9th grade history writing project

[Hot Lava Mama]

In WTM (3rd edition), pg. 502: "The 9th grade research papers should attempt to prove a theory of some historical event or series of events...." Can I have as many examples of ideas that your 9th grader has done for this? I can't even begin to think of some topics for this. Perhaps I don't fully understand it. Thanks! Hot Lava mama

[PeterPan]

Well I'm the young one on the board here, with my dd just finishing 8th, but we did a project this year with a very similar process. I just read through that section in WTM and some of her tips were good. The steps are there. It's more a matter of realizing that each step is meant to take TIME. Like when she says in step 1 (p. 503) that it should take 3-4 weeks, IT REALLY SHOULD. She tells you to put paper slips in the books but not take notes. I tried to get my dd to take notes and she didn't. Ironically, what she did was replicate SWB's technique of NOT taking notes in the first round of reading but going back and creating your notes/paraphrases/quote selections when you're building and filling in your outline. So if you do it the way she describes, it's actually a pretty workable method.

 

Step 2 (p. 504) is more of a discussion and thinking step. Didn't take us a lot of time, but then dd had spent quite a bit of time reading and thinking on her own.

 

Step 3. Now what's curious to me in her explanation of this is that she doesn't suggest that you *verify* your thesis. Some people would distinguish a working thesis from one that you've confirmed with a source. So just my two cents, not being a laudable history writer or anything, is to use some common sense and google that thesis or see if anyone has written about that thesis or talk with a history professor or do some other such thing to see if your thesis is actually REASONABLE. And when you do that, the process of talking with that person or confirming it against a source may bring out a few points you hadn't considered, rounding out your analysis.

 

Things not in her explanation? The outline she gives is really simplistic. I can't imagine anyone filling scads of pages from 3 points. I'm assuming the manual she recommends (p. 506) does a good job of explaining how to approach a paper (intro, context, thesis, points, contraries, application to modern, conclusion, etc.). So that's sort of a gap you're left to fill yourself, hopefully with that Schaum Guide.

 

You know the other curiosity about her explanation is how little structure it gives to the thesis process. Seems like a list of questions for analysis might give the student some structure and direction on how to find or realize he has landed upon a worthwhile thesis. I'd have to drag out my notes, but I *think* she may have given a list like this in one of her convention talks. You might be able to find the powerpoints for her high school writing workshop and see if it's in there.

 

Just start at the beginning and plan on it taking a long time. Step 1 really can take a lot of time. My dd started with *kiddie* books and Wikipedia (which you never cite but which helps you get a big picture and general sources quickly), then she went to adult level books at the library. From there you can look in the bibliographies and citations of those books to find the college-level resources available at a university library. You can get a library card through that library and sometimes then have access to Jstor, which is the journal and research online service. There you can search your topic for articles others have written.

 

It's not hard to get to a serious level of research pretty quickly if you're systematic and approach it this way. From there you (hopefully) confirm your thesis and then start building an outline. She used Inspiration mind-mapping software to make her outline, because it's visual and allows you to rearrange so easily. The software converts your maps to an outline with a click. When she made her outline, she put in her quotes and specific info, so that by the time she went to write she was no longer referring back to books. (All the info was in the map.) This outlining stage took her a full week at several hours a day and it was quite hard for her.

 

Once she had the mindmapping filled in and converted to an outline, it was just a matter of time to do the writing. (Another full week.) The magic is all in the outline. Spend lots of time doing the outline and the writing is a breeze. So that entire Dispositio step (p. 504-505) is the outline. That's where you spend an insane amount of time. Get that right and it will be logical, flow, and be persuasive. Fail that, and you blather.

 

Her Elocutio (p. 506) is writing and the bibliography. Do the bib as you do the outline. You're putting the info into the outline, so the book is right in front of you. Make your life easy and use NoodleBib. Greatest thing ever, total free, you're gonna love it.

 

The main things are to have a strong thesis that you know is supportable and to make a clear, fully fleshed out outline. My kid is NOT some stellar writer, and I wasn't really confident going in. If you put in the time, you can get through it just fine. Don't let the swanky terms fluster you. :)

[Hot Lava Mama]

Your explanation is phenomenal! But, ugh, I'm terrified! I have never done a research project to this extent. No, not in high school. No, not in college. (major was math, I avoided writing like the plague!) How do I figure out what a good thesis is for him to explore? I understand what she (and you) said about gathering the information, but if I could look at a list of some thesis statements that are solid, it might help me figure out how to narrow it down. Any place where I can take a peek at successful thesis statements? He will be studying ancients, but the statements don't have to be related to that. But perhaps history related ones would be helpful in getting my head around this. Thanks so much for the time with your explanation. I have printed it out and will keep it handy! :)

[amy58103]

In my opinion, History research papers are the hardest. I find it much easier to write a paper on a present-day controversial issue. But anyhoo ... here are the steps I follow when preparing a research paper.

 

Step 1: Select a Topic

 

Start out general (i.e. History) and then narrow it down (i.e. World War II).

 

Step 2: Preliminary Research

 

Use some tertiary resources (Textbooks, wikipedia, etc.) to get a quick overview of the topic (or refresh your memory if this was something recently studied). Narrow down your topic even more, and come up with a question you want to answer ... i.e. Should the US have intervened earlier?

 

Step 3: Develop Thesis Statement and Bibliography

 

Use the tertiary resources to come up with some Primary and Secondary sources. Read through those; often these will lead to more resources; read through those. The reading should be more like skimming. The point is to find out what information is out there, and what will be a good references for the paper. Also in this step, you want to come up with your preliminary thesis statement (or answer to your question from Step 2) ... i.e. The US could not have entered earlier for these reasons ....

 

Step 4: Develop Preliminary Outline and Take Notes

 

Start with a preliminary (one-level) outline, to help guide you as you take notes on the resources. There are many methods for note-taking. Note cards are the traditional method, and can be useful for the first time writer. After the first paper, I would give the student some leeway to come up with there own methods.

 

Step 5: Formalize Thesis Statement and Outline

 

Flush out your thesis statement; often times I find it useful to write the introductory paragraph as well. And then finalize your outline.

 

Step 6: Prepare rough draft

 

Step 7: Revise, Revise, Revise

[PeterPan]

Your explanation is phenomenal! But, ugh, I'm terrified! I have never done a research project to this extent. No, not in high school. No, not in college. (major was math, I avoided writing like the plague!) How do I figure out what a good thesis is for him to explore? I understand what she (and you) said about gathering the information, but if I could look at a list of some thesis statements that are solid, it might help me figure out how to narrow it down. Any place where I can take a peek at successful thesis statements? He will be studying ancients, but the statements don't have to be related to that. But perhaps history related ones would be helpful in getting my head around this. Thanks so much for the time with your explanation. I have printed it out and will keep it handy! :)

 

You're putting way too much of them emphasis on *you*. It's not *your* job to determine a thesis; it's the child's. Your job is to create structure and be a sounding board sound he can REALIZE he has a thesis when he has it. High School Writing - Susan Wise Bauer This is the link for SWB's powerpoint notes. You get this by googling Susan Wise Bauer high school writing, and it's the first hit. That wasn't hard. :) If you scan to the middle (and ignore everything else that might overwhelm you), you'll see she gives you a list of questions to use to try to find a thesis.

 

 

Finding topics in history:

Question motivations of historical actors

Argue that place and/or weather affected the outcome of an event

Argue that one event was caused by a previous event

Prove that a certain group of people was

better or worse off after a certain event

Show a connection between two events or

people in two different countries

Speculate on how history might have changed

under different circumstances

 

And the page before that gives you examples of a thesis.

 

 

THESIS STATEMENTS

How are these things the same, and how are they different?

Homer sees nature as a hostile force to be reckoned with while

Blake sees nature as a friend of man

Why?

In Return of the Native, Eustacia Vye drowns in the weir

because the weir symbolizes nature’s hostility to humanity.

When?

Hamlet is sane throughout most of the play, but goes mad

during the duel.

 

 

If I could suggest, the approach used by National History Day for themes (to drive the theses) might give your student some structure or ideas of how to look at his preferred topic and how to argue something about it.

 

 

 

Theme Information

 

 

Here are the themes for the next few years:

 

2013: Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events

• National History Day creates a curriculum book each year which discusses the theme more in depth and provides a list of sample topics.
  
• List of Ohio topics for the 2013 Theme, Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events
  

2014: Geography in History: Impact, Influence, Change

 

2015: Rights and Responsibilities in History

 

Past NHD themes include:

Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History

Debate and Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences

Innovation in History: Impact and Change

The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies

Conflict and Compromise in History

 

 

 

Sorry that turned blue for some reason. That is from the Ohio History Day website, because they happened to have up some of the old themes from other years. The theme for 2013 is Turning Points, so you look at the time period or topic you're interested in, and you try to argue for a turning point. Such and such was a turning point BECAUSE... Boom, that's not hard. He can do this! Or look at the innovation/impact/change theme, and you argue that such and such innovation changed or impacted xyz in xyz ways.

 

So look at those and then look at SWB's list. They're the same idea. Compare, contrast, argue that something affected something. The real issue is not whether your dc can do this. Of COURSE he can! Kids like to argue and they can argue quite well when they know enough TO argue. The real issue is thinking in that comparative, argumentative, analytical way. That's actually what you're trying to make happen, so you back up and get some questions and structures that help him go ok, I can see a connection there, I can argue this. Personally, I don't think SWB's questions are quite helpful enough. I find the NHD themes much more provocative. They're also broad enough to apply to a LOT of topics and scenarios, and they give you new angles and ways to look at topics.

 

So he reads generally about his topic for a week or two (kiddie books, wikipedia, maybe a library book or two) and then he sits down and thinks was there a turning point, an innovation, a change, etc. using these lists. He jots the arguments for this down. Then he has a *working* thesis. At this point he starts googling it and looking at higher level books to see if any scholar actually thinks this or agrees with him. ;) Then he knows he's on the right track. And when he reads those sources, he's finding out more issues and arguments he hadn't thought of. That fills out his research.

 

If he reads very broadly (and just puts in those slips like SWB says!), he's going to have enough information that then when he comes to brain dump into his outline, it will all work out. You re-ask your thesis and then list out your answers/arguments. You put those in big bubbles on a huge sheet of paper. You start bubbling out from there and filling in. You fill in, fill in, and then you realize you need to rearrange the order to make it flow better. So the information around them stays put (because of course those are single paragraph narrations, something he has been doing for years). You just move the points, redraw the lines, and boom you're now in a logical order.

 

Obviously I'm no expert. We got through it though, and what I realized was that she ended up writing tons of small narrations. Each paragraph was a narration, something she's been doing for years. That was no big deal. Arguing a thesis wasn't hard when she had done enough reading to have an opinion on one and think clearly. It was really just a patience and time game.

 

Even if he does it ill, he's going to learn something. I would worry less about fancy writing and more about learning the structure, how to get something you're arguing, how to think clearly about it, how to write precisely and say exactly what you mean and be accurate. If he does those things but his paper is *shorter* I would still consider it a success. I don't think the length matters as much as the thought process. As you say, in some colleges, some realities, you're never going to do one. But the skill of thinking through something clearly and logically and saying exactly what you mean (and not blathering), that's lifelong, that's golden. So don't go for length, go for thought process. If you require length, I think you're putting the cart before the horse and emphasizing output rather than thought process. End result is filler. So don't do that. Just help him think clearly and whatever comes will be good enough. He can do another one a year later and it will be less intimidating.

 

Btw, May is awfully late to be starting one. Are you thinking for right now or for the coming school year? Most people are winding down now mentally. I sure wouldn't start one now, not for your first time through. You really want 6+ weeks to do this, personal opinion. And that's bare minimum. To be sane, I'd allow 3 months. But we're slow. Writing is hard in our house.

[PeterPan]

Btw, if you want to see her project, here's a link. It's a documentary, but the script is essentially a research paper, just arranged to be dramatic. She went through the entire process, exactly as I described. It took her 6 weeks working 3-4 hours a day to research and write the script, and then she took a couple more weeks to edit and turn it into a video. I don't recommend doing it that fast, lol. Allow 3 months and be peaceful. If she does one again, she's starting in June/July. :)

 

[Hot Lava Mama]

Thank you, thank you, thank you to both of you! VERY helpful. OhElizabeth, yeah, I realize it is suppose to be him, but my concern is that if "I" am guiding him, seems like I should know how to do it. I am worried that I won't be able to help guide him to a good, strong thesis statement since I have never done a solid paper like that. (Oh, also, this is for next year. I am just starting to get together our schedules so I have been reading the high school section of WTM.) We were thinking of starting in January, but now I am thinking of starting even earlier. Thanks both, again for that help and other references. I am feeling a bit better. It's so weird. I never learned Latin, Greek or Spanish when I was younger, but I just cruised along and have been learning it with my kids. No panic attacks. But when it comes to writing, my blood pressure goes through the roof! I feel so incredibly incompetent in this area! Geez. You would think that if I could learn other languages, my OWN language wouldn't give me this much grief! :) Thanks again! I appreciate your help!

[Hot Lava Mama]

Btw, if you want to see her project, here's a link. It's a documentary, but the script is essentially a research paper, just arranged to be dramatic. She went through the entire process, exactly as I described. It took her 6 weeks working 3-4 hours a day to research and write the script, and then she took a couple more weeks to edit and turn it into a video. I don't recommend doing it that fast, lol. Allow 3 months and be peaceful. If she does one again, she's starting in June/July. :)

 

Oh my God. This is AWESOME! She did a fantastic job! WOW! Thanks for sharing!

[PeterPan]

Ok, a secret. The teachers I talked with who kick butt at getting this done tend to do a bit of reading on the side so they know enough about the topic to mentor the student. So you take an hour at night and skim some of the books your dc is reading. Then you know, when you discuss with him, whether his thought process is on target. You act as a sounding board and talk it through with them. Was there something pivotal in what you read, something you could argue made a change or whatever? And your sort of know some potential answers, because you've been reading up on it on the side. Even a quick wikipedia read would leave you a lot more confident that you're recognizing some potential theses in his topics.

 

These high school teachers come at it with the advantage that they KNOW all this background stuff about the topic. They might never have read that particular book on Peter the Great, but they have a BA or MA in history and know the overview and that things DO fit and have cause-effect relationships. We don't come at it with that background (or at least I don't, lol), so you're trying to go back and quickly come up to speed on that particular topic. That way you know he's on track. Don't be scared to do this. You might not be able to go back and learn everything about every topic in history, but you're plenty smart enough to read a wikipedia page, click a couple links, and notice arguments. You've been to college, and even though this is not your topic of interest, you're bringing your speed and proficiency, your maturity to bear. You can do it. :)

[PeterPan]

Btw, the first time through, this may require a lot more supervision than you think. Just depends on the student I suppose. You may actually have to sit down and show them how to use the toc and index in a college level book to find relevant info, how to take notes, how to perservere, how to use Library of Congress numbers. I spent a lot of time asking my dd: is this precise, is it accurate, is it exactly what you meant to say? (Kids have a tendency to say a bunch of nothing when they don't know what they're trying to say.)

 

What you might do is start in say October, do some read, develop a thesis by Thanksgiving, fill in the outline by Christmas, write after New Years. Just sort of spread it out and put in some breaks. Also, you might try finding him an outlet for his work. Writing contests, youth publications, National History Day... Always more fun to write when you have a goal and something you're doing it for. :)

[JanetC]

If you live in a state that is into History Day, look into it. Here in Washington the teacher training on how to guide kids through the research process is phenomenal! The materials on the national nhd website are also very good, though some are pricy.