Writing is a process, and one of the most crucial steps in the writing process is brainstorming and organizing, so it only makes sense that I spend a considerable amount of time with my students on brainstorming and outlining their essays. Teaching students how to outline an essay and teaching the essay outline is an important part of essay writing instruction.
When I teach writing in my classroom, I teach it as a process. Every part of the writing process, from the initial brainstorming to peer editing, is equally important and integrally essential to the final draft. It is also important to know how to teach peer editing in an effective way.
There are three things every teacher should do before taking their students to the computer lab to research information for their research papers: teach the difference between reliable and unreliable sources, check to make sure every student has a self-generated research question, and help prepare students with key phrases and words to search. Whenever I begin teaching the research paper, I always share with my students the story of how I wrote my Master’s thesis paper. It was a 50 page paper with 50 different sources.