Developing clear and concise written arguments is a required skill in most academic disciplines and an expected skill in most workplaces. Because effective written communication is such a vital skill for students to master, every course has an opportunity to help students develop as writers. One strategy for teaching writing is scaffolding. Scaffolding is an instructional strategy that breaks down a writing task into manageable steps. These steps align with the steps of the writing process: prewriting, planning/outlining, drafting, revising, and editing. Once an assignment is chunked in this way, instructors can employ instructional strategies to coach students through completing all steps of the writing process. It is important to note that scaffolding does not remove or complete steps for the student; it is simply a strategy for explicitly teaching each component involved in crafting an effective written argument. To effectively scaffold an assignment to support student success, consider breaking the assignment up into the following steps:

Step 1: Prewriting 

Before students start writing, they should carefully read through the assignment description. Once students fully understand the assignment goals, they can begin brainstorming ideas and gathering information.  A possible prewriting activity for gathering relevant information is a close annotation of source texts. Instructors can use social annotation tools such as Perusall or Hypothesis to push student thinking during the prewriting stage. This assignment is also an opportunity for instructors to check that students have chosen relevant passages, quotes, and examples to support their claims. These discrete activities guide students through the process of selecting and integrating textual evidence effectively, enhancing the credibility and persuasiveness of their arguments. For research assignments, prewriting could involve gathering relevant research to support a thesis. Before starting the research process, introduce students to available resources such as scholarly databases, online libraries, and academic journals. Help them navigate these resources effectively, teaching them how to search for and evaluate credible sources. The library has a number of valuable resources to support the teaching of research. Depending on the level of research proficiency you expect from your students, you can include library resources in your Canvas course for students to access as needed, or you can request an instructional session for your entire class. As students begin researching, consider modeling effective organization of research in Google Sheets. Show students how to organize sheets by sub-question and  track relevant supporting evidence from source material with corresponding citations.

Step 2: Planning and Outlining

Once students have completed preliminary research or analysis of source texts, they can start planning their argument. Small group discussions can help students develop and solidify their argument. During group discussions, students have the opportunity to share their annotations, clarify misconceptions, and gain additional understanding through collaboration with their peers. The same strategy benefits students who are writing research papers. Students present their research question, thesis, and supporting evidence to a small group. At the end of each informal presentation is an opportunity for the small group to ask questions, during which time the presenter may uncover gaps in their argument or recognize the need for more compelling evidence to support their claim. After students have engaged in some initial planning, they are ready to organize their argument. A helpful strategy for helping students organize an effective argument is a paper presentation. Instead of asking students to hand in an outline of their paper, ask students to present their paper. In addition to functioning as an outline, the act of presenting their argument orally makes it easier for students to identify areas for improvement. The time students spend practicing to deliver their presentation makes it more likely that they will self correct illogical argumentation, lack of supporting evidence, missing connections between ideas, and any omitted assignment requirements. The presentations also provide students with an opportunity to get feedback on their outlines. Depending on the size of your class, you might be able to get through all student presentations in one class period, making it possible for students to receive both peer and instructor feedback. 

Step 3: Drafting

This step involves breaking the assignment into sections that students will draft one at a time. Requiring students to write their paper section by section helps students effectively allocate their time and makes it more manageable for instructors to provide targeted feedback on each section. Giving students feedback a section at a time should also allow students the opportunity to show growth over the course of the assignment. To promote this, you can ask students to share the specific feedback they incorporated from a previous section to improve the draft of the section they are currently working on. This practice helps students develop metacognitive awareness about their writing, and it should enable you to give increasingly advanced feedback over the course of the same assignment. During the drafting stage, you can also give students time to write collaboratively. If there is a particularly difficult section of the paper, such as the introduction, you can organize students into groups and give each student 20 minutes to write their introduction with the help of their peers. Instead of silently thinking through how to get started, students talk out their ideas. Communicating their thoughts orally helps students identify what they are trying to say before they begin writing. Their peers provide feedback and suggestions for improvement during this step in the process. When they are ready to write, they receive support from their group as they translate their thoughts into a well-structured written argument.

Step 4: Revising

To help improve student writing, instructors can provide feedback using collaborative documents. This approach allows instructors to respond to student questions and observe any revisions made. Feedback should be given section by section so that students have sufficient time to incorporate your suggestions. Another revision strategy is peer review. Using the assignment rubric, peers provide feedback to one or more of their classmates. Instructors can also provide exemplar papers to help students assess the quality of their own work or of their peers. Providing students with an assignment rubric is another way to guide the revision process. Students can complete a self assessment, measuring their work against the performance criteria outlined in the rubric.After students have identified areas for improvement, they can create a plan to improve their current draft. During the revision process, instructors will need to provide support to students who may not know how to make improvements. Instructors can offer office hours, plan in class writing workshops, and connect students with resources, such as the Sweetland Center for Writing. 

Step 5: Editing and Publishing

Once students have finished revising their paper, they can begin to focus on grammar and style. Instructors can support students with this step by pointing out recurring errors they identified while grading student drafts. Before publishing their work, students should check that they have fulfilled all assignment requirements before submitting their work. You can help students identify any missing requirements by asking students to annotate their paper, marking the portions of their writing that correspond to the requirements outlined in the assignment description. Once students have made any necessary final changes, they are ready to publish their work.
Conclusion While the process of scaffolding an assignment takes additional time, there is incredible value in teaching students how to manage the writing process. If you don’t have enough time to scaffold your assignment in this way, you can encourage students to scaffold their own writing. For example, during the drafting stage, you can help your students develop their own writing plan. To do this, ask students to chunk the assignment into sections and map out a schedule for completing each section. Provide opportunities for formative feedback at one-on-one writing conferences. Providing multiple opportunities for students to meet with you will serve as a strong incentive for students to honor their chosen deadlines, ensuring they don’t miss the opportunity to address weak areas and ask questions before the assignment is due. 

Want More Help?

If you would like support with scaffolding an upcoming writing assignment, the Learning and Teaching Consultants are available for course consultations. Or, reach out to us at [email protected].