Introduction Writing your thesis statement Creating an organizational plan Creating a formal outline Talk About It Your Turn

Tech Tools in this presentation• Mindomo• ReadWriteThink

After choosing a subject and gathering all the necessary materials,

Organizing your ideas for a research project is like planning a painting.

the artist makes a rough sketch of the painting.

You have already gathered the materials for your research project--your sources and your notes.

Now you will sketch out your ideas by creating an early organizational plan, which you will then develop into a formal outline.

Before you can create your early organizational plan, you must write a working thesis statement. Your thesis statement is a sentence or two that

introduces the topic of your project

states your controlling idea, or the conclusion you have drawn about your topic

First, re-read your notes and draw conclusions about what they mean. Ask yourself

What larger point do they all support?

How do all my sources fit together?

What larger point do they all support?

Your answers will point to the controlling idea that you will include in your thesis statement.

Here are two examples of thesis statements about the work of Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay. The controlling idea in each thesis is bolded.

Your working thesis statement will keep you on track as you organize your ideas. You will most likely revise it as you plan your project.

McKay’s early poetry collections reflect how his life changed after he immigrated to the United States from Jamaica.

Each of Claude McKay’s early poetry collections expresses his attitudes about the country in which it was composed.

McKay published Songs of Jamaica, in 1912.

McKay was the youngest of 11 children.

McKay’s Jamaica poems reflect local dialect.

McKay was educated by an older brother.

McKay’s Jamaica Poems

McKay published Songs of Jamaica, in 1912.

McKay’s Early Life

McKay was the youngest of 11 children.

McKay’s Jamaica Poems

McKay’s Jamaica poems reflect local dialect.

McKay’s Early Life

McKay was educated by an older brother.

McKay’s Jamaica Poems

McKay published Songs of Jamaica in 1912.

McKay’s Early Life

McKay was the youngest of 11 children.

McKay’s Early Life

McKay was educated by an older brother.

McKay’s Jamaica Poems

McKay’s Jamaica poems reflect local dialect.

Now you are ready to organize your ideas. First, label each of your notecards to show what it is about.

Give each group of notes a category heading. These headings will become the sections of your paper.

Then, sort notes with similar labels into groups.

Category: McKay in Jamaica

McKay’s Jamaica Poems

McKay published Songs of Jamaica, in 1912.McKay’s Jamaica Poems

McKay’s Jamaica poems reflect local dialect.

McKay’s Early Life

McKay was the youngest of 11 children.

Category: McKay in Jamaica

McKay’s Early Life

McKay was educated by an older brother.

Examine each category of notes to determine which pattern of organization will provide the best structure for your ideas.

Chronological order presents events in the order they happen. This approach works well for historical topics.

• Possible research topics: biography of Virginia Woolf; the development of the civil rights movement

Logical order groups related ideas together. This approach works well for an idea with many subtopics.

• Possible research topics: symbolism in the poetry of T.S. Eliot; explanation of the branches of the U.S. government

Order of importance begins with the most important detail and moves to the least important (or the reverse). This approach supplies a logical progression to your ideas.

• Possible research topics: analysis of the most influential contemporary author; summary of the historical events that shaped the baby boomer generation

Cause and effect identifies and analyzes causal relationships. This approach clarifies relationships between your ideas.

• Possible research topics: influence of Sigmund Freud on Modernist writers; worldwide effects of World War I.

You might find it helpful to use a combination of organizational patterns in your writing.

• Chronological order

• Logical order

• Order of importance

• Cause and effect

Now you are ready to create an early organizational plan for your paper. A thoughtful, detailed plan is a vital tool for writing your first draft.Possible plans include

A mind mapAn outline

Mindomo is a free online tool you can use to classify and organize your ideas visually.

You will need to create a basic account with Mindomo to save your maps for future use.

To begin creating your mind map in Mindomo, enter a word or phrase that identifies your central topic.

There can be only one central topic in each map.

Use the toolbar at the top of the screen to add main topics to your mind map.

Then, click Topic to add your first main topic.

First, select the Insert tab to display an expanded menu.

Use the topic menu to add all your main topics.

Tech Tool: Mindomo

After you have represented all your main topics, you can add the next level of support: subtopics.

First, click the main topic you want to expand.

Follow the same steps to expand on your subtopics.

Then, click the Subtopic button.

Tech Tool: Mindomo

After creating your basic mind map, explore Mindomo’s additional features.

Use the Image menu to add images or icons to help further classify your subtopics.

Mindomo also allows you to insert hyperlinks and save your map in other formats.

Tech Tool: Mindomo

Use the Topic Features menu to hyperlink any topic to a Web page.

Export your map by saving it as a text file (.txt), PDF (.pdf), or image file (.jpeg).

You might be required to write a formal outline for your research project. A formal outline shows the hierarchical relationship between your ideas.

The conclusions you draw about your topic are represented as the main ideas (A, B, C level) in each section.

In this example, the student draws conclusions about McKay’s early education and poetry.

The next level of detail (1, 2, 3 level) in a formal outline offers support for your conclusions.

In this outline, the student lists examples and details that prove each main idea.

You can continue to add levels of support to your formal outline as you draw additional conclusions about your topic.

Tech Tool: ReadWriteThink

It’s easy to create an outline using the online features of ReadWriteThink. To start:

Enter your name.

Give your outline a title.

Select an outline style.

Click Next to begin building your outline.

Tech Tool: ReadWriteThink

Use the toolbar at the top of the screen to create, edit, and print your formal outline.

create a new main section

add, delete, or move subsections

write notes in a notepad window

view a formatted version of your outline

change your view as you write

print your completed outline

Begin your outline by adding your first main section.

Develop your ideas by adding subsections.

Continue to add levels of support to represent your ideas fully.

When you have finished your outline, select Finish to print a copy. You cannot save your work on ReadWriteThink.

To save a copy of your outline, copy and paste it into a word processing program.

Discuss the following questions with your classmates.

3. How might creating a mind map help you in developing your formal outline?

2. How can the features of Mindomo help you classify and prioritize ideas in your mind map?

1. Why will you most likely revise your working thesis statement as you work on your research project?

4. Why might you choose to use ReadWriteThink to create your formal outline rather than writing it by hand or in a word processing program?

1. Explore the research topic below by creating a mind map with Mindomo.

How can participating in extracurricular activities help high school students succeed in their future endeavors?

2. Use ReadWriteThink to create an outline from your mind map for the research topic.

3. Which online tool did you find more useful? Why?

The End