About this Daily Classroom Special:
A Survival Guide for Teaching Students How to Write Research Papers was written  by former Teachers Network web mentor, Lisa Kihn, a math and language arts teacher at Nevin Platt Middle School in Boulder, Colorado.

A Survival Guide for Teaching Students How to Write Research Papers

Project Overview

Appropriate for grades 5 -7

• Cover page with picture and title
  
• Introduction
  
  • catches the reader’s attention
  • uses images
  • general statement about the topic
  • power statement 
    (A power statement is a type of topic sentence that involves numbers or a number word: “There are three national monuments in Washington, D.C., that I will describe.” “There are several reasons to vote against this amendment.”) 
  • explains your interest
  • definition
    
• Paper divided into 3 or 4 subtopics or categories
  
• Topic sentences
  • each paragraph needs a topic sentence
    
• Supporting Sentences
  • all sentences within the paragraph support the topic sentence
• Flow
  • each category contains enough information
  • categories placed in such a way that the information flows well and makes sense
• Conclusion
  • sums up the most important or exciting aspect learned
  • contains a final image
    
• Resources
  • must have at least one primary resource (an interview) and five secondary resources (books)
    Quotes
  • at least one direct quote from an interview
   
• Notecards
  • 15 to 20 per category (one idea per notecard)
   
• Bibliography 
  
• Visuals
  • at least one per category (pictures, graphs, maps, etc)
   
• Presentation
  • present to class, include a large display and a teaching activity
   
• Self and Peer Editing