Research Paper Guidelines, 5/13/11
Topic: ________________________________________________________________________________________
Possible Sources
At least two websites (see Portaportal* for acceptable websites)
At least one book for background information
At least two magazine articles for current information (may be accessed online; Portaportal will have links to acceptable sites)
· www.portaportal.com
Guest Name: cookeallison
Research notes:
Each source on a different color paper (provided)
Each fact’s topic at the top of each slip of paper
Each fact in that slip of paper
Paraphrase for notes; never quote
Citations:
Author
Title
Publisher/Organization
date of publication
date of access
web address
Structure of Paper
Introduction
One sentence beginning, “In this paper, I will explore the issue of _____.”
One sentence each about each major section of the paper
basic science of issue
animal information
What kinds of animals live in this place?
What part of a food web are these animals?
What about these animals bodies and/or way of life make it easy for them to live in this area?
plant information
What kinds of plants live in this place?
What part of a food web are these plants?
What about these plants structures and/or way of life make it easy for them to live in this area?
microbiology information
What kinds of microorganisms live in this place?
What part of a food web are these microorganisms?
What about these microorganisms bodies and/or way of life make it easy for them to live in this area?
water/earth information
Describe this place: land type, land form, elevation,
What part of a food web are these animals?
What about these animals bodies and/or way of life make it easy for them to live in this area?
what has happened/gone wrong
timeline
When was this place formed (in Earth’s history)?
What was it like before humans came along?
What happened to the animals?
When the humans came along, how did this place change for the animals?
What happened to the plants?
When the humans came along, how did this place change for the plants?
What happened to the microorganisms?
When the humans came along, how did this place change for the microorganisms?
Water/earth information?
How does the weather affect this place?
Different points of view
Who are the different people involved today?
Who is interested in this place? Why are they interested?
What does each side want to happen?
Why is this what they want?
Your Prediction for the Future
What do you think will happen and why?
Who do you think will help solve the problem?
Conclusion
The issue of _____ began with the [basic science]. [List the largest ideas from that section.] What has happened is [List the largest ideas from the section on what has happened/gone wrong.] [One group of people] believe that the solution is to [whatever they believe], but [another group of people] think their idea of [whatever their idea is] would help the most. I predict that [whatever you predict].
When is each part due?
Notes: Tuesday, May 24
First Draft: Friday, May 27
Revised Draft: Friday, June 3
Final Paper: Friday, June 10
Final Product Choices
• power point
• skit
• video
• board game with annotations
• news report
• story/comic
• diary/journal/letters
• map/graph
