complete outlines as rough drafts

Complete Outlines as Rough Drafts

Steven Bookman Bronx Community College (CUNY)

July 11, 2012 [email protected]

2012 International Learning Styles Conference, Bronx, NY

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mailto:[email protected]

Purpose of Presentation

The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate that a complete outline functions as a rough draft, using a procedural approach. This procedural approach emphasizes that skipping steps leads to missed information and that there is no need for multiple drafts.


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Current Popular English as a Second Language (ESL) Textbooks (1)

• Blass, Friesen, and Block’s (2008) Creating Meaning: Advanced Reading and Writing presents a good job in giving ELLs different ways to outline and use graphic organizers to major details. However, they do not take the outline far enough in terms of envisioning the whole essay.

• Folse, Muchmore-Vokoun, and Solomon’s (2004) Great Essays (2nd ed.) describe the difference between general and specific outlines (pp. 30-31); however, the specific outline does not outline the essay for minor details.

2012 International Learning Styles

Conference, Bronx, NY 3

Current Popular English as a Second Language (ESL) Textbooks (2)

Folse, Mahnke, Solomon, and Williams’ (2006) Blueprints 2: Composition Skills for Academic Writing (p. 23), Oshima and Hogue’s Introduction to Academic Writing (3rd ed., pp. 54-57) (2007), and Folse and Pugh’s (2010) Greater Essays (2nd ed., pp. 7-14) treat the outline and rough draft as separate components to the writing process. The writing process is recursive not linear.


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Current Popular College Composition Textbooks

• The many of the college readers and anthologies (e.g., Clouse, 2010) tend to focus on the rhetorical modes and literature, not on the writing process itself. Of the attention given to the writing process, outlines receive little of it.

• College composition readers on arguments (e.g., Barnet & Bedau, 2010) tend to discuss the writing in general, in particular outlines, much more than readers and anthologies; however, they do not go far enough with outlining.


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Previous Purposes of Outlines (1)

According to Hubbard (1981), outlines have had two traditional purposes:

– (1) a tool to make sure that students are focused on the topic of the writing assignment; and

– (2) a tool for composing a writing assignment.


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Previous Purposes of Outlines (2)

“To outline today means not to organize before writing, but to organize ideas after generating them by means of thinking and writing –a complex recursive series of mental and scriptual procedures writers undergo each time they confront a writing assignment” (Spack, 1985, p. 328).


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Purposed Purpose of an Outline

• An outline is not just a writing tool to get students started, but it is a series of steps that develops any entire text into a rough draft in bullet form, using a formal outline structure (Bookman, 2012).

• Outlines, if they are used to their fullest potential, are complete rough drafts. Only one draft needs to be developed (Bookman, 2012). – If students cannot envision the whole written text,

they are not ready to write it.



Multiple Drafts vs. Complete Outlines

• Although many professors encourage multiple drafts (Zamel, 1983), multiple drafts encourage students to plan an essay as they write it instead of envisioning it before they write it.

• Writing, according to Zamal (1983), is a “nonlinear, exploratory, and generative process, whereby writers discover and reformulate their ideas as they attempt approximate meaning (p. 165).


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Approaching Outlining as Linear and Recursive Approaches

Linear

• A product-oriented approach treats outlining as a procedure (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2009; Reid, 1984).

• Outlining can be viewed as a mathematical formula (Reid, 1982).

Recursive

• A process-oriented approach treats outlining as a back and forth process with no plan of action (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2009; Masuda, 2003; Zamel, 1983, 1984).

• It lacks organizational skills (Reid, 1984). There are hierarchical processes that are not fixed in a rigid order (Flower & Hayes, 1981).


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The Radical Outliner and the Radical Brainstormer (Reid, 1984)

Radical Outliner • The entire planning is directed

towards the audience. • Generating an outline

eliminates most of the irrelevant information.

• Creating an outline permits students write a “straightfoward” draft.

• The procedure for the outliner is: thinking period → note making → revision prior to and during the development of the outline.

Radical Brainstormer

• Students are less conscious in their thinking process.

• Fewer details are generated.

• Students write multiple drafts.

• Free writing is a major component of multiple drafts.


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Theoretical Framework – Direct Instruction

• Direct Instruction refers to: “high levels of student engagement within academically focused, teacher-directed classrooms using sequenced, structured materials” (Rosenshine, 1979, p. 38).

• Direct instruction is most often used with reading skills with struggling readers.

• “Direct approach procedures are intended to make learning easier by breaking complex tasks into their component skills” (Carnine & Silbert, 1979, p. 11).


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Bridging the Gap between Partial Outlines to Rough Drafts

• A partial outline is the product of brainstorming and revising the thesis statement. It is not sufficient enough to envision the entire essay. A partial outline contains an unfinished introduction, body, and/or conclusion.

• A complete outline is the entire essay in bullet form with each paragraph outlined separately.


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Brainstorming vs. Outlining vs. Writing Rough Drafts (1)

• Brainstorming

– Creating a working thesis statement

– Generating wh-questions

– Answering wh-questions

– Revising the working thesis statement


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Brainstorming vs. Outlining vs. Writing Rough Drafts (2)

• Outlining – Separating supporting reasons from details

– Organizing the information generated by the wh-questions and answers into a partial outline

– Filling in the rest of the outline that is not generated from the brainstorming phase to create a complete outline

• Writing the rough draft in paragraph form – Turning the bullets in the outline into complete

sentences


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Steps to Transform a Partial/Incomplete Outline into a

Rough Draft (1) • Once the partial outline is completed, each

body paragraph needs to be completed by filling in the missing information. The key to transforming a partial outline into a rough draft is the use of wh-questions (who, what, where, when, why, and how).


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Rough Draft (2)

• The general format of each body paragraph can be viewed as an inverted pyramid: general (introduction), specific (body), and general (conclusion/transition to next paragraph).

• The easiest way to build body paragraphs is to explain the previous bullet by asking wh-questions. The word “bullet is used because this is still the outlining stage.


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Rough Draft (3) • Once all of the bullets are completed, the next

step is to write the bullets in the outline into complete sentences.

– This will take very little time compared to writing multiple drafts.

– This is the rough draft in paragraph form.


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Advantages to Complete Outlines

• Students have a procedure to follow rather than looking for information.

• Students can visualize their complete assignments.

• Students tend write more in the first draft even if they do not completely follow the suggested approach of making complete outlines.

• Students stay focused.

• Many college students lack many learning skills (Aram, 2011). Outlining is one of the essential pieces of student learning. It is part of every learning activity in some form.


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Disadvantages to Complete Outlines

• Teaching students to create complete outlines takes a long time.

• Some students will resist wanting to generate a complete outline the first time it is introduced to them.

• Some students do not work well with outlines.



Final Conclusions (1)

• A complete outline serves multiple functions from getting started to the complete rough draft in bullet form. With this new approach, students will stay more focused and produce better first drafts.

• Having a balance of both process and product is a better approach to teaching pre-writing strategies (Reid, 1985).



Final Conclusions (2)

• Although Reid (1985) concluded that “… maybe there is no fundamental difference between radical outliners and radical brainstormers in basic composing” (p. 533), all students need to be able to envision the whole essay before they write it. This can only be accomplished by creating a complete outline.


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References (1)

• Arum, R. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• Barnet, S., & Bedau, H. (2010). Critical thinking, reading, and writing: A brief guide to argument (7th ed.). Boston: Bedford /St. Martin’s.

• Blass, L., Friesen, H., & Block, K. (2008). Creating. meaning: Advanced reading and writing. New York: Oxford University Press.

• Bookman, S. (2012, March 29). Emphasizing outlining in reading comprehension using Microsoft Word. TESOL International Convention 2012. Philadelphia, PA.



References (2)

• Carnine, D., & Silbert, J. (1979). Direct instruction learning. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company.

• Clouse, B. (2010). Patterns for a purpose: A rhetorical reader (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

• Ferris, D. R., & Hedgcock, J. S. (2009). Teaching ESL Composition: Purpose, process, and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.



References (3)

• Flower, L., & Hayes, J. R. (1981, December). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32(4), 365-387. doi: 10.2307/356600

• Folse, K. S., Mahnke, M. K., Solomon, E. V., & Williams, L. (2006). Blueprints 2: Composition skills for academic writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

• Folse, K. S., Muchmore-Vokoun, A., & Solomon, E. V. (2004). Great Essays: An introduction to writing essays (2nd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

• Folse, K. S., & Pugh, T. (2010). Great writing 5: Greater essays (2nd ed.). Boston: Heinle, Cengage Learning.


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References (4)

• Hubbard, P. (1981). Alternative outlining techniques for ESL composition. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED253065)

• Masuda, P. K. (2003). Process and post-process: A discursive history. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 65-83. doi: 10.1016/s1060-3743(02)00127-3

• Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (2007). Introduction to academic writing (3th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.


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References (5)

• Reid, J. (1984, September). The radical outliner and the radical brainstormer: A perspective on composing processes. TESOL Quarterly, 18(3), 529-534. doi: 10.2307/3586722

• Reid, J. (1985, June). Comments on Joy Reid's "The Radical Outliner and the Radical Brainstormer: A Perspective on Composing Processes." The Author Responds. TESOL Quarterly, 19(2), 398-400. doi: 10.2307/3586842

• Rosenshine, B. (1979). Content, time, and direct instruction. In P. L. Peterson, & H. J. Walberg (Eds.). Research on teaching: Concepts, findings, and implications (pp. 28-56). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.


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References (6)

• Spack, R. (1985, June). Comments on Joy Reid's "The radical outliner and the radical brainstormer: A perspective on composing processes." A reader reacts. TESOL Quarterly, 19(2), 396-398. doi: 10.2307/3586841

• Zamel, V. (1983, June). The composing processes of advanced ESL students: Six case studies. TESOL Quarterly, 17(2), 165-187. doi: 10.2307/3586647



References (7)

• Zamel, V. (1984, March). Comments on Vivian Zamel’s “the composing processes of advanced ESL students: Six case studies.” The author responds. TESOL Quarterly, 18(1), 154-158. doi: 10.2307/3586345


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complete outlines as rough drafts

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