Create an outline about a thesis
A fast, efficient, morale-boosting trick

I can create an outline — a full-sentence outline — for a paper on an assigned topic in two shakes of a lamb's tail. So can your students.

This is one idea your students will love.

Idea-generating techniques

What techniques for generating ideas do you teach your students? Brainstorming? Mind-mapping? Free-writing?

All are useful. I use them myself. But I don't use them the way the English textbooks recommend.

Idea-generating techniques turn up useful ideas more quickly if the starting point is a thesis statement than if the starting point is merely a topic.

Let me show you the difference between generating ideas about a topic and generating ideas about a thesis. If you need a refresher on the thesis-topic distinction, click here.

Inefficient idea-generation

Suppose the writing topic is wifflets. Alison might brainstorm for an hour and come up with a list of topics related to wifflets: wifflet uses, wifflet manufacturing, laws about wifflet, types of wifflet, costs of wifflet, latest wifflet technology.

After her hour's work, Alison has created seven more writing topics from her original topic, but she still has nothing to say about wifflets. She'll need another session at least before she comes up with a thesis statement. After that she still has to put in more time to create an outline before she can begin writing.

That strategy isn't going to go over well with your ADHD kids, is it?

Efficient idea generation uses thesis

By contrast, Britt starts out by picking a thesis statement more or less out of the air. Britt picks "Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus."

Then Britt brainstorms about that thesis. She may have only a superficial knowledge of wifflets, but in a short amount of time, Britt can come up with several potential supporting ideas that she can phrase as complete sentences. Britt can create an outline by putting those sentences in some logical order.

Try it yourself

To see how this strategy actually works, put yourself in Britt's place. Take a minute to try writing full-sentence reasons, just as if you would if you were a student told to create an outline around that thesis.

Even if you don't know anything about wifflets, I'm sure you'll come up with at least two or three ideas about why BCS should prohibit wifflets on campus. If you're a wifflet expert, this ought to be a piece of cake for you.)

I'll wait while you try your hand at developing those full-sentence points.

Finished? Great.

Your outline will be different than mine, but let me show you the one I developed by brainstorming around the thesis statement:

• Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because wifflets distract students from paying attention in class.

• Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because some students use wifflets to cheat on tests.

• Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because wifflets lead to fights and other disturbances.

• Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because wifflets are available on campus if students really need them.

Your list will be different, but you get the idea.

Was that hard?

No.

You and I were able to create an outline in minutes.

Would it be hard for students?

Yes.

Younger students and learning disabled students especially would have difficulty writing on an invented topic.

Authentic prompts ease difficulties

However, if you give students an authentic writing prompt related to your course content — a topic that they're read about and discussed in class — then they will be able to come up with a thesis statement and several supporting ideas.

What's more, they will be able to phrase each of them as a complete sentence. For kids who struggle with writing, this is a breakthrough.

Do you know how great a LD kid will feel coming up with a complete sentence outline? Wow! That is a real confidence booster.

Having a sentence outline is also a big efficiency booster. Sentences are complete ideas. When Britt comes back to work on her essay plan again, she won't have to spent time wondering what she meant by "test wifflets." The sentence will tell her.

Next steps

Getting three or four sentences on paper is a great first step, but it's only a first step in the writing process. Writers have to do some more thinking and digging to find out whether there is evidence to support those points.

Maybe they'll discover the thesis statement isn't even valid. Oh, woe!

Despite all that could go wrong, writers who have been able to create an outline in a few minutes have time to spend on other things.

One of those things may be their other English assignments — but don't count on it. It's more likely to be soccer practice or MySpace. You can't win 'em all.