Guiding Students Through the Process of Writing Research Papers

 This article was originally written for and posted at The Dock for Learning. 

Guiding Students Through the Process of Writing Research Papers

     Research papers are probably the most daunting of all assignments for school students. Keeping that in mind, these steps are designed for younger students (grades seven and eight) or for high school students who are unfamiliar with the process of writing a research paper.  Obviously, the end goal is that students will be able to do this on their own after they are comfortable with the process.

     First of all, timing can be almost everything.  The first two semesters of the year aren’t a good time to begin research papers because it’s too early in the year and it’s better to wait until students have learned a little more.  The last quarter isn’t a good time either as most of them have spring fever and will be looking out the window.  But, I have found that the third quarter, around January and February when it’s cold and dreary outside, is a good time to work on research papers.

• January-February - Begin research papers in small steps.

• Provide 3-pronged folders with pockets and notebook paper.  Each step will be turned in inside this folder. 

• Usually do one step per day, in class together.  You will be telling the students exactly what to do, and they will be working on their own with their specific topic. This takes up about half of the period, depending on that day’s task.

• Give students good examples for every step.  Read them aloud. I usually choose a topic that no one in the class has chosen, or the one topic that my most struggling student has chosen to use as an example.  This gives them all an example to follow, and really helps out the struggling student.  

• For most topics at this level, try to get them to think chronologically as this helps them organize their outlines.  Any history topic can be done this way.  I give most examples orally, because if I write them on the board, they usually copy what I write.

• Give students a grade on each little step.  (Accountability!) 

* Day 1 - Choose a topic. (Optional but very helpful –  use the List of 150 Topics slideshow. )

Break: Gather encyclopedias, order library books, etc.  Resume when each student has three to five sources.  I order books from the library and pick them all up to put in my classroom.

* Day 2 - Title and Outline Day:  Titles should be grand!  Give them some super-amazing title examples.  Don’t allow anything boring or mundane.  

* Day 3 - Bibliography Card Day   Write a sample on the board.  Walk them through the process.  Be patient.  This is really hard for younger students.  

* Day 4 - Note-taking Day One     Again, write a sample on the  board.  Super important:  Remind them to jot down phrases to prevent plagiarizing.  I encourage my students to have three bullet point phrases per card – all on the same topic, of course.  Our goal is to complete about ten notecards or more per day

         * Day 5 - Note-taking Day Two 

         * Day 6 - Note-taking Day Three   (Add another day if students need more time or if  more sources and notecards are required)   

* Day 7 - Introduction Writing Day   Give great examples.  Be a little dramatic.  This will produce way better writing.  Encourage students to write two introductions (begin with an amazing fact from their research, a true story, a question, a definition, a quote etc.)  and then choose their favorite. 

* Day 8 - Note Card Organization Day   Using their outlines as a guide (and encourage the students to update their outlines if they have found different information than they had planned), make stacks of notecards based on the information they cover (Introduction, Roman numerals I, II, III, etc., Conclusion)  Then have students organize each individual stack into the order they want to write it in.  Use rubber bands to secure it.  

* Day 9 - Begin Rough Drafts Day    With their note cards in hand in the right order, encourage students to get as much done well as they can. “ Focused and fast” is how I tell mine to do it.  I will also make sure that they have a cardstock copy of the “Transition Words” and “Different Ways to Begin Sentences” handouts on their desks.   

* Day 10 - Finish Rough Drafts  Sometimes I let them do this in class, but usually I  give students about 3-4 days to finish these up on their own.

* Day 11 - Rough Drafts Due - On a Thursday – On Time! No excuses.  

(Don’t ruin your students’ weekends by making these due on a Monday or Tuesday.) 

Break: Take a week or two break to allow time for student to have a mental break and for you to diligently grade their papers.

Grading Research Paper Rough Drafts  

1.  Mark or circle anything wrong in colored ink.  Use editing marks but do not correct them – just draw the students’ attention to the fact that something is wrong and expect them to fix it.  

2.  Put a squiggly line under anything that is acceptable but sounds like a first grader wrote it.  This could be a single word, or a phrase, or a sentence.  Encourage students to rewrite these parts. Also write “awk.” on anything that sounds awkward and needs to be rewritten.

3. Give two grades:  a content grade and a mechanics grade.   If they fix all the mechanics then they could get a final grade as high as their content grade.  If their content isn’t good, tell them what is wrong and how to fix it (add pages, rearrange, rewrite parts, etc.) 

4. I like to base their final grade largely on their rough draft grade, adding points where they’ve earned them.  If they fixed all of the mechanical errors, then that grade goes up, and if they rewrite, reorganize, and fix whatever I had noted on their rough drafts, then their content grade will go up.  I usually average the two for their final grade.

* Day 12 -  Editing Day -  Review all of the editing marks and have students turn to the page in their textbooks which covers these for future reference. (Do this in class the first day so that you can answer questions. The rest of the week they are on their own.) Do this before you return their rough drafts (still in the folders) or they won’t pay attention to what you are teaching them; they’ll be busy looking at their papers.  Let them edit their work in class while you answer questions and explain your markings and comments.  Give students about three days to finish editing on their own.  

* Day 13 - Peer Editing Day  (After all personal editing is done.)  Carefully put students into pairs.  Make sure they are with someone who won’t laugh at them but help them.  Have students read their papers out loud to another student, and encourage that student to make suggestions or corrections. It is a great way for them to hear what their writing sounds like, and it is a great way for them to give each other feedback.  This works best in a safe classroom culture.

* Day 14 - Final Draft Preparation :  Title Page, Pledge Page, Outline, Works Cited, etc.  Show them how to do these in class.  I have found it very helpful to demonstrate this for students using my laptop screen projected onto the board while we are going through each step.  This is also about the only time I allow students to have open laptops in my classroom.  Give them another week to finish all of these on their own and to add to their papes before the final drafts are due. 

* Day 15 - Final Drafts Due (on a Thursday or Friday) 

 Grade these meticulously and allow students to submit a second or third final draft if necessary until they get it right.  I require students to turn in their rough drafts, stapled together and in the front left pocket of their folders.  Then I grade them with the rough draft on the left side of my desk, and their final drafts on the right side of my desk so that I can compare them and check to see if the student made all of the corrections that I marked.  

This is a summary of a much longer in-depth description on guiding students through research paper preparation and writing, and editing.  If you are interested, It’s Research Paper Time is available by contacting us using the contact box to the right or by emailing us at at littleflock7@gmail.com.

Research Paper and Project Resources: Let the Hunt Begin!

I recently received this question in my email inbox, and after writing the answer, it dawned on me that this might be helpful to others -- especially since it is research paper/project season.

What are good sources for non-fiction books, specifically the kind and variety that junior and senior high students could use for their research projects? Is thrift store hunting the best bet? Obviously one is looking for a great diversity of themes.

That is a great question.  First of all, I do collect non-fiction books at thrift stores when I find them, and over the years I've amassed a decent collection, but it's never enough.  Usually I'll find one or two thrift stores that have a better selection of books than others, and I try to frequent those stores more.  

Second, I make a list of all of my students' topics and then spend an afternoon at the library.  That way I can check the books all out at once and can return them at the same time.  They stay in my classroom and don't leave.  I dig, too.  If their topic is King Tut's tomb, I'll dig up anything on pyramids, tombs, Egyptian archaeology, etc., and check those out.  I also go online and request books from different libraries about two weeks ahead of time, so that when I get there, the books will hopefully all be there.  

This week I returned 57 books to the library.  I made three trips from my car to the return desk.

Third, about the same time (a week or two before we start our bibliography cards), I will go to Amazon.com and order books for those who have really good topics that they are interested in, but that we are having a hard time finding books from the library on.  These have usually been topics like the Sunshine Skyway Bridge disaster, the Great Baltimore Fire, the White Rose Society, etc.  I find them cheap, usually for $3-$5 or so, and then write my name in them so we have them for future years.  

         These are books I purchased online this year for four different students.

Last, I personally will find an internet article for them and print it out for them to use IF we cannot find four to five books that have some information on their topic. I staple the article pages together, write the website at the top for bibliography card purposes, and the date I accessed it as well.  I try to make sure they are reliable sources.  History.com is one of my favorites.  I save these articles for future use, too. 

We do always start with the encyclopedias, but many of my students' topics this year were not in there.  I put those subjects on my list to look for on my future thrift store runs.  

I also sometimes have my students fill out this form and turn it in. That way they can request the books online themselves, and also we (if it's a field trip) or I (if I'm going alone) know exactly where to look for books on their topics when we/I get there.  And I give them a grade on it to make sure they get done. Yay for accountability.





(I have this form as a pdf. if anyone is interested.  Just email me.)

I hope this helps! 

Blessings,

Deana 

The Coffee Is Mine-- A Lesson in Using Possessive Pronouns

     "PUT TRASH IN IT IS PLACE."  No.  Neither does the "it" own the place.  When using possessive pronouns, the rule is to never use an apostrophe, because the word itself is already possessive.  So, if we do add one of those little apostrophes in just for fun, it reads like a contraction.  "PUT TRASH IN IT IS PLACE."

      And just for fun, this is how I teach possessives.  Every morning I am usually holding my coffee cup during English class as we accomplish math and English first thing in the morning, and while I am busy teaching, I never have enough time to take enough sips of my coffee.  Thus it is that by 10:30 a.m., I've (I + have) been teaching for two hours and have a half-full, cold cup of coffee.  So, I grab my cup of coffee and the students know what is coming.  I always say, "I own my cup of coffee; I possess my cup of coffee."   Then, while holding my half-full, cold cup of coffee, we all chorus together:

"It's MY cup.  The cup is MINE.
It's YOUR cup.  The cup is YOURS.
It's HIS cup.  The cup is HIS.
It's HER cup.  The cup is HERS.
It's ITS cup.  The cup is ITS.  (Notice no apostrophe there except where it is supposed to be:
                                                  It  IS  its cup (the cat's cup).)
It's OUR cup.  The cup is OURS.
It's THEIR cup.  The cup is THEIRS."

     To make this even more fun (and it is fun, even the grades which are not having a lesson on possessives stop the work they are doing and go along with us), we point to ourselves (my), the person closest to us (you), the boy (his) and girl (her) at the back of the room, the frog in the fish tank (its), all the people in the class (our), and the classroom next door (their) while we are all saying it together.

(This sign was not made by one of my students.)

      Bottom line?  It works.  My students rarely miss a possessive or put an apostrophe in the wrong place.   They see those intimidating words "possessive pronouns" on their lesson or a test, think for a minute, envision the coffee cup, remember the chant, and begin writing correct answers.  Mission accomplished.   For more lovely signs like these, click here and keep scrolling all the way to the bottom.  Then, if it says "Older Posts", click on that and you'll (you + will) see even more.   :-)

#teachingenglish

From CLE Speech to Old Man Eloquent

    I’ve heard of teachers who don’t require their students to do the speeches when they get to that part of the book.  I not only think that speeches can be a fun experience for the students where they get to learn more about something that interests them, but I also feel that we are doing them an injustice if we neglect these assignments.  These young men will, Lord willing, be standing up in front of the church giving devotions or preaching one day.  These young women will, Lord willing, be teaching Sunday school classes or leading ladies’ Bible studies one day.  We need to take advantage of these opportunities which are already right there for us in the text books, and not just require our students to do them, but to encourage them to do them, inspire them to do them, and then to sit and smile at them when they do a good job.  Especially if they show up in a coon skin cap, a leather-looking shirt, and have a map of the U.S. with the Oregon Trail marked on it.  

Yummy Journal Covers

      Last year for art the students tore pictures they liked out of magazines and then decoupaged them onto paper plates, boxes, vases, jars, or whatever they wanted.  One student decoupaged dinosaurs all over his journal cover.  That gave me an idea. . . . 

(I get several good ideas from creative students.)

     So, for the first art project this year we decoupaged our journal covers.  The results were as unique and different as are our marvelous students.  Now each student has their own personally decorated journal for the rest of the year. 

European English Is Cuter

      Although I am teaching American history this year, I’m not some crazy, gung-ho American who thinks everything we do in America is the best and only way to do it.  I am also an English teacher, and I have to admit that I was quite smitten with the way some of the Europeans use the language.  Not only was it seemingly more proper, but it was just cute.  Here are a few examples.

    "NO FOULING" : This is my absolute favorite.  See the steam rising up?  By the way, this was taken in Ireland and that other language is Gaelic.

 

    

    This evidently means you can only set your stuff down, or unload here.  It is not for parking.  Again, lovely usage and the correct use of the word “set” which means “to place”. 

      It just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?  Instead of an awful, demanding, “Watch the step!”, we get, “Mind the step”, and it even has a “please” in it.  Music to my ears.  

     And, “to let” means “for lease”.  One of the Oasis members who will remain unnamed said, “I just want to put an ‘i” there in between the two words.  

     And, when two parties have agreed on a price, it is “sale agreed” instead of a boring old “sold”.  Maybe we should be a little more formal in our speech after all.  Cheers!

Bad Spelling and Grammar, Part II

I am always on the lookout for misspelled signs.   I like to show them to my students and have them correct the mistakes.  I also think that this makes them more aware of their own spelling; people do see it and will notice it.

     Before I comment on the ones with pictures, there was one that I unfortunately did not get a picture of, but wish I had.  

It read:

SQAUSH

     This is why my elementary students often hear me ask, “What letter almost always comes after a ‘Q’?  And I always smile when I hear their loud, “U!”  Hopefully when they are older, they won’t have any “sqaush” for sale.  (FYI, one of our favorite words to use when in a bind for Scrabble is "qaid" [a variant of "caid" which is a Muslim tax collector].) That's why I say "almost always".  They know how to use "qaid" in a Scrabble or Banangram game too.)

     I blocked out the name of the proprietor in this picture to protect the not-so-innocent.  

     I don’t know who Brian is, or why he needs to “IMRPQVE”, but he certainly isn’t MY Brian.   Surely they spelled the words like that on purpose?

     My husband and I love to find strange and funny names of Chinese restaurants, like “Happy Lucky”  and “Soon Fatt”.  I’m not sure about the two “t”s in “Fatt”, and I certainly don’t want to get fat soon either.  

     This sign was in the bathroom at a gas station.  At least they spelled “you” correctly, which is more than we can say for that pharmacy.

     This one reads, “ATTENTION Truck buyer’s”, which either means “truck buyer IS if you have a credit score” or that the truck buyer owns the “if you have a credit score”.  Neither one is correct grammar.  The funny thing is, the driver of the truck, as well as his boss who puts the bad grammatical signs on the back of the truck, probably make more money than I do.  Maybe that isn’t so funny after all.

And, these people have “Egg’s” for sale.  Now, either there is only one egg for sale, and it means “egg is [for sale]”, or the one egg owns something, like the “egg’s yolk”, or they do actually have multiple eggs for sale, and they just threw the apostrophe in there for fun.  

     Well, other than my watch, which really wouldn’t qualify as jewelry, I don’t wear much “jewellery”, thank you.  

     Participles, participles!  These are not really “damage” scraps, they are damaged scraps, as in scraps that have been damaged.  

Yummy Speeches

  

      I really take pleasure in hearing and watching my students read poetry, give speeches, presentations, and book reports.  They usually do a fantastic job, and some of them can’t wait to get up front.  Maybe it is because a few of them want to be teachers themselves.  Rather than skip these assignments which some teachers feel are "optional", we look forward to and relish them, enjoying the break from the norm. 

         This year my fourth and fifth graders gave demonstration speeches.  We learned how to draw a three-dimensional object, how to make blueberry muffins, how to bake tostadas, and how to make a catapult from a mouse trap.    Although we couldn’t eat our drawings, it was fun to draw during English class, and the muffins and tostadas were delicious.  

A Pilot Lands His Plane in Zurich

At the end of every quarter we have a “Writer’s Circle” (except for the second quarter-- I forgot it then).  This time the journal readings were even better.  The thought-provoking ones were more deep, the poems more delightful, and the humorous stories more funny.  

My favorites this time included the following stories:

a little brother running into a glass door,

what students did on their rare Texas snow day,

a pilot landing his plane in Zurich (a strange combination of a student’s journal assignment on hat day [he wore a pilot’s hat] and our Anabaptist history class,

a commentary on a vivid Civil War photograph,

a beautiful poem from a literature assignment,

thoughts on sermons and Anabaptist doctrine,

a day in the life of an explorer,

what to do if you were lost in the woods,

and how a sixteen-year-old young lady got in trouble when she was four after her family had moved to Mexico.

All of these were from writing assignments they had done for either English class, or a daily journal entry in which I give them a topic.  The first year we did this they could have never read their writing aloud, but, this is the third year we’ve done it, and their writing just keeps getting better and better.  A small reward for persistence and diligence.    

The Difference Between Good and Mediocre Teachers

     Mediocre teachers show up on time all year, teach lessons, grade papers, give tests, write down grades, fill out report cards, and consider returning next year.   They also usually find time to text during school.  I have no idea how they ever find time to do that.

     Good teachers do all of the above (except texting), and one additional task that makes all the difference in the world.  

They take personal responsibility 

for their students’ performances.

     This means that if a student is not doing well in any subject, the teacher will personally feel that it is his or her responsibility to figure out a way for that student to succeed.  

     If it is math, he or she will find a way to help that child understand whatever concept he is struggling with.  They will draw pictures, use manipulatives, repeat, slow down, sing songs, or do whatever it takes to get that child to understand.  Sometimes it involves taking a few backward steps to regain some lost ground and then proceeding forward. But that is all right, as long as there is true comprehension eventually, and hopefully soon.  

     A mediocre teacher will make the problem all the child’s fault and say that the child is a “hard learner."   I don’t believe in having that attitude.  Some children obviously catch onto some concepts faster than others, but I personally believe that it is my responsibility to make sure that each child understands what he or she is supposed to be learning, and that usually means presenting the material in a different manner if even one child is struggling to understand it.  

     I believe that if one of my students isn’t doing well, then it is my fault for two reasons.

Either . . . 

I am not presenting the material in a way that makes sense to them; I am not trying enough different ways to get them to understand, or I am not presenting the material in a way in which they are able to understand, 

or . . . 

the material is really too complex for the child and I need to give them simpler material so that they can comprehend on their level and then proceed forward (which is rare).

     It would be so easy to present the material once, give them their papers, and go back to my desk and text.  I could think that if they do poorly, then it is their fault, not mine.  

     I take the other route.  They can understand, and I believe it is my job to figure out how they will be able to understand.  And this is different for every child.  Some just need to read or see the material, some have to hear it, and some need to touch objects to really understand (like using pieces of pie for fractions).  There are many different ways in which this can be accomplished.

     For example, a teacher could . . .

take a few students back a few steps to regain lost ground before going forward again,

give up his or her morning break every day to tutor students, 

draw pictures and make up funny ways to remember spelling words for some struggling spellers,

give fun writing assignments daily to improve students’ self-expression in writing,

stay in during lunch grading endless papers so that he or she knows exactly which students are struggling (or excelling) in which subjects , and which concepts need to be reviewed the next day (my students are used to food smears on their papers),

make up  mnemonic devices and hand signals for science,

collect and dig through personal belongings for “hands-on” items the students can see and/or touch to aid in their understanding,

and find interesting stories from history and their personal life to share to help them to remember concepts. 

(Wouldn’t that sentence be a BLAST to diagram?)

Now that is a LOT of work.  Why would a teacher do all that?   

Because he or she is taking personal responsibility for his or her students' learning.  

      Now, I realize that every once in awhile there is a student who just does not care enough to try hard enough to do well.  I must admit though, that in my experience these are very few.  If I do run up against one of these, I still try every way I can to motivate them (see posts on “Leverage” and "Motivation") and often this works.  If not, I will still try as many things as I can, then I eventually come to the sad conclusion that they just do not care and will not try harder no matter what I do.  The interesting thing is that they usually still always pass everything (with a 70 or above -- we aren’t talking honor roll grades here).  I hope this is because I am doing a good job at teaching my subject matter.  

     So, are we as teachers doing everything we can to help our students comprehend the material, or are we letting them struggle on their own because we believe they are "hard learners"?  The choice is ours.  

Photo explanation:  Teaching how to divide fractions:  the fraction on the left stays the same, the fraction on the right is flipped upside down, then we multiply.  (There is a multiplication sign on the white board.)

A Writer's Circle

To celebrate the end of our first quarter, we experienced our first “writer’s circle”.   I got the idea from a friend whom I interviewed this past summer and as a result, got lots of good ideas.  (Thank you Janelle!  :-)

First of all I made a cinnamon coffee cake the night before and told the students they could bring whatever they would like.  The next morning after we arrived at school, I put two large kettles of water on to boil for the hot chocolate.  Then I forgot about them for about an hour.  My husband poked his head in the door during my spelling class and asked why I had left two large kettles of water boiling.  I laughed and ran to the kitchen.

After our spelling test, the elementary class grabbed their journals,  headed into the fellowship hall, sipped hot chocolate,  munched on coffee cake and pumpkin whoopee pies, and listened.  The junior high and high school class did the same when it was their turn.

Then the students and I read stories we had written.  The topics were endless:  fixing a weed eater, camping with family, how technology affects us, a surprise birthday party, a hide-and-seek story from when an eighth grader was in second grade, getting a spanking and learning a lesson, driving a truck for the first time, and tripping and falling over bolts of fabric in a store. 

Here is one of my favorites from an elementary student.  To first explain, one of the first graders had brought a "dead" (actually stunned) bird for morning "science".  The bird suddenly awoke out of its stupor and found itself in a school surrounded by children.


Chad's bird flew over my head.
I was scared it would poop on me.
It would go on the bookshelf.
It flew against the wall.
Then it flew out the window. 

We laughed, we contemplated, and we all really enjoyed it.  We plan to do it again when the next quarter ends, and my guess is that their writing will keep getting better.