Into the Wild Outline Student Example
Engl-1A, Rios
This is an outline that a student made. (Note: I have made a few additions and changes for clarity.)
Questions/directions
Type your answers on this side
Title: create an essay title that...
• gives a clue about what your topic is, and also
• gets readers interested in reading your essay
Just Another Bush Casualty
Introduction
1. Hook (1 sentence): Grab your reader’s
attention with an intriguing statement or
question. Or, you can start with a quote
from the book. (Make sure this relates to the
thesis.)
2. (Background) Briefly summarize Into the
Wild.
3. (Background) Then, explain what the
reader needs to know about Chris to
understand your thesis statement. (Give
some general, relevant information about
Chris.)
4. Working Thesis (1-2 sentences): Clearly
state the 3 main points you will discuss in
your paper.
Note: your thesis must clearly relate to your three points
below.
1. “The prevailing Alaska wisdom held that
McCandless was simply one more dreamy half-
cocked greenhorn who went into the country
expecting to find answers to all his problems and
instead found only mosquitos and death” (72).
2. Into The Wild is the story of a young man who
was seeking an escape from his troubled
childhood and family tensions.
3. He found his escape by hitchhiking across the
country and placing himself in continually more
reckless situations. Surviving these situations on
luck and the good will of strangers, he developed
an arrogantly inflated opinion of his own abilities.
Eventually he landed in the Alaskan bush, where
there was no luck and no one around to bail him
out.
4. Chris McCandless was unprepared because he
lacked wilderness skills, adequate gear, and
thorough information about the wilderness.
Supporting Point 1
1. Topic Sentence 1: Clearly state the first
point that supports your argument.
2. Supporting details: write a short
paragraph that gives details supporting your
topic sentence.
3. Quote: Include one quote that supports
your point.
SKILLS
1. Chris’ ego seems to have prevented him from
seeking the skills he needed to survive in the
situations he wanted to.
2. He would gather general skills but either fail to
comprehend or disregard the level of mastery he
needed.
3. “Nuance, strategy, and anything beyond the
rudimenteries of technique were waste on Chris.
The only way he cared to tackle a challenge was
head-on, right now, applying the full brunt of his
extraordinary energy” (111).
