Study excursion outline (7)
I believe the answer is:
contour
'outline' is the definition.
(I know that contour is a more specific form of the action outline)
'study excursion' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'con' (con can informally mean to study).
'excursion' becomes 'tour' (I've seen this before).
'con'+'tour'='CONTOUR'
(Other definitions for contour that I've seen before include "Feature on map" , "Defining line" , "Outline, shape" , "Outline (of land)" , "Outline, profile" .)