When I was in 4th grade, Miss Rose (who sometimes decorated the bulletin board with a tree trunk and leafed it out over lunch hour with zip lock baggies full of home made chocolate chip cookies for us, all the more magical because zip locks were new) had us write research papers about animals. She must have been a wonderful encourager, because we had lots of fun. We did the whole smash: note cards, bibliography cards, end notes, outlines, everything. My topic was the octopus. It can’t have been very long, because I was able to write two fair copies in an evening when my Dad told me that I could use neater handwriting. It never occurred to me that I could change the order of my subtopics from the original brain storming list of questions, so I got a B on the project for lack of logical flow.
This Spring M, K and I were hanging out in the Rehoboth Library waiting between co-op and the opening of the CSA we were joining (that wasn’t able to open this year). I found a children’s book about writing research papers, and thought, "oh, that would be fun to teach at Co-op." So after all the term papers I’ve sweat-ed in college, Miss Rose’s original enthusiasm must have stuck.
I’m curious to dig through the 15 or so "how to write a research paper" books that I have on hold at the library (OK, I’ll sift them out by: no small fonts, no dumb looking graphics, not too stuffy, not too condescending.) I’m wondering if they ALL tell you step by step about making note cards (with a grudging allowance for word processor notes that can be cut and pasted) or if there are any other processes described. In one of the Cynthia Tobias books, she uses the term paper as an example of global vs sequencial learners: that a global learner usually writes the term paper then makes the outline after wards, because the process of organization works that way for them. Most if not all of my friends at Houghton seemed to do this, at least the ones who talked about the process. Is this a case of all the people who write the process books being one sort of learner and most of my friends (most of my vocal friends) being another?
As for me, I loved note cards. I still have the box of organic synthesis cards and differential equations. I loved organic, and nearly flunked diff eq. I passed it by scoring a 100 on the final quarterly grade and the final, which averaged with my first three exams yielded a high D. So I keep those cards in memory of persevering through a challenge, and how sweet and funny my Dad sounded when I phoned him to tell him I might flunk. "Well, if you have a chance to pass, you know what you need to do. What are Differential equations anyway?" Yeah, back to note cards. One or two people teased me for actually using them.
I love outlines too. My trouble is elaborating on them. I think I’ve gotten better at this since word processors. When terseness subconsciously meant less words to look up in the dictionary, most of the red comments on my papers were about lack of logical flow – some things hadn’t changed from 4th grade.
So what do I emphasize with the co-op kids? Just last week someone on an e-mail list mentioned this link to the The Well Trained Mind
Susan Wise Bauer doesn’t recommend a child start off writing a paper like this without lots of experience in writing other things, taking dictation, and having a good grasp of grammar and argument, around 9th grade. I’m signed up to teach 4th grade through 6th grade. Her argument about the value of dictation convinced me by the way, B has cheerfully taken it the last few days- I’d been agnostic about it from various Charlotte Mason sources.
So, do I emphasize research methods and the importance of avoiding plagerism, while not requiring a final product to be written, do I go light on note cards while plugging that I like them, do I mention that fashions in notes are changing a lot, just get a style guide?
I hope I do as well as Miss Rose.