Scheduling and Scaffolding
Scheduling
- 2 weeks — short, controlled assignment to teach basic synthesis, citation style, and disciplinary style conventions
- 2 weeks — thinking activities (esp endemic categories and practice in POV-making) + search/find literature + generating topic/question
- 2 weeks searching the literature + annotated bibliography assignment
- 2 weeks to teach the sections of the paper (Intro, Body, Conclusion) + outlining (mapping the paper) + peer review (schedule this throughout the writing period, e.g. “bring one body to section to class”)
- Teaching the sections of the paper can start during the annotated bibliography time period
- Once the Ann Bib is complete, students can use it to begin mapping the paper.
- 2 weeks to outline, draft, peer review, and revise is about as short as you can get for a 5-7 page paper. If you’re assigning a longer paper, add about a week for every 5 pages, and make sure to assign due dates to drafts/sections. If you don’t, you’re going to get papers written the night before they are due, and they will suck. Save yourself and the students the stress by breaking it up.