Purpose of Key-word outline in writing

[mama26]

Just wondering if someone could clear this up for me. I know some writing programs us key-word outlines to teach writing. I'm trying to figure out what the purpose is in doing this. Is it to teach the kids to take notes, to put things in their own words or what? My daughter really struggles with this and I was wondering if it is even necessary?

 

Thanks

[Candid]

Could you be more explicit in what you are wanting to understand? Is it key word versus whole sentence outline OR outline versus another method of writing?

[mama26]

Taking an essay that is already written, and sentence by sentence picking out the key words and then rewriting it in your own words using the key words you've chosen without looking at the original.

[Jean in Newcastle]

To answer your question: no it is not necessary. Many very good writers write without using any kind of an outline, including this type. In those cases I assume that many of them actually have a mental outline and can pick out the key words and concepts naturally. But not everyone can do it automatically and these kinds of outlines teach you to sort out the important points from everything else and to put them in a logical order of some sort.

[KAR120C]

There are definitely other ways to do it.

 

For us it's about how to take notes. I don't actually make him go through and write a key word for each sentence or paragraph or whatever, but we talk about what he would need to be able to write a paragraph about the reading (or class, or video, or field trip) -- what words, equations, or diagrams he would need to remember, spell correctly, be sure to include, etc.

 

The benefit is that he went from trying to write down everything, whole quotes, etc., to being able to sum up a two-hour class into five or six words and then write a solid paragraph from them. So for instance after a field ecology class recently I took a look at his notes, and asked the teacher what they did, and every thing she mentioned was a word (just one) in his notebook. That afternoon when he wrote up his paragraph about the class, I got basically the same answer from him that I got from the teacher. That's what I want to see. Efficient note-taking: brief, accurate, and sufficient to write a paragraph from.

[Julie in MN]

That is one method of teaching writing -- the method taught by Andrew Pudewa of Institute of Excellence for Writing.

 

No, you don't have to use his method.

 

I think his "purpose" is to get kids to identify the important points and to restate them in their own words. I used it to help my older dd to stop memorizing and repeating, and I think it helped her a bit with finding her own voice. I am not using it with my youngest, since he needs the opposite training -- He needs to be more accurate and precise, and let go of his own words and ideas on occasion!

 

Julie

[Bang!Zoom!]

My daughter uses IEW and is doing keyword outlines. I've printed off some graphics to help.

 

The other thing I do is to pick up library books at the used book store (2 for a quarter) and let her highlight important words in books as practice.

 

Just like they highlight glossary terms in textbooks, they all flow together and help with the idea of keyword outlines.

[Candid]

Taking an essay that is already written, and sentence by sentence picking out the key words and then rewriting it in your own words using the key words you've chosen without looking at the original.

 

This is basically how Ben Franklin describes teaching himself to write. However, I'm not sure that he delineates whether he used a key word outline or a longer outline. SWB suggests using this technique in the middle school A Plan for Writing tapes. However, she likes using complete sentences instead of key words.

 

This is one way to learn to write and structure an essay. You need to learn to do this. However, you don't need to learn to do it this way if it makes learning harder. There are many, many ways to learn to write, find another if this is a big hurtle.

[laughing lioness]

One of the points of Pudewa is that many kids (esp those that start writing at the younger grades) are imoblizied when told to "write about x" - it is too many tasks at once. They have to think about it, organize it and then write it. By doing a kwo, it breaks the tasks down in to bite sized bits, the source text takes the anxiety about coming up with something on their own and they learn mastery in a less painful way.

There are many other ways to teach writing.

Jensons' The 7 Sentence Story is one off the top of my head.

[Nan in Mass]

I just had to do a report for my Spanish class presenting to the class something about Spanish culture. I looked at several sources (I used online ones), picked out the bits I wanted, and then rewrote them using my own organization. Some of them were easy for me to rewrite, but a few of them were very difficult to rewrite without copying until I remembered that to take notes using keywords and then rewrite from the key words a little later, when I had forgotten the original wording. It was a short paper, just a report, so I didn't make any sort of outline, just a list of things I wanted to say in the right order. This meant that I had multiple windows open with the various sources and one with my paper and was writing straight from the sources, rewording as I went. Except when I hit that snag and had to take keyword notes. That turned out to be easier to do on paper because I could be more fluid with the spacing. Anyway, the upshot was that I now know that this is a useful tool to have in one's writing toolbox.

 

Just in case this is helpful...

Nan

[Guest robertpiazza]

A keyword outline is what public speakers and business associates use when giving a speech. They map out what they will be speaking about, and make a list of what keywords will help them along the way so they don't forget their speech or what they are talking about. If you use best essay writing services you will get more information about this.

[ladykayaker]

My dc cannot just sit down and write an essay - so I have them plan out their essay with an outline. This is not necessarily the same as the EIW method of picking through a selection of reading and do the key-word outline. My purpose is that dc work out their outline to plan their essay.

 

They have to come up with their three main points

I. point one

II. point two

III. point three

 

then they go through their various sources, be it one or multiple, and add in supporting points.

I. point one

A. supporting point

B. supporting point

II. point two

A. supporting point

B. supporting point

C. supporting point

III. point three

A. supporting point

B. supporting point

 

The purpose is to THINK through and PLAN their essay, before writing it out. Once they have outlined the flow they are then ready to work on their first draft.

[Photo Ninja]

A key word outline is a way to learn to take notes from resources when a student will be writing a report or essay. Many students end up plagiarizing because they write use entire sentences in their notes. By summing up the information in several key words, they are less likely to use entire sentences from a resource and can more easily relay the important info in their own words.

 

IEW teaches this type of key word outlining. It prepares a student to take notes as well as to outline in preparation for writing. At the beginning levels, the student will almost be composing sentences identical to the original from which he took the key word notes because the sources are simple sentences. That is okay because it is a learning process where one starts very simply and moves to advanced material and skills. As the student starts using multiple resources and upper level resources with complex sentence structure, he will be taking notes (key word notes on research topics to turn into outlines) from paragraphs and chapters instead of from every sentence.

 

It is a good tool that makes writing easier as well as gives students a method for notetaking from lectures and written material.