Internet Academy Resources
Proposition/Support Outlines What is a Proposition/Support Outline?
A Proposition/Support Outline is a strategy that:
- Helps the reader recognize different viewpoints, theories, hypotheses, and debatable assertions made by authors.
- Offers a framework for analyzing the different evidence an author presents to support a proposition.
- Charts the support a statement has from qualified experts, facts, and research.
- Helps verify information with reputable sources.
How could a Proposition/Support Outline help me read better?
A Proposition/Support Outline helps you:
- Decide what is true, what is false, and what is a guess.
- Figure out what to believe and what to read more about.
- Understand what you read.
- Pick out important ideas and figure out what those ideas mean.
What does a Proposition/Support Outline look like?
- Below is an example of a Proposition/Support Outline.
- You should have 3 to 5 statements in each support area.
- The facts, statistics, and examples must be from expert authorities.
- The logic and reasoning are from your sources, not your own.
- Proposition/Support - blank word.doc form
Proposition/Support Outlines
Topic:
Rain Forests Proposition:
The loss of our rain forests will lead to an environmental disaster. Support:
1. Facts
- Rain forests use up carbon dioxide.
- There is increased carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere.
- The rain forests contain many endangered plant and animal species.
- Deforestation leads to widespread soil erosion in many areas.
- The burning of fossil fuels puts carbon dioxide into the environment.
2. Statistics
- The 1980's were the "hottest" decade in the last 100 years.
- One acre of tropical forest disappears every second.
- 4 million acres (larger than the state of Connecticut) disappear every years.
- 50 to 100 species are destroyed with each acre of rain forest cleared.
- If present trends continue, half of the rain forests of Honduras and Nicaragua will disappear by the year 2000.
3. Examples
- India has almost no remaining rain forest.
- Current plans target eliminating of much of the Congo's rain forest.
- Run-off from deforestation in Indonesia threatens their coral reefs and diminishes the fish population.
- Cutting of rain forests in Bangladesh and the Philippines has led to killer floods.
4. Expert Authority
- Computers predict doubling of carbon dioxide in the next century, raising temperatures 3 to 9 degrees.
- National Center for Atmospheric Research believes increased carbon dioxide will lead to Greenhouse Effect and global warming.
- Environmentalist expert Al Gore calls the Greenhouse Effect our most serious threat ever.
5. Logic and Reasoning
- Warmer temperatures will harm crops and increase energy costs.
- More people will starve because of less food and increased population growth.
- The polar glaciers will melt and raise the ea level, flooding coastlines.
- Many species useful to humans will disappear.
- More sections of the world will become uninhabitable deserts due to soil loss from erosion, overgrazing, and over cultivation.
