My advanced ninth grade students are currently working on their research papers. I have written a forty-five page research paper manual and a detailed calendar of deadlines to keep them informed and on track. Their initial reaction to the novel-like packet was one of fear: What could be in there? Other students responded with anger: Why do we have do all this work?!
Their outlines were due on Friday. I required them to submit a detailed outline, complete with thesis statement, topic sentences, all specific evidence for each paragraph, and MLA-style internal citations. Upon entering the classroom on Friday, the students inundated me with complaints about the amount of time and energy that went into their outlines. And for what? they wondered.
Now that we are at the rough draft stage of the process, they have a new outlook on things. The same students who cried about their outlines now realized why I had required to write them in such detail. One student said, "I hated doing the outline, but writing the rough draft was so easy. Now I see why you've been telling us how important outlining is. I'm going to do this for all of my papers from now on."
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