Papers, outlines, and webs...do they work?

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I find that by being bogged down by outlines and webs, my papers dont get done on time. In my lit class, the outline/web is half the credit, so if it isnt done, well there goes my grade.

Any suggestions or feelings on this topic?

They work well for my younger son (PDD and learning disablied) but are a fricking distaster for my older son (ADHD). He too gets so bogged down in them he never gets to the actual report.

What he's done is to write the report and then go back and make the web.

Whatever works!

He does the same for math when he needs to show the work. Get the answer first then go back and throw some work on the paper to make the teacher happy.

Back in school, I hated it with a passion when teachers tried to dictate not only the requirements of your assignment, but your way of thinking in order to reach that final result - as they do with webs and outlines. Ditto with showing all your work in math class, even for simple problems that could be solved in your head in seconds.

My brain just doesn't work that way. I have my own, more efficient and equally organized ways of preparing for a paper.

I agree with BeeBee - sometimes the best answer is to write the paper your own way, and then go back and worry about making an outline for it.

I have found that I just need to sit down and DO IT. Not the web but the paper. I feel that if my thoughts are already outlined in my head, what is the point of writing it down. It just takes more work.

Me too, Alie.

For awhile, I used outlines to help me organize my thoughts, but after doing that, it felt to me like the paper was already done, and there was no point continueing. Now, I tend to work off of quotes from the readings I am writing about, and provide thoughts and connections that way. I often end up moving around paragraphs to make the paper flow more sensibly once I am finished.

This self-write then post idea makes
sense. I for example create pictures,
then words, then with my minds
fine-tooth-comb rake through the
facts and formulate....THEN post
the complicated results. As Pyraxis
said, if the teacher say's is the way
(only way) to reach that conclusion
on a research paper, then my mind
shuts off.

I am going back to school later this
year once I work some study kinks.
This is definely one I need to address,
and your brought some good ideas
my direction.

Thankyou,
Ghosthunter

For this paper Im doing, It has to be 12 pages, with 30 notecards and 10 source cards plus a record of all the readings I do. Aarrggghhh it is so overwhelming!

Is this the paper on ADHD and/or ADS?

Actually it is on ADD, ADHD, AS, and Autism. It can get so overwhelming sometimes!

Alie,

I think you have to narrow down the focus of the report.

What is your topic sentaince? Or what is the general framework.

BeeBee