Informative essay outline

For this assignment, you will be developing a sentence-level outline for your upcoming informative essay. Your outline will need to include quotes from all of the sources (at least three sources, one of which must be a peer-reviewed journal article from GALILEO) you intend to use in your essay and should follow the guidelines for sentence-level outlines as per our Module 8 Reading: Using an Outline to Organize Your Essay.

Include PDFs of any sources used with your submission, with all quotes used highlighted in the PDF. Submissions that do not include PDFs of sources will not be graded.

Complete the following task:

Using your resources, develop a complete, well-written sentence-level outline for your upcoming essay.

This outline should:

Follow MLA document formatting standards, including running header and block header and line spacing;

Contain a clearly-worded and concise thesis statement;

Be written in complete sentences, in the third person;

Demonstrate alignment in organization between points listed in the thesis statement and the organization of body paragraphs;

Show relationships and hierarchies between concepts through use of indentation and alphanumerical line prefixes (I, II, III, A, B, C, and so on);

Indicate which sources will be placed in conversation with each other in each body paragraph (at least two of the chosen sources should be utilized in each body paragraph);

Display appropriate use of source attribution and citation through the use of MLA-formatted in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

The 3 points and suggestion to be included for this sentence-level outline.

There are 3 points in which the sources agree in two points and disagree in one point.

1. Stress affects cognitive functioning and mental performance

Picciotto and Fabio (2024) analyze the effect of stress on cognitive performance, and the willingness people have to engage in cognitively demanding tasks. The results found in this study are that stress can reduce cognitive performance and increase the likelihood of avoiding tasks that require mental effort.

The American Psychological Association (2023) discusses that stress affects the brain and nervous system, which can lead to problems with concentration and memory between the HPA axis and the immune system as well as long-term draining to the body.

Both sources indicate that stress can negatively affect cognitive processes and mental functioning.

2. Stress produces physical and emotional responses in the body

The American Psychological Association (2023) discussed that stress initiates the body to respond to stress by releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that eventually chronic stress can affect the heart, immune system, and nervous system.

Delussi et al. (2024) discusses how stress influences emotional perception and as its linked to neurological condition such as migraines, demonstrating that stress can contribute to both emotional and physical symptoms.

Agreement: Both sources indicate that stress affects the body both physically and emotionally.

3. Stress affects emotional processing and behavior

Delussi et al. (2024) found in their study that stress influences emotional perception and that stress factors can vary by gender, particularly among individuals with migraines.

Picciotto and Fabio (2024) found in their study that stress affects behavior by increasing the possibility for an individual to avoid cognitive tasks.

Disagree: Delussi et al. found through the online questionnaires and additional study that stress can affect the emotional perception based on gender differences and patients with migraines, while Picciotto and Fabio emphasize the effect of stress on decision-making related to cognitive effort.

References: Picciotto, G., & Fabio, R. A. (2024). Does stress induction affect cognitive performance or avoidance of cognitive effort? Stress & Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 40(1), 112.

Delussi, M., Piraino, G., Guerzoni, S., Castro, F. L., Sances, G., Guaschino, E., Vaghi, G., Grazzi, L., Sacco, S., Onofri, A., Paparella, G., Prudenzano, M. P., Roca, M. E., Fallacara, A., Cevoli, S., Pierangeli, G., Sarchielli, P., Bellotti, A., Invitto, S., & de Tommaso, M. (2024). Gender-related stress factors and emotional perception in migraine: A structured online questionnaire in migraine patients and controls. Neurological Sciences, 45(4), 16451654.

American Psychological Association. (2023, March 8). Stress effects on the body.

Suggestion: It might also be helpful to look into studies on how stress affects sleep cycles. For example, Kalmbach, Anderson, and Drake (2018) discusses how stress can increase sleep reactivity, meaning some peoples sleep systems are more sensitive to stress and can develop insomnia or circadian disruptions as a result. Overall, I’m really excited to read your essay and what stress reducing mechanisms come out from your research!

Kalmbach DA, Anderson JR, Drake CL. The impact of stress on sleep: Pathogenic sleep reactivity as a vulnerability to insomnia and circadian disorders. Journal of Sleep Research. 2018;27(6). doi:10.1111/jsr.12710.