An interactive version of this task is available on

Transcription

1 Teaching notes The following sheets have been prepared to assist teachers in teaching students how to write a research assignment. They are aimed at primary school children but could also be useful for secondary school students and/or adults. Teachers should allocate time in class for primary school children to work on their research assignments under teacher guidance. Several weeks should be allocated to the research assignment process, with the teacher explaining and demonstrating each part as they go. Research assignment process outline An interactive version of this task is available on Answers: Choose a topic Find information Write keywords Write the first draft 11472Write the second and third drafts Write the final draft Find pictures Organise the layout Display the finished product Bibliography Smith, A. (2002). Insects In Our World. EPK: London. Patterson, D. (1998). Butterflies and Moths. Hartford Publishing: London. (5 July 2009). Image sources Pararge aegeria egg with embryo: 2010 Gilles San Martin. Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis: 2010 puuikibeach Page 1 of 11

2 Research assignment process outline Put the steps in the correct order. Write the second and third drafts Find pictures Display the finished product Write the first draft Find information Write the final draft Choose a topic Organise the layout Write keywords Page 2 of 11

3 Research assignment process detail Complete the headings with information from the cards that you put in order. Step one:... Maybe you ve been given a topic by your teacher. If not, choose something you re interested in and that you can easily find information about. Step two:... Your information should be researched from books and the internet, not made up. Use the search terminal in the library to find a book on your topic. Use the contents page (at the front) and index (at the back) to find the exact information you need. On the internet, the Simple English versions on Wikipedia are very useful. You also need to record your books and websites to show which ones you used. For each non-fiction book you use, the format is: Surname, First Initial. (Date of Publication). Title. Publisher: Place of Publication. For example: Brown, A. (1998). Life Cycles. Hartford Press: London. For each website that you use, the format is: website address (the date you looked up the information). For example: (5 th July 2012). Step three:... Divide your page into sections. You might need more than one page. Write the headings for each section at the top of each box. Read the information quickly until you find what you need. Write down the main words or main ideas, using bullet-points at the start of each line. Try to have more than one word on each line, but don t write complete sentences. After writing each line, check it to make sure it will make sense to you later. Make sure you have enough keywords for your draft to be long enough. Do not copy sentences from a book or the internet! Step four:... Put your information away and just use the keywords you ve written. Turn the keywords into sentences which make sense. Don t use bullet-points. You should Page 3 of 11

4 end up with a paragraph or two for each section. Make sure your draft is long enough. Check it for errors. There should not be anything copied from a book or the internet. There should not be any extra information in your draft which is not in your keywords. Step five:... Show your first draft to a classmate. Ask: if he/she understands it if there are any errors in it. Rewrite until you and your classmate are happy with it. Step six:... Write or type a neat copy. You may need to leave space between each section if you re going to cut it into sections. Don t forget to include your bibliography. Step seven:... Find some suitable pictures for your assignment. You can print them off the internet, cut them out of a magazine or draw them yourself. A good place for photos on the internet is Flickr, Creative Commons, Attribution License. You should write a sentence under each picture to explain what the picture is (this is called a caption), and you should also write who drew the picture or took the photo. Step eight:... Get a large piece of coloured card from your teacher. Lay out your pictures and information before sticking anything down to make sure it is spaced properly. Glue down the pictures and information. You will need to add a large title at the top and a heading above each section. Either do the headings first in pencil before writing over them in pen, or print the headings off the computer. You could put borders around your pictures and possibly the information sections. A border around the edge of the poster itself looks good too. Use a ruler for your borders! Check your poster to make sure it looks good and has everything you need. Other options are to present your final product as a brochure, or as a booklet with a front cover. Step nine:... Add your name, and give your assignment to your teacher or put it on the classroom wall for everyone to see! Page 4 of 11

5 Writing keywords Keywords are probably the most important part of writing a research assignment. To write keywords, gather your information and read it through. Decide which paragraphs are important and which are not. Sometimes it helps to have your page divided into sections with subheadings so that you place your keywords into the correct area as you go. Once you have read a paragraph that you have decided is important, write down the main words, leaving out words like a, and and the, and abbreviating words where possible. For your keywords to make sense to you later, it is best that you write your keywords after reading the paragraph. Write the keywords in a list with bullet points, making sure you don t just have one word on each line. Here is an example: Text 1 The jaguar is from the feline (cat) family and it is the third largest feline in the world. Because of its spots, it closely resembles the leopard, but its sturdy build and behaviour are more like a tiger. It is always found around water and, like the tiger, is a feline that enjoys swimming. Text 2 The jaguar is a large feline found in South and Central America. Like the tiger, it is a strong swimmer, and its prey includes crocodiles and turtles. It kills them by biting them between the ears and into the brain. Text 3 The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a big cat with a spotted coat which lives in the forests and grasslands of South and Central America. Sometimes jaguars are completely black, and these are known as black panthers. Keywords What is a Jaguar? feline (big cat) third largest in world South/Central America like leopard spots (or black = black panther ) like tiger sturdy build, behaviour (e.g. swimming) From here, you should put your text away and work with just your keywords to turn them into sentences in your own words. You can t copy sentences from the text! Here is an example, using the keywords above: Page 5 of 11

6 Final draft What is a Jaguar? Jaguars are the third largest type of big cat in the world. The cat family is called felines, so jaguars are felines. They live in South and Central America. Jaguars are similar to leopards because they both have spots, but they are also similar to tigers because they both have a big, strong body and both like swimming. Some jaguars are all black and they are called black panthers. You can see that the draft uses the information from the original texts, but because keywords have been taken first, the draft has become different, and therefore not copied Page 6 of 11

7 Presenting pictures Pictures need to be presented properly on research assignments. Each picture will need a caption. A caption is a sentence under a picture to say what the picture is about. You don t need to write This is a picture of.... You should also write who drew the picture or took the photo. Pictures can look good with borders. Here are some examples of captions and borders: Buddha, a sacred statue in Thailand. This one is covered with gold leaf. A close-up of a peacock butterfly, showing the markings on the wings. A koala, native to Australia Page 7 of 11

8 An example of a completed research assignment: Butterflies Description by Caroline Jackson Butterflies are insects. They have six legs, two antennae, a proboscis (for sucking up food) and they usually have brightly coloured wings. There are many different varieties of butterfly. Butterflies are similar to moths, but butterflies rest with their wings open, while moths rest with their wings folded. How they live Parts of an adult butterfly. Picture by Caroline Jackson. Butterflies start out as an egg then they become a caterpillar. The caterpillar eats until it is fat, then it builds a cocoon around itself. After a while, the caterpillar hatches as a beautiful butterfly! Butterflies live for between a week and a year, depending on the type of butterfly Gilles San Martin 2010 puuikibeach The life cycle of a butterfly, showing the four stages: egg, caterpillar, cocoon and butterfly Page 8 of 11

9 What they eat Butterflies mainly eat nectar from flowers, but they also eat pollen, sap and fruit. They eat these things as liquids which they suck up through their proboscis. Butterflies find their food by smelling the air with their antennae. A lot of butterflies stay in the same area because of the food there. A butterfly feeding on a flowering shrub. A Peacock butterfly, showing the eye spots Page 9 of 11

10 Research assignment checklist Step 1: choose a topic I ve chosen a topic. I can find information about it easily. Step 2: find information I ve found information in at least one book. I ve found information on at least one website. My information is researched and not made up. Step 3: write keywords I ve organised my paper into sections. Each section has a heading. I ve used bullet points. I ve found the important parts in the information. I ve written down the main words. I haven t got just one word on every line. I haven t got complete sentences. My keywords will make sense to me after I ve put my information away. I haven t copied half sentences or whole sentences from the information. I ve got enough keywords for my draft to be long enough. I ve recorded the books, websites, etc. in my bibliography. Step 4: write the first draft My sentences make sense. My sentences form a paragraph. I haven t used bullet points. My draft is long enough. I ve checked my draft for errors. I ve written my draft from my keywords, not from the book or website. Nothing is copied Page 10 of 11

11 Step 5: write the second and third drafts I ve shown my first draft to a classmate. I ve redrafted my writing and shown it to a classmate again. We re both happy with what I ve written. Step 6: write the final draft I ve written/typed a good copy of my assignment. I ve left space between my sections. I ve written a neat copy of my bibliography. Step 7: find pictures I ve found at least three pictures which go with my information. I ve written a caption for each picture. I ve written the name of the person who drew the picture or took the photo. Step 8: organise the layout I ve laid out my sections and pictures before gluing (to check for correct layout). I ve got a large title at the top / a cover page. I ve got a heading above each section. I ve got borders around my pictures and around the whole poster / each page. I ve got a bibliography on my assignment. I ve been neat with my writing, titles, borders, cutting and sticking. I ve put my name on my assignment. I ve checked my assignment before handing it in Page 11 of 11