How do I outline a book?

Mike Parks
Mike Parks Member Posts: 12 ✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

Is there a feature to outline a chapter of a book? I am about to begin teaching a class and would love if logos had the capabilities to create chapter outlines. That would be a lot easier than doing it manually Big Smile  

Comments

  • TCBlack
    TCBlack Member Posts: 10,980 ✭✭✭

    No there is not. but I would LOVE the feature.

     

    The best I can suggest is to open a note file from, say the Title page, and then just build the outline in the note.

    Hmm Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you. 

  • Mike Parks
    Mike Parks Member Posts: 12 ✭✭

    Ahhh, the classic way [;)]  It does the job, you just miss all the sub points. Maybe we can look forward to something like this in the future. It would be a GREAT feature for discipleship ministries that teach from books. I have a friend that mentioned there was a similar outline feature in vs3, but he was not sure of vs4. I was hoping someone know where they hide it, well, if it exist???  

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭

    MikeParks said:


    Is there a feature to outline a chapter of a book? I am about to begin teaching a class and would love if logos had the capabilities to create chapter outlines. That would be a lot easier than doing it manually Big Smile  


    Do you mean a feature that would automatically pick up the headings within the chapter and generate an outline from them? Or something more intelligent than that which would actually create an outline for you conceptually from the material in the chapter? The latter sounds wonderful but is probably a pipe dream, alas. However I could see them adding the former, and it would be helpful. There isn't such a feature currently. But what I do when I need something like that is I open the Table of Contents panel, which usually shows a good outline (more detailed than the Table of Contents at the beginning of the book) and copy it from the screen using ABBYY Screenshot Reader (probably the most useful little utility program I've ever spent money on; $9.99, with a free trial download), then paste it to wherever I need it (Word or a Notes file in Logos). This works better in some books than others. It depends on how detailed the author is in writing headings that essentially give an outline of each chapter.

  • Mike Parks
    Mike Parks Member Posts: 12 ✭✭

    Hey Rosie,

    You got it; I was looking for the “pipe dream” feature. However, I did not think about copying the table of contents panel, that is a great idea; it normally has the sub points included. Thanks for the tip!

    Mike

  • Dan Pogue
    Dan Pogue Member Posts: 196 ✭✭

    Greetings Mike,

         I am not sure what resources you have...the outline Bible which is in the commentaries may be able to assist you in what you are wanting to accomplish.

    blessings,

    danp

  • spitzerpl
    spitzerpl Member Posts: 4,998 ✭✭✭

    But what I do when I need something like that is I open the Table of Contents panel, which usually shows a good outline (more detailed than the Table of Contents at the beginning of the book) and copy it from the screen using ABBYY Screenshot Reader

    If you have L3 installed you can copy and paste the table of contents directly by looking at the resource's TOC. Some Bibles, like the NKJV, are only divided by Chapters in the TOC, not by section headings. My dream was to have "Context" section in the passage guide. That would take your current passage and pull in outlines from commentaries and study Bibles or list the surrounding pericopes. Its the only important section for studying a passage that I feel is missing. I suppose as a reminder to check it you could create a collection of commentaries called "Outlines" and include any commentaries that have good outlines in their introductory sections. Then you could add a commentary section to your guide pointing to that collection. It will open the commentary to the verse, but a little bit of navigating should get you to the outline.

  • Jim
    Jim Member Posts: 731 ✭✭✭

    What are you studying? I might be able to recommend a resource or two in Logos that will help.

    There use to be an add-on tool that would analyze a book or chapter in
    order to identify frequently used words, but that isn't available in L4.
    I think it was called Theme Discovery. However I've found that while helpful, you can't find the author's intent and flow of logic
    with it.

    BTW. I don't want to rain on your parade, but automatic outlining can stunt people's ability to actually learn what the Scripture is saying. It's taken me many years to undo a lot of memorized outlines and replace them with an understanding of the author's intent and flow of logic which is often missed by the usual outlining techniques. I'm not saying they are useless, but their usefulness will depending upon the type of literature you are studying (the Bible has may literary genres/styles); it can get you started or it can hinder you. I realize that outlining is the way we were all taught in school to analyze and even prepare for teaching, but there is a lot more to getting at the truth than that. Please forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir here, but your query was pretty open ended and I assure you I do want to be helpful.

     

     

    Have a great day,
    jmac

  • Mike Parks
    Mike Parks Member Posts: 12 ✭✭

    Thanks Phillip, I have both versions on my PC, so I will give it a try!

    Jim, I am looking into teaching large portions of Grudem’s systematic. To your second point, my desire is to outline regular books, not just biblical text.

     

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    More SPAM!!! 


    I've reported it. You can report it using the "Report Abuse" command on the More menu beside a spam post. I've found Logos is pretty quick about responding to these reports and removing the offending post. Once they do that, we can delete these responses of ours about it.

  • Floyd  Johnson
    Floyd Johnson Member Posts: 4,002 ✭✭✭

    Blessings,
    Floyd

    Pastor-Patrick.blogspot.com

  • Jim
    Jim Member Posts: 731 ✭✭✭

    MikeParks said:

    Jim, I am looking into teaching large portions of Grudem’s systematic. To your second point, my desire is to outline regular books, not just biblical text.

    Oh. I see. That's a horse of a different color.

    Have a great day,
    jmac

  • Dave Smith
    Dave Smith Member Posts: 54 ✭✭

    Grudem taught through his book at his church. They recorded them and put them online with his class outlines. 

    http://www.christianessentialssbc.com/messages/