Writing+a+Historical+Essay

Key vocabulary Citation Primary source Claim Argument Counterargument

Document Based Question essay writting

Students will Formulate a clear thesis that conveys a perspective on the subject of their research Practice research skills, including evaluation of sources, paraphrasing and summarizing relevant information, and citation of sources used Logically group and sequence ideas in expository writing Organize and display information on charts, maps, and graphs SESSION ONE 1. Introduce this session by explaining that students will use primary documents that help to answer their research question. Once they have printed out or photocopied the articles, they will use a highlighter to mark the sections in the articles that specifically address the research question. This strategy helps students focus on the research question rather than on all the other interesting—yet irrelevant—facts that they will find in the course of their research. 2. Point out that the documents may offer similar answers and evidence with regard to the research question, or they may differ. The final paper will be more interesting if it explores different perspectives. 3. Remind students to gather complete reference information for each of their sources.
 * STUDENT OBJECTIVES **

Session 2: Primary Source Review—Notes Students need to bring their articles to this session. Have students highlight relevant information (as described below) and submit the articles for assessment before beginning the session.

1. Have students find the specific information in each article that helps answer their research question, and highlight the relevant passages. Check that students have correctly identified and marked relevant information before allowing them to proceed. 2. Instruct students to complete the Review section of the Research Paper Scaffold, including the last name of the author and the publication date for each article. 3. Have students list the important facts they found in each article on the lines numbered 1–5, as shown on the Example Research Paper Scaffold. Additional facts can be listed on the back of the handout. Remind students that if they copy directly from a text they need to put the copied material in quotation marks and note the page number of the source. 4. Explain that interesting facts that are not relevant for the literature review section can be listed in the section labeled Hook. All good writers, whether they are writing narrative, persuasive, or expository text, need to engage or “hook” the reader’s interest. Facts listed in the Hook section can be valuable for introducing the research paper. 5. Use the Example Research Paper Scaffold to illustrate how to fill in the first and last lines of the Literature Review entry, which represent topic and concluding sentences. These should be filled in only after all the relevant facts from the source have been listed, to ensure that students are basing their research on facts that are found in the data, rather than making the facts fit a preconceived idea. 6. Check students’ scaffolds as they complete their first literature review entry, to make sure they are on track. Then have students complete the other four sections of the Literature Review Section in the same manner.

Checking Literature Review entries on the same day is best practice, as it gives both you and the student time to plan and address any problems before proceeding. Note that in the finished product this literature review section will be about six paragraphs, so students need to gather enough facts to fit this format

Session 3: Analysis

1. Explain that in this session students will compare the information they have gathered from various sources to identify themes. 2. Explain the process of analysis using the Example Research Paper Scaffold. Show how making a numbered list of possible themes, drawn from the different perspectives proposed in the literature, can be useful for analysis. 3. Have students identify common themes and possible answers to their research question by reviewing the topic and concluding sentences in their literature review. Students may identify only one main idea in each source, or they may find several. Instruct students to list the ideas and summarize their similarities and differences in the space provided for Analysis on the scaffold. 4. Check students’ Analysis section entries to make sure they have included theories that are consistent with their literature review. Return the Research Paper Scaffolds to students with comments and corrections. Note: In the finished research paper, the analysis section will be about one paragraph.

Session 4: Conclusion

1. Explain that the Conclusion to the research paper is the student’s answer to the research question. This section may be one to two paragraphs. Remind students that it should include supporting facts from both the literature review and the test results (if applicable). 2. Encourage students to use the Conclusion section to point out discrepancies and similarities in their findings, and to propose further studies. Discuss the Conclusion section of the Example Research Paper Scaffold from the standpoint of these guidelines. 3. Check the Conclusion section after students have completed it, to see that it contains a logical summary and is consistent with the study results.

Session 5: References and Writing Final Draft

1. Show students how to create a reference list of cited material, using a model such as MLA style, on the Reference section of the scaffold. 2. Distribute copies of the Internet Citation Checklist and have students refer to the handout as they list their reference information in the Reference section of the scaffold. Check students’ entries as they are working to make sure they understand the format correctly. 3. Have students access the citation site you have bookmarked on their computers. Demonstrate how to use the template or follow the guidelines provided, and have students create and print out a reference list to attach to their final research paper. 4. Explain to students that they will now use the completed scaffold to write the final research paper using the following genre-specific strategies for expository writing: Use active, present tense verbs when possible. Avoid the use of personal pronouns such as I and my (unless the research method was qualitative). Cite all sources. []

5. Distribute copies of the Research Paper Scoring Rubric and go over the criteria so that students understand how their final written work will be evaluated.