,” a Home Office spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

Fears of rights violations

Ingabire said that while the UK money could be beneficial for the country, Rwandans need to “realise we’re talking about human beings here”.

The deal has been widely seen as illegal and immoral for violating the 1951 UN Refugee Convention protecting the right to asylum as well as European and UK laws.

“Human rights are also a problem because they didn’t choose to come here. They chose to go to the UK, and the UN obliges countries to accept refugees,” Hubinenza said.

“Rwanda welcomes refugees but only if they want to be here, not if they’re forced to come here. That is why the deal is illegal, and it’s against the dignity of the refugees and our people,” he added.

The UK government has repeatedly said Rwanda is a safe country with a strong history of providing protection, safety and sanctuary to refugees despite the UK Supreme Court decision saying the opposite.

Rwanda is home to more than 135,000 refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in the region, but they are supported by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and not the Rwandan government.

Al Jazeera visited the Nkamira refugee camp in western Rwanda, which opened last year and where almost 7,000 Congolese refugees live. They receive one meal a day – corn mixed with beans – and there is no school for the children, no mats or sanitary products, and few resources to treat serious medical issues.

“We already have some cases of malnutrition. We have pregnant women who have special nutritional needs, and we don’t have funds to transfer people with serious illnesses to hospitals,” said David Rwanyonga, the director of the Nkamira camp.

At the Gashora transit camp, about an hour southeast of Kigali, Eritrean, Sudanese and Somali refugees await decisions on their asylum applications for European and North American countries. Although the conditions are better than at Nkamira with a school and sports facilities, asylum seekers have complained in the past of feeling like they are stuck in limbo.

Gashora was set up as a European Union-funded scheme to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda from Libya, where reports of human rights violations have been piling up for years. It was seen as an inspiration for the UK-Rwanda deal – a way to outsource asylum processes to third countries.

Rwanda’s existing refugees do not receive the same treatment as those coming from the UK would.

A UK Home Office spokesperson said: “Those relocated to Rwanda will not be living in refugee camps. … They will initially be accommodated in reception centres before moving into longer-term accommodation.”

Rwanda had a similar deal with Israel in 2015, which saw 4,000 asylum seekers sent to the East African country, but they all left and the deal was cancelled in 2018. Some of those asylum seekers were driven in groups to the Ugandan border with no work or documentation, leading many to take the central Mediterranean route to Europe.

“People will come here, and after a few months, they will go back to the UK,” said Ingabire, comparing the latest deal with the Israeli one. She said the Rwandan government knows that but is still going ahead with the proposal due to its financial incentive.

After the UK’s Rwanda deal gets final approval this week, the first deportations will happen at the start of July, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

“I don’t have any kind words about this deal,” Habinenza said. “There’s a fear of division in the country, and we don’t want any politics on ethnic, cultural or religious divisions, so we need to be careful of the impact of our policies on those divisions.”

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NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism

David Folkenflik

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument. Uri Berliner hide caption

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument.

NPR has formally punished Uri Berliner, the senior editor who publicly argued a week ago that the network had "lost America's trust" by approaching news stories with a rigidly progressive mindset.

Berliner's five-day suspension without pay, which began last Friday, has not been previously reported.

Yet the public radio network is grappling in other ways with the fallout from Berliner's essay for the online news site The Free Press . It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network's coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo is among those now targeting NPR's new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the network. Among others, those posts include a 2020 tweet that called Trump racist and another that appeared to minimize rioting during social justice protests that year. Maher took the job at NPR last month — her first at a news organization .

In a statement Monday about the messages she had posted, Maher praised the integrity of NPR's journalists and underscored the independence of their reporting.

"In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen," she said. "What matters is NPR's work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests."

The network noted that "the CEO is not involved in editorial decisions."

In an interview with me later on Monday, Berliner said the social media posts demonstrated Maher was all but incapable of being the person best poised to direct the organization.

"We're looking for a leader right now who's going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about," Berliner said. "And this seems to be the opposite of that."

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month. Stephen Voss/Stephen Voss hide caption

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month.

He said that he tried repeatedly to make his concerns over NPR's coverage known to news leaders and to Maher's predecessor as chief executive before publishing his essay.

Berliner has singled out coverage of several issues dominating the 2020s for criticism, including trans rights, the Israel-Hamas war and COVID. Berliner says he sees the same problems at other news organizations, but argues NPR, as a mission-driven institution, has a greater obligation to fairness.

"I love NPR and feel it's a national trust," Berliner says. "We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they're capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners."

A "final warning"

The circumstances surrounding the interview were singular.

Berliner provided me with a copy of the formal rebuke to review. NPR did not confirm or comment upon his suspension for this article.

In presenting Berliner's suspension Thursday afternoon, the organization told the editor he had failed to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists. It called the letter a "final warning," saying Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR's policy again. Berliner is a dues-paying member of NPR's newsroom union but says he is not appealing the punishment.

The Free Press is a site that has become a haven for journalists who believe that mainstream media outlets have become too liberal. In addition to his essay, Berliner appeared in an episode of its podcast Honestly with Bari Weiss.

A few hours after the essay appeared online, NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi reminded Berliner of the requirement that he secure approval before appearing in outside press, according to a copy of the note provided by Berliner.

In its formal rebuke, NPR did not cite Berliner's appearance on Chris Cuomo's NewsNation program last Tuesday night, for which NPR gave him the green light. (NPR's chief communications officer told Berliner to focus on his own experience and not share proprietary information.) The NPR letter also did not cite his remarks to The New York Times , which ran its article mid-afternoon Thursday, shortly before the reprimand was sent. Berliner says he did not seek approval before talking with the Times .

NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

Berliner says he did not get permission from NPR to speak with me for this story but that he was not worried about the consequences: "Talking to an NPR journalist and being fired for that would be extraordinary, I think."

Berliner is a member of NPR's business desk, as am I, and he has helped to edit many of my stories. He had no involvement in the preparation of this article and did not see it before it was posted publicly.

In rebuking Berliner, NPR said he had also publicly released proprietary information about audience demographics, which it considers confidential. He said those figures "were essentially marketing material. If they had been really good, they probably would have distributed them and sent them out to the world."

Feelings of anger and betrayal inside the newsroom

His essay and subsequent public remarks stirred deep anger and dismay within NPR. Colleagues contend Berliner cherry-picked examples to fit his arguments and challenge the accuracy of his accounts. They also note he did not seek comment from the journalists involved in the work he cited.

Morning Edition host Michel Martin told me some colleagues at the network share Berliner's concerns that coverage is frequently presented through an ideological or idealistic prism that can alienate listeners.

"The way to address that is through training and mentorship," says Martin, herself a veteran of nearly two decades at the network who has also reported for The Wall Street Journal and ABC News. "It's not by blowing the place up, by trashing your colleagues, in full view of people who don't really care about it anyway."

Several NPR journalists told me they are no longer willing to work with Berliner as they no longer have confidence that he will keep private their internal musings about stories as they work through coverage.

"Newsrooms run on trust," NPR political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben tweeted last week, without mentioning Berliner by name. "If you violate everyone's trust by going to another outlet and sh--ing on your colleagues (while doing a bad job journalistically, for that matter), I don't know how you do your job now."

Berliner rejected that critique, saying nothing in his essay or subsequent remarks betrayed private observations or arguments about coverage.

Other newsrooms are also grappling with questions over news judgment and confidentiality. On Monday, New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn announced to his staff that the newspaper's inquiry into who leaked internal dissent over a planned episode of its podcast The Daily to another news outlet proved inconclusive. The episode was to focus on a December report on the use of sexual assault as part of the Hamas attack on Israel in October. Audio staffers aired doubts over how well the reporting stood up to scrutiny.

"We work together with trust and collegiality everyday on everything we produce, and I have every expectation that this incident will prove to be a singular exception to an important rule," Kahn wrote to Times staffers.

At NPR, some of Berliner's colleagues have weighed in online against his claim that the network has focused on diversifying its workforce without a concomitant commitment to diversity of viewpoint. Recently retired Chief Executive John Lansing has referred to this pursuit of diversity within NPR's workforce as its " North Star ," a moral imperative and chief business strategy.

In his essay, Berliner tagged the strategy as a failure, citing the drop in NPR's broadcast audiences and its struggle to attract more Black and Latino listeners in particular.

"During most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding," Berliner writes. "In recent years, however, that has changed."

Berliner writes, "For NPR, which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for its journalism and its business model."

NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner wrote in a comment for this story: "Minorities do not all think the same and do not report the same. Good reporters and editors should know that by now. It's embarrassing to me as a reporter at NPR that a senior editor here missed that point in 2024."

Some colleagues drafted a letter to Maher and NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, seeking greater clarity on NPR's standards for its coverage and the behavior of its journalists — clearly pointed at Berliner.

A plan for "healthy discussion"

On Friday, CEO Maher stood up for the network's mission and the journalism, taking issue with Berliner's critique, though never mentioning him by name. Among her chief issues, she said Berliner's essay offered "a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are."

Berliner took great exception to that, saying she had denigrated him. He said that he supported diversifying NPR's workforce to look more like the U.S. population at large. She did not address that in a subsequent private exchange he shared with me for this story. (An NPR spokesperson declined further comment.)

Late Monday afternoon, Chapin announced to the newsroom that Executive Editor Eva Rodriguez would lead monthly meetings to review coverage.

"Among the questions we'll ask of ourselves each month: Did we capture the diversity of this country — racial, ethnic, religious, economic, political geographic, etc — in all of its complexity and in a way that helped listeners and readers recognize themselves and their communities?" Chapin wrote in the memo. "Did we offer coverage that helped them understand — even if just a bit better — those neighbors with whom they share little in common?"

Berliner said he welcomed the announcement but would withhold judgment until those meetings played out.

In a text for this story, Chapin said such sessions had been discussed since Lansing unified the news and programming divisions under her acting leadership last year.

"Now seemed [the] time to deliver if we were going to do it," Chapin said. "Healthy discussion is something we need more of."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

• Katherine Maher
• uri berliner