Transitioning from Note Taking to Drafting/Forming a Central Idea

Devotional Text: John 4:13-14

Students wrote their primary question on a piece of paper and began to consider how they might write a single sentence answer to the question that would serve as the main idea of their research reports.

Mr. Stone wrote student examples on the board and analyzed them with the class.

Researchers often begin with a primary question and then ask the secondary questions necessary to answer the primary question.

As a writer turns from researching to drafting, she/he reconsiders the primary question. To answer this question, usually the writer must consider the specific details found as responses to each secondary question. A generalization about the details found to answer a secondary question becomes a topic sentence. The writer then considers the group of generalizations to form an even broader generalization which will answer the primary question.

Homework: After reviewing the notes you have already taken, write five more note cards to fill in gaps. Each student should come to class having now completed a total of forty note cards.

During the next class period, students will work on creating a sentence outline for their paper by answering in a single sentence each of their secondary questions and then their primary question.