Research papers in 6th and 4th grade? What are your expectations?

[battlemaiden]

This was on the curriculum board for a while but with no bites...

 

We are in between history curriculums- with a two week gap expected- and I plan on filling the time with our first full research paper.

 

I'm looking through my Writer's Express and Write Source 2000 books for input, but I'm not finding just what I'm looking for. I want to assign them a research paper on Hawaii- including multiple topics like geography, history, flora and fauna, etc.

 

Essentially it will be a lesson in research at the library and a report written in Encyclopedia format- but with less detail, of course.

 

Perhaps there is a good resource you could direct me towards? Or let me know how much you would expect for a topical paper like this.

 

Thanks so much--again :).

 

Jo

[Laura K (NC)]

My fifth grade son is a slower writer... his brothers could probably have given me a full page at that age if I had pressed them. My 7th grader has been writing a book that nobody is allowed to see. I'm not sure how many pages that is, but I bet it's between 5-10. He's pretty unusual for a boy, though. I would never have required that of him.

 

My 8th grade son last year gave me a 5 page report with footnotes using MLA. Before that grade I wouldn't give any of my boys a research paper involving footnotes or a works cited page. I think it would suck all the joy out of learning something new. My younger two sons have gotten the plagiarism talk several times this year, so they know to paraphrase. I think that's enough for them until they get a little older. My 7th grader is learning about cohesive paragraphs and how to tie a few paragraphs together to make a completed paper. One page is plenty for him.

 

My younger two sons really like to write. I make them write a lot, but don't make the assignments too hard. They like typing it out and searching Google for a good picture to decorate the bottom of the page. The quality is easier to manage in a shorter paper, I think.

[angela in ohio]

I responded over there...

[Whisperlily]

My DD did a report on Germany in 4th grade.

 

There were 5 sections which required a half-page (2 or 3 paragraphs) on different topics. (Government, industry, culture, festivals, regions, traditional dress, etc.) Some sections were necessarily longer, and some included pictures or diagrams.

 

She started with an outline, basic topics to cover, and went from there. One section included a map she traced with major cities listed, the country's flag etc.

 

She made a cover page and put it in a report cover.

 

I don't know if my answer really helped, but that's what we did when we wanted her to have a formal, complete research paper. (There was no bibliography page, but I would've included instruction on how to cite sources for a 6th grader.)

[battlemaiden]

I don't intend to go so far as teach footnotes on this first paper. I agree for an introductory effort that would be a bit much.

 

The goal of this paper is to teach research methods and topical reports.

 

The elder pupil ;) is capable, if not always willing, of completing hand written book reports that are single space full page. He does quite well in this opinion based format. I would think 2-3 page research papers written over a couple of weeks is quite do-able, but I wanted input.

 

Thanks.

 

Jo

[Doran]

My 11 year old who has some mild dylexia issues is working on her first research paper right now. Like you, and with guidance from LLATL, we're doing it on our state. The parts have included:

 

Library research

 

Writing book titles, author, publisher and copyright of all books on individual index cards (so there will be a bibliography but no footnotes)

 

Tracing a map of the state and filling in a few important details

 

Drawing pictures of state bird, flag, and flower

 

Writting paragraphs on each of the above state symbols

 

Letter to Chamber of Commerce in state capitol which proved fruitless because they never responded :(

 

Visit to local Chamber of Commerce for information gathering. Helpful!

 

Reading through books (not cover to cover in many cases) and gleaning information, note taking, then writing separate paragraphs about:

~when and how the state was founded

~stats about state population and employment

~what problems might be going on in the state, for which we've searched the internet (but newspaper and/or magazine articles would work well also)

~ statewide attractions/fun things to do

 

 

Her report will compile and include all of this, with the idea that she is writing the report for a family who may be moving to the state and would want to know more about it. We are just now putting it all together. I think it will end up being a roughly 2-3 page, hand written report, not counting drawings and maps. We have spent approximately three weeks working on in with a real delay in the middle due to flu.

 

To bring this back to my statement in the beginning, she is old enough to be a young (very!) 6th grader -- she turned 11 the end of December -- but doing the 4th grade LLATL due to her reading/writing issues. This has been a great project for her, though I must admit, painful at times (like today...sigh).

 

HTH,

Doran

[Plucky]

I don't have any hard and fast expectations. It depends on the kid. My dd started writing reports in 4th grade, very well written 4 or 5 page reports. My son can now write a very good report many pages long in 8th grade. Both kids are good writers they just got there at different times and at different speeds.

[Donna]

my 6th grader to write 1-2 page reports with very limited topics so the report is very specific rather than a broad topic with little "real" information. My 4th grader is to write 3-4 paragraphs consisting of at least 4 sentences per paragraph. With him, I am working more on report writing with topic sentences in each paragraph then supporting information. Again, I give him very specific topics to write on or help the kids narrow their own topic choices.