Rebecca VA Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Please don't laugh. My daughter has to write (for me) a 15-page paper on solar energy. Our library has "Solar Power for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power." Usually these kinds of books contain solid, practical information written on an easy-to-understand level. Would you consider them acceptable for an 8th-grade research paper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Out of principle, I wouldn't. However, many of those books could correspond the level of understanding she needs and at the end of the day, it's just a title, right? This might be a good opportunity for you to talk to her about what's acceptable source and what's not, about academic scholarship and the "hierarchy" of sources, how "dumbed down" sources are okay in which context, etc. Normally I'd advise against using such books, quoting them or inserting them on any official bibliography of anything you do. As an exception, once, for one paper in eight grade that she can't find other resources on, and if authors are remotely experts, no big deal, but definitely don't turn it into a habit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I was talking with my local librarian about the unfortunate naming of these series of books. Often the information contained in these books is remarkably good. For the purposes of an 8th grade paper, these books are certainly good enough to gain background information on the topic. Personally, I'd rather find a quote from one of these books than a quote from Wikipedia. One way to address this question would be to require quotes from a certain number of source and using different formats. For example, three books and two internet resources used with MLA formatting. Using sources from the internet can be tricky. Learning to find "good" internet resources is a good skill for an 8th grader to learn. I hope this helps. Iris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate CA Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Please don't laugh. My daughter has to write (for me) a 15-page paper on solar energy. Our library has "Solar Power for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power." Usually these kinds of books contain solid, practical information written on an easy-to-understand level. Would you consider them acceptable for an 8th-grade research paper? Would you consider using a book titled, Solar Power for Teens? If so, why not this book? It is just a title. Require her to use more than one source if it bothers you, but I would not be put off by the series title. They are great resources for many things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Please don't laugh. My daughter has to write (for me) a 15-page paper on solar energy. Our library has "Solar Power for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power." Usually these kinds of books contain solid, practical information written on an easy-to-understand level. Would you consider them acceptable for an 8th-grade research paper? I would expect that a 15 page paper would use a variety of sources. If one of them were a Dummies or Idiot's Guide book, that wouldn't be a problem. How many sources is she required to use? For something 15 pages long, I'm guessing something like 6-15 sources. Using some general books like the Dummies guides, some magazine articles, some more specific and detailed sources and maybe a few internet resources (from reliable sites like .gov or .edu sites). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 (edited) n/m Edited March 7, 2011 by Rebecca VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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