Sentence Organization and outlines

What should be taught in college writing? In my 1109 English class we got introduced to an article what should colleges teach, part 3.  by Stanley Fish. In this article, he talks about how students come into college without knowing basic writing skills, due to high schools not teaching them properly. Fish also said, "basically, there is only one thing to be learned, that a sentence is a structure of logical relationships; everything else follows." So Fish believes that sentence structure is important. Why do we care what Fish thinks? Not only did Fish get his article posted in New York Times, but also has been teaching since 1986. He's taught at many different university's, and he's currently teaching at  Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. In Newark York City. 

I wouldn't necessarily say I disagree with Fish's claim, that sentence structure is something important that should be taught. I think it's very important, but I happen to think teaching students to create an outline is more important. Outlining helps with organization, the structure of your paper, and revision. I also believe outlining is able to help with sentence structure by helping you break things down.

However, something I do agree with Fish on is that high schools didn't teach enough to prepare you for college. Obviously, when going into college you find it's more strict than high school is. There's completely different expectations than what you're used to. From personal experience and from the responses from the research I've done, I noticed a lot of us had a hard time with organization. That is something I would like to see high schools focus more on. Learning to create strong outlines to help with that.

When I was in high school we talked a little about how to create an outline, but they never made it seem like a big deal. They never made it clear on how helpful outlines really are. So, a lot of students didn't use them, including myself. There's so many papers that could have gotten a better grade had we been introduced to outlining more. Once I got to college, it all changed for me. 

This semester in college I had the opportunity of doing an observation with a student who was in an English 1110.03 class and I had an interview with a tutor named Lisa at the Ohio State University Newark Writers Studio. From there, I furthered my research with a survey I created for college students to take. I set up a another interview, but this time with teacher Karen Craigo who has been teaching since 1998. Lastly, I got to read some peer reviewed journals about outlining. 

I think the moment that stands out the most through all of my research goes back to the very beginning. In my observation with the student from the Writer's Studio, she had a hard time organizing her thoughts, and getting it from her head to the paper. So, the tutor had the idea to create an outline and from there on, the student was able to get a start to her paper and she was able to figure out what each paragraph would be about. Witnessing that helped me understand how helpful outlining really is. I was able to see how relieved the student was once she was able to get her thoughts together and organized.

The next time you have a big paper due, and you aren't sure how to begin it. Take a piece of paper, or a notebook, or even get on your computer and type up an outline. It doesn't have to be perfect, but just get your thoughts out. Don't worry about what's missing and what's not there yet, you will have time to go back later and fill that all in. If you want, just start with an outline that helps your sentence structure, like Fish said. Sentences are always important too. Once you have your outline created, you're already on your way to an A+ paper. So I'll ask the question again. What should be taught in college writing? The answer is one simple word, outlining.