Beane - Diagramming

This week I worked with a walk-in student on a research paper that he was trying to complete.  He didn't mind letting me know that his paper was due the next day, so he was pushed for time.  He said that he just needed help getting started. The first thing I did was tell him not to begin writing until he had planned -- that is where the diagrams come in.  We thought about what a paper required (intro, body paragraphs, conclusion) and then we reread the assignment together to make sure that his understanding was correct.

Once the prompt was clear, we began planning.  First comes the introduction where we discussed the parts of the introduction and his responsibility as the writer.  He had to make sure that his reader would know what he was going to write about (thesis) and how he was going to answer his questions (supporting details).  Once we had laid out his introduction he felt that the rest was pretty self-explanatory, yet I made him continue his planning.  We discussed what his support for his thesis would be and how he would answer his thesis completely.  Next we talked about conclusions, and what a strong conclusion consists of.  Before we finished he had his entire essay planned... he had a diagram of what he was going to write.

This isn't a diagram that you may think of when you consider diagramming, but planning an essay frequently does require a visual diagram for students.  By asking certain questions and helping them see the process of writing (breaking down the prompt, planning, writing, editing, revising) they are creating a flowchart of sorts.  There is a method to writing. Everyone may approach writing a little differently and the product may not look the same, but the process will always be there. It wouldn't hurt my tutee to have more practice with the writing process, but breaking down his writing really helped him to see where he was going.  It will also (hopefully) result in a final product that doesn't sound like it was thrown together the night before it was due.