10 Steps to a Perfect Paper

While I was teaching middle school English, I saw a huge deficiency in the writing abilities of most of the students I taught, and I was teaching in a school full of gifted students! I've come to realize that writing skills are a struggle for many students, so to help support students' skill-building, I created a step-by-step system for every "research" paper they would ever write. I taught this process over and over again until it became a class routine anytime they would approach writing.

From 6th grade to my juniors in American Literature, we have repeated this process in class to much success. So here is the breakdown of how I came to the 10 Steps to a Perfect Paper. 

STEP ONE: What’s the point? (What questions are you trying to answer?)

I've found that students struggle determining the point of their papers. So often they jump straight to researching the generalized idea, but they miss the formulation of a research questions, thesis statement, and focus questions. Leading students through this process is vital to including direction and organization in their papers. With this foundational skill established, it allows students to sift through the research to find the very specific information they need, rather than trying to form a topic around the myriad of details they find in their initial searching.

STEP TWO: Search high and search low. (Begin your search.)

When teaching digital natives, teachers often expect that students can easily navigate, search, and save research, but in most cases this is not necessarily true. Students are experts at navigating social media, leveraging the internet to have their voices heard, and for entertainment, but using the internet to gather relevant, credible, and quality information for academic purposes absolutely must be taught. This is not their primary purposes for using the internet. Teach students how to use boolean searches, advanced searches, and filtering. Teach students to evaluate sources of information (fake news deciphering is a great way to frame this lesson!). Teach students to determine the BEST source, not the first source.

STEP THREE: Tag you’re it! (Gather your sources.)

Help students organize their research in a way that keeps source citation details attached to the information gathered. This allows them to return to sources easily if needed.

STEP FOUR: Filter! Filter! Filter! (Filter the research.)

Not everything a student finds will perfectly fit his or her research question, so teaching students to filter what they find will help them as they begin writing to stay organized and on-topic. It's also important that students record the research they are using in a way that makes sense, keeps track of citation information, and can track if they've used quoted or paraphrased/summarized information. Check out my Research Record for an easy to use research tracking page to help with this!

STEP FIVE: Roll the credits! (Write a Works Cited list.)

I would recommend having students use EasyBib or NoodleTools to create Works Cited pages and to determine in-text citations, however, it's also important for students to understand the structure of a citation in order to notice when citations are incorrect. I like to give students a sample MLA page, like the Purdue OWL Sample page found here. I ask students to create the rules of MLA based on what they see in the sample. It's a great way for them to remember the expectations without just getting a list of Dos and Don'ts.

STEP SIX: What’s the plan? (Outline the paper.)

Every teacher has a preferred outline style, but we often do this for our own efficiency rather than for the benefit of the students. Roman numerals and indentions may be really great for some students, but for others, just understanding the structure of that form is a mountainous task, but a graphic organizer that allows a more visual approach may be more helpful. Giving students choice in how to plan their papers can help them learn develop their own process and style.

STEP SEVEN: Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce… (Write the introduction.)

Starting a paper is hard! Most people experience writer's block initially, so using a hook-background-thesis structure for introductions helps students have a plan that can ease their anxiety about how to start the paper.

STEP EIGHT: Where’s the meat? (Write the rest of the paper.)

By giving students a structure for their paragraphs, it allows students who need more support to rely heavily on strict form while offering students who can be more independent options. I like to use the following structure to begin: topic sentence, introduction of sub-topic and research with citation, explanation, repeated research & explanation as needed.

The conclusion is usually the most overlooked part of the paper, but is the last words left with the reader. I prompt students to explain "So what?" or "What's the take-away?" in the conclusion in a way that ties everything together.

STEP NINE: Fix ‘er up! (Proofread, and then proofread again!)

Encourage students to read the paper out loud to someone else, proofread backwards from conclusion to introduction, or spot checking for specific common errors.

STEP TEN: Hasta la vista, baby! (Turn it in!)

Students should always feel a sense of accomplishment when turning in a paper and not a sense of dread. I tell them often that if they haven't read (and liked!) their paper, they can't expect anyone else to read (or like) it either! I always want them to do their own, best work, and writing papers is no different!

Check out my TpT resource "10 Steps to a Perfect Paper" to get step-by-step instructions.