Research Paper Lesson Plans

Day 1 - purpose for writing (i.e., to entertain, to inform, and to share experiences)

1. United Streaming Discovering Language Arts: Reading (Grades 3-5) The Author's Purpose (04:24)

2. Use acronym PIES to help students remember the purposes of writing

   P (persuade)
   I (inform)
   E (entertain)
   S (share ideas)
    

3. Have students write the four purposes on index cards. For each example below students must choose the purpose for this type of writing and hold up the appropriate index card to indicate the answer.

   • a sales ad wanting you to purchase a motorcycle

   • the list of movies showing in your town and the times

   • the comic strips

   • a flyer about a missing puppy

   • a post card from your friend from Hawaii

   • a letter to the editor explaining the need to recycle more

   • a report about George Washington

   • bus schedule

   • a fairy tale

   • fire safety brochure

   • a poster about a community walk-a-thon for charity

   • appointment card from the dentist

   • an advertisement for Coca-Cola

   • a book report

   • a story read to the school from the Writer of the Week

   • knock knock jokes

   • an e-mail that tells a friend you are going to be late

   • diary

   • instructions booklet on how to assemble a bicycle

   • step by step recipe

   • half price ad from Wal-Mart

   • crossword puzzle

   • short story

   • directions for taking medication

   • encyclopedia

   • letters

4. PowerPoint Author's Purpose

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Day 2 - audience

1. Tell students they will be writing a short research paper during this unit. Discuss the following.

   • Ask the purpose of this type of writing.

   • If the research papers are going to be placed on the bulletin board in the hall who would be the audience?

   • Discussion

     • Could you go to the store and buy clothes for someone, if you didn't know the size of the person?

     • Would it make a difference if you were buying clothes for one of your parents or a smaller brother or sister?

     • Writing can be the same way. Would they write the same if the audience was a group of teachers or a group of classmates?

       • the mayor of Mountain City?

       • for a newspaper article? etc.

   Have students brainstorm to determine people in which they could write.

   Examples:

   adults	peers	relatives such as aunts or uncles	grandparents
   teachers	classmates	principal	the President of the U.S.
   young children	Governor of Tennessee	senators or congressmen	best friend
   president of a company	mayor	doctor

   Ask these questions:

   • Would you write the same way to each to the people listed during the brainstorming activity?

   • Which people would you address formally? informally?

   • Which people from the list would you invite on an outing?

   • Which people from the list would you state your opinion on a topic?

   • Which people from the list would you ask to change a law?

2. United Streaming Discovering Language Arts: Writing (Grades 3-5) Write for Your Audience (04:14)
3. *Making Good writing prompts using “RAFTS”
   
   Role - Who am I? What is my role?
   Audience - To whom am I communicating? Should I use a formal or informal stance?
   Format - Which format should I use while communicating? ( letter, fiction story, report )
   Topic - What is the topic? Is it sufficiently focused?
   Strong Verb - What am I trying to do in this communication? (eg. convince, request, complain, persuade, pretend, entertain?)
   
   *As students become more independent they can determine their own RAFTS.
   __________________________________________________
    

Use  RAFTS to discuss each of the following:

• Your outfit is so totally cool, man!
• Mr. Sir:
       I'm am writing to find information on your company. etc.
• For sale
  One used motorcycle. etc.
• I am writing to request school lunch schedules be increased to 40 minutes.
• a letter to the company “Jokerman Toys“ to complain and ask for your money back for a defective yo-yo
• You are a visitor to this school. Write a letter to a friend describing your classroom.
• a list of foods being served during the Valentine's Day party

4. PowerPoint on Audience

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Day 3 - Most Reliable Resources & Sources From Which to Gather Information

1. Have students brainstorm places, types of books, etc. where they can gather information to write a report. When student ideas stop, show the three United Streaming videos, and list additional sources as they are mentioned in the videos.

   encyclopedia	websites	library books	newspaper articles
   magazine articles	textbooks	interviews	atlases, almanacs
   videos, DVDs	photos	audio tapes	letters, diaries

2. United Streaming Discovering Language Arts: Nonfiction (Grades 3-5) Sources of Information (05:33) and
   United Streaming Discovering Language Arts: Research (Grades 3-5) Electronic Media (04:27)
   United Streaming Discovering Language Arts: Research (Grades 3-5) Visual Resources (04:17)
   
    

3. Discuss the reliability of each source listed from the brainstorming activity.

   encyclopedia	Which is more reliable? Wikipedia Encyclopedia that lists research data such as World Book
   websites	Which is more reliable? articles written on a school site by students governmental publications blog official site such as Sea World, National Park Service, etc. How do you determine if the information is correct?
   magazines or newspapers	Which is more reliable? editorial governmental publications tabloid magazines
   library books (textbooks)	Which is more reliable? Books copyrighted before 1950's are fine if you are reporting on an historical topic, but not so good if reporting on a science topic such as space travel. current books from official sources such as NASA fiction
   letters, diaries, journals, interviews	Which is more reliable? letter written by a person who witnessed an event writing from someone who heard about an event

4. PowerPoint on Most Reliable Resources & Sources From Which to Gather Information

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Day 4 - Most Reliable Resources & Sources From Which to Gather Information

1. Discuss primary and secondary sources.
    

   primary	original material from time period diary or journal autobiography letter speech interviews original document such as birth certificate or trial transcript photographs surveys and polls
   secondary	interpretations of primary sources (discussion of evidence) - second hand version journal articles biography radio or television documentaries
   tertiary	collection of primary and secondary sources almanacs encyclopedias fact books guide books indexes

   Example

   Primary	Secondary	Tertiary
   original painting of Sistine Chapel ceiling	article critiquing the Michelangelo's painting	database of artwork
   George Washington's diary	biography of a George Washington's life	encyclopedia of US Presidents
   letters written by Frederick Douglass	website about a Frederick Douglass's writings	dictionary of Abolitionist
   notes taken by a Neil Armstrong about his walk on the moon	magazine article about a the Neil Armstrong	textbook about science
   movie	biography on the director of the movie	guide to the movie
   interview with a person living during the Great Depression	history textbook about the Great Depression	fact book about the Great Depression

2. Brain Pop http://www.brainpop.com/english/studyandreadingskills/research/

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Day 5  - Use table of contents, title page, and glossary to locate information

1. United Streaming Discovering Language Arts: Nonfiction (Grades 3-5)  Parts of a Book (05:18)
    

2. Worksheet from Teach-nology

   http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/research/book/basic/
    

3. Discuss that knowing how to use the table of contents and index will help the students locate information for their research papers.

4. Language for Daily Use Level 4 - Unit 4 - Lesson 6 "Using a Title Page and a Table of Contents" and Lesson 7 "Using a Glossary and an Index"

5. PowerPoint Using table of contents, title page, and glossaries to locate information

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Resources and Organization

1. Locate 3 resources for Paper

2. Create a bibliography http://www.easybib.com/

3. United Streaming Discovering Language Arts: Research (Grades 3-5) Space Shuttle Citing (04:03)

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Note Taking and Outlining

Three Easy Models for Note Taking http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/targeting.htm#report

1. Narrow down topic to three subtopics.

2. Start Outline.

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Topic Sentences

1. Language for Daily Use Level 4 - Unit 4 - Lesson 1 "Understanding Paragraphs" and Lesson 2 "Understanding Topic Sentences"

2. PowerPoint Presentations

How to Write a Paragraph

Understanding Paragraphs and Topic Sentences

WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH? A collection of related sentences dealing ...

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Detail Sentences

1. Language for Daily Use Level 4 - Unit 4 - Lesson 3 "Understanding Details in Paragraphs"

2. Writing a paragraph the right way!  http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/joke.txt

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Staying on Topic

1. Language for Daily Use Level 4 - Unit 4 - Lesson 4 "Understanding Sentence Order in Paragraphs"

2. Lesson 5 ""Keeping to the Topic"

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Concluding Sentences

1. Language for Daily Use Level 4 - Unit 4 - Language Review

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Write 1st draft from outline.

Four Square Writing for Grades 3-5