Reports/ Projects
Research Papers
Reference Guide for Elementary/ Middle School
FIRST…Organize Your Ideas
Develop an outline to organize your ideas. An outline shows your main ideas and the order in which you are going to write about them.
Write down all the main ideas.List the subordinate (less important) ideas below the main ideas.
Avoid any repetition of ideas.
SECOND…Write a First Draft
Every essay or paper is made up of three parts:
Introduction ... Tell them what you're going to say!
Body ... Say it!
Conclusion ... Tell them what you said!
The introduction is the first paragraph of the paper. It often begins with a general statement about the topic. The purpose of the introduction is to Tell them what you're going to say!
let the reader know what the topic is inform the reader about your point of view
arouse the reader's curiosity so that he or she will want to read about your topic
The body of the essay must be AT LEAST 3 paragraphs in which you develop your ideas in detail.
Limit each paragraph to one main idea. (Don't try to talk about more than one idea per paragraph.)
Use specific examples and quotations.
Use transition words to ensure a smooth flow of ideas from paragraph to paragraph.
The conclusion is the last paragraph of the paper. Its purpose is to Tell them what you already said!!
summarize your main points WITHOUT specific examples
restate the main idea of the paper
NEXT… Revise the First Draft (Improving your writing)
Try to set aside your draft for a day or two before revising. This makes it easier to view your work objectively and see any gaps or problems.
Revising involves rethinking your ideas, refining your arguments, reorganizing paragraphs, and rewording sentences. You may need to develop your ideas in more detail, give more evidence to support your claims, or delete material that is unnecessary. For more advice on revising and a sample revision, click here.
Read your paper out loud. This sometimes makes it easier to identify writing that is awkward or unclear.
DO NOT USE WORDS THAT YOU DON'T KNOW!!!
Have somebody else read the paper and tell you if there's anything that's unclear or confusing.
FINALLY… Proofread the Final Draft (Finding mistakes)
Errors are harder to spot on a computer screen than on paper. If you type your paper on a computer, print out a copy to proofread. Remember, spell checkers and grammar checkers don't always catch errors, so it is best not to rely on them too much.
General Guide to Formatting a Bibliography
A bibliography is a list of the sources you used to get information for your report.
It is included at the end of your report, on the last page.
For a book:
Author (last name first). Title of the book. City: Publisher, Date of publication.
EXAMPLE:
Dahl, Roald. The BFG. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982.
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For an encyclopedia:
Encyclopedia Title, Edition Date. Volume Number, "Article Title," page numbers.
EXAMPLE:
The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1997. Volume 7, "Gorillas," pp. 50-51.
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Magazine article:
Author (last name first). "Article title." Name of magazine (type of medium). Volume number, (Date): page numbers. If available: publisher of medium, version, date of issue.
EXAMPLE:
Rollins, Fred. "Snowboard Madness." Sports Stuff (CD-ROM). Number 15, (February 1997): pp. 15-19. SIRS, Mac version, Winter 1997.
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Newspaper article:
Author (last name first). "Article title." Name of newspaper (Type of medium), city and state of publication. (Date): If available: Edition, section and page number(s). If available: publisher of medium, version, date of issue.
EXAMPLE:
Stevenson, Rhoda. "Nerve Sells." Community News (CD-ROM), Nassau, NY. (Feb 1996): pp. A4-5. SIRS, Mac. version, Spring 1996.
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Online Resources
Internet:
Author of message, (Date). Subject of message. Electronic conference or bulletin board (Online). Available e-mail: LISTSERV@ e-mail address
EXAMPLE:
Ellen Block, (September 15, 1995). New Winners. Teen Booklist (Online). Helen Smith@wellington.com
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World Wide Web:
URL (Uniform Resource Locator or WWW address). author (or item's name, if mentioned), date.
EXAMPLE: (Boston Globe's www address)
http://www.boston.com. Today's News, August 1, 1996.
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Just some extra helpful hints! When writing an essay…
“First I'm going to tell you what I'm going to say. Then I'm going to say it. Then I'm going to tell you what I said.”
Pretend your essay is going to be read by someone who DID NOT see the original instructions OR the research you used. Will it make sense?
Paraphrasing:
Paraphrasing means you have to change the words AND the sentence structure. You cannot keep the same sentence structure and just use synonyms where possible. Paraphrasing is hard and takes practice!
Current Event Summaries and Definitions
Name Current
Date Event
Title of Article
Author/Newspaper/ Website
Choose an article that is appropriate to share in an elementary school. The best articles relate to what we have studied or may study in school. Think about science, social studies topics. BE SURE YOU CAN MOSTLY UNDERSTAND THE MAIN IDEAS OF THE ARTICLE. Try clicking on "Science News" or "Health News" on the LINKS page. You should be able to read the article, put it down, and tell someone what it is mostly about in your own words.
Read the article thoroughly looking for the main ideas the article is telling. Why do you think they wrote the article? What was the article mostly about?
Read the title and highlight the simplest answers to who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Write a summary in your own words that tells the main ideas.
Write your reaction to the article, in which you describe what you think and how you feel about the article. You can start your sentences with starters like:
I think ... because... I still wonder... because
I can relate to this... because Now I understand . . . because
I feel... because... Now I want to know . because
I chose this article... because This is interesting... because
I'm confused... because I liked this article... because
I agree/disagree... because I still wonder... because
This upsets me... because
FOR EXAMPLE:
Wrong: I liked this article.
Right: I liked this article because it helped me see that the police are humans who don't always do the right thing.
Right: This article was important because it showed that the police arrested more people in 2006 than in 2005.
Highlight and define at least three words from your article and write /type them at the bottom of your page.
Make sure you have a proper heading as shown above!
BE SURE TO STAPLE THE ARTICLE BEHIND YOUR SUMMARY!!!!
Picture Prompt Tips
For Fantastic Picture Prompt Responses...
PREWRITE! Jot them down any thoughts you have and then organize them. List your
characters, setting, conflict, and theme. Students who prewrite do better on writing
prompts than those who don’t. Organization counts!
Characters setting should be introduced in the beginning. The conflict, or problem, should be introduced in the middle. Be sure to have a solution and a conclusion for your ending. Fifth grade writing should be AT LEAST 3 paragraphs.
Be sure to keep your story about the picture. Remember, use people in the picture as
your characters. Describe them. Use the setting of the picture as the setting of your
story. Make sure that if something is happening in the picture, it happens in your story as
well.
The picture is meant to be one scene from your story. Your entire story does not have to revolve around the picture, but some part of it must.
Consider writing your story from a less obvious point of view. For example, if you have a picture
of a boy sitting under a tree, consider writing a story from the tree's perspective. Perhaps you might write
a story about a girl with a broken leg, sadly looking out her window and thinking about the boy under the tree
and how much fun he's having. Be careful! You MUST make the picture a big part of your story!
Give very specific details. Name your characters. Give them an age and a history. Let us
know at least one interesting thing about them! Describe the setting. What do your characters
see, feel, taste, touch, and smell?
Add dialogue. It is always more interesting when your characters have a conversation. In
addition, dialogue makes sure you are “showing” not “telling.”
Try to have a theme. If you can, have your character learn a lesson or have a
realization.
Write, write, WRITE! They give you 25 minutes. Use the first five minutes to
prewrite, 15 minutes for your story and use the last five minutes to revise and edit.
The more you write and the more details you give, the better your score.
Always revise and edit. If poor spelling and grammar get in the way of your fabulous
story, you will not score high. However, using challenging words will get you more points even
if you spell them wrong. Don't avoid "prize winning words" just because you can't spell them!
THE END does not count as an ending. Please don't write "The End". Readers will know your story
is over when there are no more words to read!
Cinquain Poems
Name
2 Adjectives (describing words)
3 Verbs (action words)
4 word phrase
1 Synonym for first word or name
Dr. Seuss
Brilliant Hysterical
Writing Rhyming Doodle-drawing
Loves Thing-a-ma-bobs and Whoos-a-ma-whats-its
Inspiration
For a list of adjectives check out this character traits web site! Not all traits listed are considered "positive" traits. We are only using positive adjectives to describe our classmates! Look here for a huge list of verbs! Do not (ever) use a word you
don't know the meaning of! If you are stuck on verbs... Think of what that person
does, and think of all the verbs that go with it!
Example: Soccer player? Kicking, running, scoring, jumping, winning
Artist? Drawing, painting, evaluating, studying, scrutinizing, erasing, perfecting
Dancer? Kicking, twirling, flying, swirling, pointing, flexing, turning, leaping
(Rhyming is optional, but if you want, check out: Find-A-Rhyme)
Menu Project
For your menu, check out local restaurant menus, and those online.
Use descriptive adjectives and adverbs. Need help? CLICK HERE!
