Outline Generation

The Outline Generation tool creates structured document outlines for research papers, literature reviews, grant proposals, theses, and other academic documents. It uses AI to understand your topic, gather relevant sources from your library, extract key themes, and organize them into a logical structure with citation placeholders.

How to Generate an Outline

1. Navigate to the Outline Generator at /outline-generator.
2. Enter your research topic or question.
3. Select a document type and template.
4. Configure optional settings (academic level, style guide, target length).
5. Click Generate. The AI produces a comprehensive outline in real time.

Free-Tier Limit

Hosted Free accounts currently get 3 outline-generation requests per week.

Templates

The system includes over 33 templates designed for specific academic contexts:

Journal-Specific Templates:

• Nature -- Structured for Nature journal submission guidelines
• Science -- Aligned with Science magazine formatting requirements
• Discipline-specific journal templates for major publications

Funding Agency Templates:

• NIH -- Specific Aims, Research Strategy, and other NIH grant components
• NSF -- Project Description with Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts sections
• Additional templates for other major funding agencies

Document Type Templates:

• Research Paper (IMRAD) -- Standard scientific paper format
• Literature Review -- Comprehensive review with thematic analysis
• Thesis/Dissertation -- Chapter-based structure for graduate work
• Case Study -- Problem-solution format for clinical and business research
• Systematic Review -- PRISMA-aligned review structure
• Meta-Analysis -- Template for quantitative synthesis

Each template encodes the expected structure, required sections, and formatting conventions for its target venue or document type.

Topic Understanding

When you enter a research topic, the AI performs several analyses:

• Scope detection -- Determines whether your topic is narrow or broad and adjusts the outline depth accordingly.
• Document type inference -- Suggests the most appropriate document type if you have not selected one.
• Key concept extraction -- Identifies the central concepts, theories, and methodologies relevant to your topic.

This analysis ensures the generated outline is tailored to your specific research area rather than producing a generic template.

Source Gathering and Citation Integration

If you have documents in your AcaTrove library, the Outline Generator searches your corpus for relevant sources. It extracts key points, identifies themes and debates, and attaches in-line citation placeholders to the outline. This means the generated outline arrives with a foundation of references from your own research.

Citation integration supports multiple style guides:

• APA (American Psychological Association) -- Social sciences standard
• MLA (Modern Language Association) -- Humanities standard
• Chicago -- History and some social sciences
• Harvard -- Common in business and sciences
• Additional styles available

Select your preferred style guide during outline configuration, and citations are formatted accordingly.

Academic Levels

The Outline Generator adjusts its output based on the selected academic level:

• Undergraduate -- Simpler structure, broader coverage, foundational citations
• Graduate -- Standard academic rigor, methodological detail, thorough literature coverage
• Doctoral -- Advanced structure, original contribution framing, comprehensive citation network
• Professional -- Practice-oriented, applied research focus, industry-relevant structure

The academic level affects section depth, vocabulary complexity, and the level of methodological detail in the outline.

Customization

After the outline is generated, you can:

• Accept or reject sections -- Remove sections that are not relevant to your specific project.
• Reorder sections -- Drag sections to rearrange the logical flow.
• Add custom instructions -- Provide natural-language modifications (e.g., "Add a section on ethical considerations" or "Merge the two methodology sections").
• Refine with AI -- Ask the AI to expand, condense, or restructure specific parts of the outline.

Export

Generated outlines can be exported in multiple formats:

• Markdown -- For direct import into the Write workspace
• Word (.docx) -- For sharing with collaborators
• LaTeX (.tex) -- For TeX-based workflows
• Google Docs -- For cloud-based collaboration

The export preserves all structural formatting, headings, and citation placeholders.

Tips

• Start with a clear, specific topic statement. "The role of microRNA in glioblastoma chemoresistance" will produce a better outline than "cancer research."
• Upload relevant papers to your library before generating an outline. The more sources the AI has to draw from, the richer the citation integration.
• Use the academic level selector to match your audience. A doctoral-level outline for an undergraduate assignment will be unnecessarily complex.
• Generate outlines early in your writing process. A well-structured outline saves significant time during drafting.