Science Fair Research Paper Guidelines
UPDATE MONDAY, APRIL 18TH*********
The Rubric for the Rough Draft Research Paper was sent home today-
I will be giving back the purple folders containing the jump drives, note cards, and sample research paper in it. We will also be covering what the students need to do to correct their papers to get them ready to turn in for the second draft. We will cover some additional information about the papers when we get back from the break.
The rubric which was sent back contains notes and corrections that the students need to make before they turn in their next draft.
The second Rough Draft will not be due until Monday, May 9th which will be one week from the time we get back from Spring Break so there is no need to begin to correct the papers during the break.
Realizing that some of the students have never written a research paper before my grading rubric was very liberal as to their writing. This paper is supposed to contain AN OVERVIEW of the research that the students were to have read. They were to read the information and then (most importantly) put the information they read into their own thoughts and 6th grade words in a paper. Some of the papers contained mostly direct wording from resources that the students read and wrote onto their note cards and never put in their own words and thoughts. There are allowed to be sources that are quoted (maybe two possibly three per paper) but words that are taken from resources must be quoted with quotation marks and then the sources must be cited in parentheses at the end of the quotation. (Please look at the sample paper as a guideline). Make sure that the students understand that the information contained in the paper is not too MUCH since that was also a problem for some students. This is a 6th grade research paper and should reflect a 6th grade understanding of research that they have read. Still other papers were written in language that is very familiar as if they were telling a story made up without the use of any resources at all. If it looked like the students did not have the required 3 subtopics with 2 paragraphs of 5 or more sentences per paragraph needed they will need to gather more information by the time they turn in the next draft.
On the next due date I am looking for: this draft must be turned in again, jump drive with the NEW corrections saved in place of the old paper will be required, the new paper with the corrections (a paper copy) needs to be turned in, and ALL of the items which were contained below should be corrected. I will collect the purple folders as well. NO NAMES should be on the papers at any time! I will be less liberal with my rubric on May 9th and as with this draft it will count as a test grade.
I am always in my classroom during lunch and recess and will be glad to help students who need help but they need to tell me that they are coming in.
So this like everything else in middle school is a great learning tool and for those of you who know how to write a paper it seems easy but takes time to learn.
Wednesday, April 13 Rough Draft Research Paper Typed is Due* Explanation of what we did in class this week is: each student has 3 or 4 subtopics that they were supposed to research on, with highlighters they brought from home students assigned one color to each subtopic, they then took the notecards with the written research and highlighted them with the color marker they designated for that subtopic, information on the cards were then counted up to see if they had enough information (some students have more information that they need to get). NOW they are to take these notecards and using the sample paper located in the purple folder as a guide they will be typing their research paper.
Paper is to be typed in this format: Subtopic is Bold (not underlined) and centered, paper is 12 font Times New Roman, with 1" margins, double spaced, each paragraph has a one tab indent, there must be TWO paragraphs or more per subtopic and each paragraph must contain 5 FULL sentences (or more), research portion of the paper must be two full pages or longer. Students should proofread their paper so that it should make sense and not repeat what is said. When using words which are NOT their own words the work should be cited by using "quotation marks" (with the author's last name and year of the article or book in parentheses) beside it.
When the student is finished typing this paper a hard copy must be printed out and given to me and the research paper must be saved to a jump drive!!! Both the hard copy of the paper must be turned in along with the jump drive and both are rubric items. (**Note to MAC users** If you work on a MAC along with this you must highlight and copy this paper and then send it as an email this paper to yourself or me at sallieboyles@aol.com so that we can save it on our PC as well) Every time the paper has corrections we will continue to save the corrections to the jump drive.
We do this to insure that if the computer decides to expire over the summer the paper will not be lost! We will be keeping all of this here over the summer (just in case)!!
This is what we have done so far: (see below for the information contained in the students purple folders that they were given. Exact details are included and if the students need additional assistance please have them email me at sallieboyles@aol.com and I will get back with them.
*Decided on our topics and Found out the 3 main points our paper will be written about
*Gone to the library to find our research materials AND Read the information about our 3 main points
*Written the information down on NOTECARDS which were graded
When Everything Will Be Due (counted as Test Grades for 4thQuarter):
*Wednesday, March 30 – Bibliography Notecards will need to be handed in
(5 or more sources, All sources listed on separate index cards, Complete information needed for MLA bibliography noted on cards (as outlined in the MLA bibliography format paper given)Example: Book Source would have: Author last name, first name. Title (underlined), City of Publication, Publisher, Date of Publication. The student would put this card to the side and then begin another card on the second source and so on until all of the sources are on different cards. The rubric will include: 5 sources or more (not ask.com, about.com, wilkapedia.com, etc.), All sources are in the correct MLA format, and they are all on separate notecards, they are turned in on the due date
*Wednesday, April 13 – Rough draft (student typed in 12 font Times New Roman, double spaced) is due but NO Introduction or Bibliography Right Now!!!
(follow the paper that is in the folder as a guideline, Main Headings are Centered but the body of the paper is left aligned, 5 sentences or more per paragraph, at least 2 paragraphs per main heading) **More information on your topics may still be needed**
*Monday, May 9 – 2ndDraft is due
(corrections to the first draft will be given back and students must follow these corrections to retype their paper) **More information on your topics may still be needed**
*Monday, May 16 – Final draft of research paper is due which will include the Introduction and Bibliography
Everything that will be done on this paper must be saved to a jump drive!!! A hard copy of the paper must be turned in along with the jump drive. If you work on a MAC let us know and email this paper to yourself so we can save it on our PC as well. DO NOT correct your paper without saving it to a jump drive as your information can get lost over the summer. We will be keeping all of this here over the summer (just in case)!!
Process for Writing THIS Research Paper
This is what the instructions are that the students are given in class:
- Research materials can consist of: books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, a website from a particular company, governmental agency, or online magazine source (NOT Wikipedia). This report must use 5 or more sources.
- You will need enough materials to provide a good solid typed report of about 2 pages (using 12 point, Times New Roman, double spaced, 1 inch margins) very strict about this
- Read your research materials
- Get a bunch of notecards and your pen
- Get your materials in front of you and in your own words write down on the notecard information that would apply to YOUR topic
- On the back of each notecard write the source (book, magazine, etc.) that it came from
- Once you have all of your sources write a notecard with information you will use for the bibliography: Title of the book, magazine, etc. Author (if it has one), Publisher, Place of publication, date of publication, page numbers, and if an internet source the date you copied it
- When you have enough information look at the 3 main points you are getting information on and then assign a different color highlighter to each. You will be highlighting the information on the notecards a different color depending on the topic.
- For example: My report will be "What type of driver is the most accurate from 300 yards" I want to gather material on: Golf in general, Trajectory of the driver, and then specific information on the different drivers I am using. I write my cards and then any information that would be about Golf I highlight in Yellow, all information that I have found on Trajectory is highlighted in Blue, and all information on my drivers is highlighted in Pink.
- In this way I can now go through and sort my cards. I am typing my first portion of the report on Golf so I will sort out all of the yellow highlighted cards and type up my section on Golf. My second section will deal with Trajectory and I will sort those cards out and type that portion of my report. I will then do the same with the drivers.
- Now after the report is typed and especially saved you can go back into it and cut and paste as needed.
- After turning in the rough draft and having it passed back to you then you will go back into your report and correct any mistakes or re-write anything you need to re-write. Some of your information may not be clear or may sound like the author wrote it.
- Each time the report gets back to you please save the new copy in your computer. Additionally, save the final draft to a jump drive so you will be able to add to it next year.
**DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT SAVING IT!!!!
***If you need to use a computer or a printer please let me know. Don't come in without your assignments and say that your printer was out of ink - save your paper to a jump drive and bring it in to print it on our printers! If you are using a MAC computer please also email this to yourself as an attachment so we can save it in a WORD format***
Science Fair MLA Bibliography Format
*When typing your science fair paper bibliography this is the format you should use (see also the example paper in your folder)
*In writing up your bibliography note cards please copy the following information on the LINED side of the card (one source per card please)
Book Format:
Author's last name, first name. Book title. Additional information. City of publication: Publishing company, publication date.
Examples:
Allen, Thomas B. Vanishing Wildlife of North America. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1974.
Encyclopedia and Dictionary Format:
Author's last name, first name. "Title of Article." Title of Encyclopedia. Date.
Examples:
"Azimuthal Equidistant Projection." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 10th ed. 1993.
Magazine and Newspaper Articles:
Author's last name, first name. "Article title." Periodical title Volume # Date: inclusive pages. (Note: If an edition is named on the masthead, add a comma after the date and specify the edition)
Examples:
Hall, Trish. "IQ Scores Are Up, and Psychologists Wonder Why." New York Times 24 Feb. 1998, late ed.: F1+.
Website or Webpage
Author's last name, first name (if available). "Title of work within a project or database." Title of site, project, or database. Editor (if available). Electronic publication information (Date of publication or of the latest update, and name of any sponsoring institution or organization). Date of access and <full URL>.
Examples:
Devitt, Terry. "Lightning injures four at music festival." The Why? Files. 2 Aug. 2001. 23 Jan. 2002 http://whyfiles.org/137lightning/index.html.
