Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a combined set of organizational strategies on student writing outcomes. The organizational strategies were developed to promote the transfer of summarization skills to the three-paragraph expository essay. A 7th grade class of 18 students, including 10 girls and 8 boys, participated in the research study. Baseline data on expository essay writing was gathered at a pre-test essay, followed by a set of organizational writing strategies applied to three practice summaries. A post-test essay was used to determine whether the summarization strategies positively impacted expository essay writing outcomes. A final researcher developed questionnaire assessed students’ perception of benefit. The summarization techniques emphasized reading comprehension strategies already in use in the classroom, such as identification of main point, key points, supporting details, author’s voice, and essay structure. Additional organizational strategies included the use of graphic organizers, summary frames, grading rubrics; and written teacher feedback. Students were encouraged to try a variety of strategies and determine for themselves which they felt helped their writing performance. A performance goal of 10% increase between pre/post test scores was sought for the whole class, and students were also advised that they could track their own individual progress. Assessments were timed and conducted under performance testing conditions. The difference between pre and post test scores was small but statistically significant. The 10% performance goal was not met for the overall difference in writing scores, however, within the rubric category that measured organizational skill, a greater than 10% increase was observed. All students perceived benefit to one or more of the strategies, and 100% of the students perceived benefit from the use of timed test-taking procedures.