Research Process

8th Grade Person or Historical Event Theme Study Model for Honors/Accelerated Students

Topic

Person or historical event This topic is way too broad to

cover in one year, let alone in one research paper, so we have to make it a more specific topic.

Narrow the Topic

Person or Historical Event (this is still too broad a topic as it encompasses hundreds of authors).

Chose one specific person or historical event to focus your research based on a theme.

For example: The Effects of Shakespeare’s

Writings on 21st Century Literature

Statement of Controlling Purpose

The purpose of this research is to outline the Effects and Connections of Shakespeare’s 16th Century Writings on 21st Century Literature.

Note that this statement can be revamped into a thesis statement later to be included in your first paragraph of your research paper.

Guiding Questions

What is a guiding question?

What is the purpose of a guiding question?

What makes a good guiding question?

Questions cannot be

answered with yes or no

too broad

too narrow

vague

opinionated

irrelevant

Questions should be

open ended

clearly stated

relevant

answerable

PURPOSE

Guiding Questions are used to “guide” your research and help you stay on track.

These questions eventually should help you form your thesis.

Your thesis contains specific examples that support your statement of controlling purpose.

Irrelevant Model Questions

What did Shakespeare do in his free time?

What kind of pen did he use?Where can I get a bumper sticker

about loving Shakespeare?Does Shakespeare have a store

named after him?

Relevant Model Questions:

What are four relevant examples of producible evidence that affirms the continued literary merit of the 16th century works of William Shakespeare presently in the 21st century?

Producible Evidence #1 Producible Evidence #2 Producible Evidence #3 Producible Evidence #4 What is the overall impact of Shakespeare’s

writing in modern day U.S.A.?

The Effects of Shakespeare’s Writings on 21st Century Literature

1. The teacher breaks the class into fours and then paired off in twos within the group of four.

2. Brainstorm with a partner one relevant guiding question about the purpose of this research is to outline the Effects and Connections of Shakespeare’s 16th Century Writings on 21st Century Literature.

3. Write it down with your partner.4. Now turn to your group and share each guiding question that you

came up with. 5. Last, try to write two guiding question by yourself about The

purpose of this research is to outline the Effects and Connections of Shakespeare’s 16th Century Writings on 21st Century Literature..

6. In a four people group, you should end up with 5 questions total. One for each member the first time and one that you create in the end alone.

Guiding Questions about the Effects of Shakespeare’s Writings on 21st Century Literature

1.2. 3.4.5.6.

Prime Questions

Why?Why are Shakespeare’s writings coveted

and viewed as a literary model for writers centuries later?

How?How can you use Shakespeare’s

approach to his craft right now in the eighth grade to help you develop your writing skills?

Person or Event in History Rationale

What are four relevant examples of producible evidence that affirms the continued literary merit of the 16th century works of William Shakespeare presently in the 21st century?

Producible Evidence #1 Producible Evidence #2 Producible Evidence #3 Producible Evidence #4 What is the overall impact of

Shakespeare’s writing in modern day U.S.A.?

Research with LibrarianWebsite Username Password

Ebsco horry hcs

Discus discus09 infonow

Streamline

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Destiny Click on this link and select Forestbrook Middle School, then select the second tab for the card catalog.

Person or Historical

Event Following a Theme Research

African American StudyCivil WarComposers/ PerformersLife on a Space ShuttleMiddle Ages

LexileSearch page

You can search the Lexile Book Database using basic search parameters: Title (including partial titles -- e.g., "moon" when looking for "Goodnight Moon") Author (including partial names -- e.g., "rowl" when looking for Rowling) Lexile Range (allows a variance around a reader's Lexile measure) Keywords (searches both the book's title and its description) ISBN (allows you to target a specific title)

MLA Citation Maker

This website will be a major aid to you after you have conducted your research and gathered your information on your Source Information Form. You just select what type of source you would like to create a citation for and you plug in data. The citation maker puts all of the information in the correct order with punctuation. Of course you need to also practice this without the website. This is just a great place to double check your work.

Possible end result(focus of the research)

How will the research that you have done on Shakespeare’s literary significance shape the outlook of your future writings?

THESIS STATEMENT The purpose of this research is to

outline the Effects (*A, B, C) and Connections of Shakespeare’s 16th Century Writings on 21st Century Literature.

*A, B, C are the specific prerequisites in order to obtain the credentials for the chosen profession.