To organize my material, I start to think about what
information I’d like to include. What’s most important? What will really
interest and/or excite kids? I jot down a quick list. Some of the items on this
list might become section headings in my Table of Contents. Others will become subsections, and some may
not end up in the book at all. After all, this is just my first stab at
wrangling all the information I’ve collected into a fascinating 48-page book
for kids. I’m not too worried about specifics right now. In fact, I need to
stay flexible as I move from the act of organizing to the act of developing a
structure for the book.
In The Art of
Information Writing, Colleen Cruz and Lucy Calkins say:
“Writing is a tool to
synthesize, organize, reflect on, and teach knowledge.”
I’d change their word
“teach” to “share,” but otherwise, I really like this quotation. And it’s what
I’m just starting to do as I make my list. (Unfortunately, I haven’t been able
to find that initial list for Deadliest
Animals, but it must have included topics like “Snakes,” “Sea animals,” and
“Plant eaters.”)
Next, I cut and
paste, cut and paste. I move around the information in my research document
until I have perhaps 10 clusters, or chunks, of information. Sometimes I
highlights text blocks in different colors. It helps me see what I have. Plus
the colors are just fun.
As I go through this
process, I delete redundant information, and I flag facts that I’d like to
double check for accuracy. By the time I’m done chunking, my 40 page research
document might be whittled down to 20 pages, which is much more manageable.
What happens next?
Come back next week to find out.
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