The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 1 | Page 32

finding it seemed a great time to introduce an
exercise I had been thinking about all year.

and even draw lines through text that was not
significant to their project.

Learning How to Paraphrase

Listing Sources

When a student had collected their sources and
had printed copies of them I had them sit down
with them, a pencil, a highlighter, and a blank
piece of paper. The blank paper was face down
and I asked the student to read the first paragraph
of their article. I then instructed them to use any
tools they normally used while reading to make
annotations, notes in margins, underline,
highlight etc. When they felt they understood
what they had read I asked them to turn the
article face down and turn the blank paper over.
On the blank sheet I instructed they write what
they had read in their words as if they were
telling someone about it. If they were unable to
do this (as most were the first try), they were
instructed to turn the paper face down again and
turn the article over and re-read it making notes
if necessary. I worked with each student
individually the first time they attempted this
process. This allowed me to observe who was
experiencing the most difficulty with
paraphrasing and who would need the most
support and scaffolding. If they continued to
experience difficulty with paraphrasing I had
them pair up with another student and they
would read the article together and discuss it.
This often helped especially given they were
discussing a topic of great interest to them.
Through this process they began to understand
how to read and paraphrase and when it was
alright to quote and how to do so properly. They
also began to figure out what parts of an article
were significant to their research and what
wasn‘t. I encouraged them to make notes again

The next step in the process was teaching the
students what to do with sources once they were
found and determined to be ones they would use
in their research. They learned that for every
source you use there will be at least that many
you will not. Initially, they felt that if they found
a source they should use it so we talked about
how many sources you would have to review
before finding what you were looking for or
finding the ones that would be used in the current
research. This was an issue I hadn‘t covered in
my original lesson plan and added as it presented
itself.
The students were allowed to choose the
method they preferred to keep notes on the
sources. Some chose note cards while some
preferred using a chart similar to Randall‘s
(1996) I-charts. On their cards or charts they
wrote briefly about the information and noted
the source of information. They were
encouraged to make any personal notes at this
point to remind them of significant points they
may need in writing later. I modeled how I may
make a note that this would look good in the
introduction or conclusion to demonstrate the
type of personal notes they may find helpful later.

Organization
For many of my students organization is
perhaps one of the greatest challenges they face
on a daily basis. The choruses of ―I don‘t know
where it is‖ and ―I think I gave it to you‖ resound
throughout my classes as papers shuffle and
backpacks zip and unzip in frantic attempts to
locate materials. To alleviate this unnecessary
©The Missouri Reader, 36 (1) p. 32