Right Brain Left Brain

The Research Process
The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals:
21st Century Skills—You will use critical-thinking skills and effectively communicate your ideas.

Directions
Please save this document before you begin working on the assignment. Type your answers directly in the document. _________________________________________________________________________

Teacher-Graded Activities

Write a response for each of the following activities. Check the Evaluation section at the end of this document to make sure you have met the expected criteria for the assignment. When you have finished, submit your work to your teacher.

1. Writing a Research Paper The process of writing a research paper involves deciding on a topic, collecting information from various sources, analyzing the sources to gather ideas, and presenting them in an informative and interesting manner.

Your assignment for this lesson is to draft a 1,000 to 1,750-word research paper. It can be on any topic you’d like to learn more about, perhaps a topic that you have questions about. Complete tasks a through f to write and submit the first draft of your research paper. Use this checklist to track your work.

Type your response here:
|Step in the Process |Description |My Work on This Step (Date and Activity) |
|Decide on the topic. |Gardening | |
|Look for information. | | |
|Read sources and take notes. | | |
|Organize your ideas. | | |
|Write a thesis statement. | | |
|Write a draft that includes an introduction, a body,| | |
|and a conclusion. | | |
|Write a bibliography. | | |

a. Decide on the Topic Take a few minutes to review the writing process, including the steps of invention, collection, organization, drafting, revising, and proofreading.

Your first task is to decide what you want to write about. Begin generating some ideas for your topic. Brainstorm on a range of topics and jot down your ideas. Don’t limit yourself at this stage—try to come up with more than one possible topic. Use visual mapping or clustering to diagram your ideas for each topic you came up with. Evaluate the topics that you have listed so far, and pick one that you would want to write about.

Type your response here: Gardening, Religion, Art, Right Brain Left brain,

b. Create Thought-Starter Questions Read examples of the three types of thesis statements. Once you decide on the type of paper that you want to write, you can more easily generate questions to lead your research. Now, read this list of 20 thought-starter questions. Select three of these model questions and develop specific questions for your topic. Your research should help you answer these questions.

Type your response here: What Does Gardening mean? What are the various features of gardening? What is the significance of Gardening? What is my personal response to Gardening?

c. Take Notes and Paraphrase Visit a library, go online, or conduct interviews to gather information that is relevant to your topic. Next, read your sources and take notes. Record your notes on index cards or in a note-taking application, making sure to note the information you will need to cite your sources. You will turn your notes in with the first draft of your paper.

When you take notes, write down information in your own words. It is important that you learn to properly paraphrase and cite the information that you read. Do not plagiarize material: it is dishonest to copy the words of another author and pass them off as your own. Read more about effective paraphrasing. And remember, you need to cite the source of paraphrased material. In some cases, you will want to quote an author directly. Be sure to capture the exact quotation from the original source.

Now, review some text samples and their paraphrased versions. In the space below, write a short description of how the information has been changed in the paraphrasing, and note strategies you can use when paraphrasing material in your research.

Type your response here:

d. Write a Thesis Statement Review this strategy for writing a thesis statement. If you’ve already written your thesis statement, paste it below. If you haven’t, draft it now. Remember, you may revisit this statement and revise it when you start writing the body of your paper. Ask a peer or a teacher to review your statement to ensure that it clearly states the topic of your paper and your position on the subject.

Type your response here: Ever since you were young there may have been that one thing that you’ve loved or even love so much you still do it. For me that one thing is to garden. I used to garden and spend countless hours singing and talking to my plant believing that it helped them to grow. Gardening can create many fresh types of produce for you to eat. Eating your produce I think is the best reward that you can ever recieve.

e. Organize Your Ideas and Create an Outline Now that you have a precise statement of what your paper will be about, it’s time to organize your ideas. Creating an outline, whether it’s in the form of a diagram, a visual map, or a traditional linear outline, will help you organize your ideas and structure your notes. Look at this sample outline that follows from a thesis. Then, read about the four main components of an effective outline: parallelism, coordination, subordination, and division. Write your outline on a separate sheet of paper to turn in with the first draft of your paper.

f. Write the First Draft With an outline to guide you, you are ready to write that first draft! Read some guidelines on writing an essay with an effective introduction and conclusion. The body of your paper should include several paragraphs that support your main points. As you write, be sure to include footnotes or endnotes that acknowledge the sources of the information in your paper. Write or type your draft onto separate pages to turn in with your final copy. For more answers to questions on writing a first draft, refer to this online writing lab.

Evaluation
Your teacher will use this rubric to evaluate the completeness of your work as well as the clarity of thinking you exhibit.

| |Criteria |
|Distingui|The paper contains a clear thesis statement and convincingly expresses the writer’s position on the topic in the opening |
|shed |paragraph. |
|(4 |The paper presents information from several credible sources that are noted through the use of direct quotations with |
|points) |proper in-text citations and effective paraphrasing of text sources. |
| |The paper contains well-developed paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details throughout each of the required |
| |components (introduction, body, and conclusion). |
| |Well-developed versions of the student checklist, outline or cluster, notes, and first draft were submitted. |
|Proficien|The paper contains a fairly clear thesis statement and effectively expresses the writer’s position on the topic in the |
|t |opening paragraph. |
|(3 |The paper presents information from a number of credible sources that are noted through the use of direct quotations with |
|points) |in-text citations and mostly effective paraphrasing of text sources. |
| |The paper contains mostly well-developed paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details throughout each of the |
| |required components (introduction, body, and conclusion). |
| |Complete versions of the student checklist, outline or cluster, notes, and first draft were submitted. |
|Developin|The paper contains a weak thesis statement that only fairly expresses the writer’s position on the topic in the opening |
|g |paragraph. |
|(2 |The paper presents information from a few credible sources and includes a few direct quotations with in-text citations and |
|points) |adequate paraphrasing of text sources. |
| |The paper contains only a few well-developed paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details throughout most of the |
| |required components (introduction, body, and conclusion). |
| |Incomplete versions of a student checklist, outline or cluster, notes, and first draft were submitted. |
|Beginning|The paper does not contain a developed thesis statement in the opening paragraph and fails to adequately express the |
|(1 point)|writer’s position on the topic. |
| |The paper presents information with incomplete or missing sourcing. |
| |The paper contains paragraphs with minimally developed topic sentences and few supporting details. Many of the required |
| |components (introduction, body, and conclusion) are incomplete or missing. |
| |The student checklist, outline or cluster, notes, and a first draft are incomplete or missing. |

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English 10

Lesson Activities