Getting students to use outlines can be a challenge. I know -- I was one of them.
For many embarrassing years, I stubbornly rejected the outline idea, insisting that my thoughts would easily come out on paper and somehow, magically, form themselves into a logical whole.
It all caught up with me in graduate school, when my advisor confronted me with the painful notion that she had to, in essence, clean up my mess. While she didn’t exactly put it this way, this was the message I got.
Fast forward to graduate degree number two – I got the message, load and clear. I’m not sure why – perhaps it was the challenge of parenting two children, working full-time and going to school at night? Since it was all about keeping my head above water, I had to have a plan.
In early childhood classrooms, one of the questions you often hear is “What’s the plan?” This can be asked anywhere from the block corner to the playground. It’s a question that grounds children and challenges them to organize their thinking.
While this can certainly seem like a spontaneity-killer, when it comes to writing research-based work, not using an outline is kind of like baking without a recipe. You need to know which ingredients to have, what tools you need, and how much time it will take.
When I started doing research it was called an outline. Today it’s called a graphic organizer. More on that tomorrow.