Friday, February 21, 2014

Writing an Informative Piece: Organizing Paragraphs

You've written your thesis, chosen your categories/details, and have written an introductory paragraph.
Time to order your paragraphs.  
  1. Click on the link to access the Research Guide google Research Guide Template
  2. Make a copy of the doc and title your name/ research
  3. Copy and past your introductory paragraph into the first box.
  4. Write a topic sentence for each category in the box.  Use the remainder of the box to write the remainder of your details.  Complete at least 3 of these category boxes.
  5. Make sure that your sources are listed at the bottom of the 2nd page.




Writing an Informative Piece: Writing an Introductory Paragrapha

After determining a thesis, students then webbed (or jotted notes in a table) about which key ideas they wanted to share in their paper.  They are in the process of using their notes to write an introductory paragraph.  See examples below:

By Kylie






by Grace



By Kassidy


By Stella



Writing an Informative Piece: Research Question to Thesis Statement

After developing a research question, students turned it into a thesis statement. They also determined whether their paper will use a compare/contrast structure or chronological structure.
Here are a few examples:
Compare/ Contrast Structure by Kylie

Chronological Structure by Grace

Chronological Structure by Kassidy

Compare/ Contrast by Joey


Chronological Structure by Lola





Research Question:  How could one simple sneeze turn out to be so deadly?

Thesis:  Even though there is a successful vaccine, Pertussis is still very common.

Chronological Structure by Nyssa







                             








Writing an Informative Piece: Formulating a Research Question


We've been reading, reading, reading about contagious diseases.  Each student chose a different disease to read more closely about.  While reading, they summarized their reading by jotting notes in a table. Beside the notes, they also jotted questions that developed as they read.  After reading multiple sources, students were asked to develop a question they'd like to research more.  One that could be used to inform others about something interesting.
Research Guide Template
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wWRT_0DyapGjh3wRO_l9ICJX27VqsgaW_NgC4uw6ij8/edit?usp=sharing
Below are a few examples:
By Kylie

By Grace


By Lola
By Kassidy
By Nyssa

By Joey


By Stells



Students were also asked to cite their source on their table.