AMARILLO SCHOOLS’ RESEARCH MODEL

Middle School Teachers’ Basic Toolkit

All-Inclusive Materials

There are a variety of web-sites available to help teachers in teaching research and the writing of research papers. Here are some (in no particular order) that may be especially useful.

http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/ Guides you to sources you might use.

http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/departments/technology/media/5StarR_Research/Grades6-8/ResearchPortal-Grades6-8.htm Wonderful starting point.

http://questioning.org/rcycle.html Great information from Jamie McKenzie.

http://www.margateschools.org/eat Click on Tighe Media Center, then click on Pathfinders and Projects, then click on the Research Paper Box, and then click on the 6th Grade Research Paper and follow the steps.

http://nmsscientistpage.blogspot.com/ Here is an example of a biography writing assignment (with generalized research tips).

http://www.kyvl.org/html/tutorial/research Lots of information here to use as a springboard for instruction.

http://www.sayreschool.org/page.cfm?p=131 A really good example of things to remember when making a research assignment.

http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/ A basic steps in the research process guide for student self-help and evaluation.

http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm Discusses anti-plagiarism strategies.

http://www.aresearchguide.com/index.html A research guide for students.

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/paperassignments/Research_Papers.htm Follow the links for great tips.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/papers/giving-a-talk/writing-a-paper-slides.pdf Great PowerPoint on research papers.

1. Formulate Research Plan

Open-ended Questioning

http://questioning.org/Q7/toolkit.html This is a questioning toolkit.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/sandra.hughes/sandra.hughes/research/question.html

A research helper site.

http://kms.sdcoe.net/differ/21-DSY/60-DSY.html Click on links to Costa’s Three Levels of Questions and Bloom’s Taxonomy.

http://www.iched.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=iched&item_id=asking_questions Asking questions that promote growth

Brainstorming

http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/brainstorm.html Steps in the brainstorming procedure.

http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/brainst.html Brainstorming made easy.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/brainstorming.html Brainstorming strategies.

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/21stcent/lbrain.html Brainstorming research questions.

http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/brainstorm.html More tools for brainstorming (and graphic organizers).

2. Gather Sources

http://www.margateschools.org/eat Click on Tighe Media Center, then click on Choosing What To Use for an excellent description of how best to use the various media.

http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/writerscomplex.nsf/0/4714816b996a6004852569c3006b2430?OpenDocument Looks at methods of gathering information.

http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/writerscomplex.nsf/wholeshortlinks2/Research+Room+Menu?opendocument Lots of good information on starting, gathering information, writing, revising, and finishing a research paper.

http://www.harringtonlc.org/amarillo.html Local resources available with your library card.

http://esc20.net/k12databases/assessk12.html Free state databases for online research.

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/course/primary.html Looking at primary and secondary sources.

3. Synthesize

(Evaluate/Organize)

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson322.shtml Teaching note taking.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=148 More good ideas for teaching note taking, avoiding plagiarism, etc.

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/notecard.html Good tips on note cards.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/eval.html Web evaluation tools.

http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm Anti-plagiarism strategies for research papers.

http://www.stfrancis.edu/content/cid/copyrightbay/ Copyright laws/issues and fair use.

http://www.studygs.net/plagiarism.htm Tips for organizing computer research and avoiding plagiarism.

http://www-navigator.utah.edu/module3/notetaking.htm Note taking tips.

http://42explore.com/skim.htm Skimming and scanning techniques and links.

4. Organize and Present Ideas

http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ Tools to organize and communicate ideas.

http://secondary.oslis.org/ Choices for evaluating and improving your research processes, especially if you click on the Site Map.

http://www.squires.fcps.net/library/research/present.htm Lots of ideas for project presentation.

http://encarta.msn.com/sidebar_701538486/research_paper_oral_presentation.html Tips for oral presentation.

http://citationmachine.net An interactive web-tool for citing sources

5. Evaluate Process

Evaluation

http://cbms.ca.campusgrid.net/home/8th+Grade+Exhibition/Research+Paper+Rubric A neat, clean, easy (and short) research paper assessment rubric.

http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics/middlelschresearchrubric.html This is another clean and simple research assessment rubric.

http://teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/research/ This is a site where you can generate a personalized research assessment rubric.

http://www.pwcs.edu/curriculum/la/documents/Grade8-ResearchWritingRubric.pdf

This is a more extensive sixth grade research writing rubric.

http://www.plattecountyschooldistrict.com/documents/LibraryMediaGrade8.pdf A nice research check list and evaluation document.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html Lots of choices for assessment.

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