Description of Research Paper -- 8th Grade History Standard #1

Standard 1 – 8th Grade US History: Formal Research Paper


Description – Students will choose a topic relating to Native America that interests them, research it, and produce useful notes from a variety of resources. Students then draft and write a coherent (logical, reasoned) research paper that describes the topic. The research must be presented using a thesis statement. The paper will consist of a minimum of 3 pages and a maximum of 5 pages.


Required components - 110pts total
a) Legible, useful and helpful notes taken from reliable sources (3 of which must be non-electric). 10pts
b) A complete and accurate works-cited in MLA format. 10pts
c) An outline or map of paragraphs to be to be completed using Inspiration software 10pts
d) A typed rough draft. 20pts
e) A typed, revised final draft 50pts
f) A cool hand-drawn or electronically created cover 10 pts

Note: Final draft score will be evaluated in part using the 6 Traits of Writing. Rough draft will be graded for completion and proofread and edited in
Peer groups.


Timeline - Media Center: September 27th – Oct. 10th every other day. During some days we are not in the media center, we will be doing activities other than working on this project. Using you time wisely will affect your grade, which will drop 10% for every day that one of the required parts is late. Due date for final draft is the 25th of October. Grading rubrics will be distributed the week of October 1st.









Topics – Examples and Ideas: Be inspired and inspire others – choose a topic that you like…one that interests you. Some examples of topics to research and write about are below. As you choose, make sure you will be able to follow through with the research and writing of the paper. The following are only examples. You must have chosen your topic by the end of class on Wednesday, September 25th.

1. Choose a tribe such as the Crow. Describe their way of life before settlement and make a connection to present day Crow people on a reservation.

2. Research the development of Native American rights through US History – from the Allotment Act (US Congress) to modern Civil Rights movements in the 60s.


3. Study the state of Native America today. Where do most Indians live? How do they live?

4. Choose an historical figure and show how they altered the course of their tribe’s destiny. (Examples: Sitting Bull; Red Cloud; Chief Joseph; Crazy Horse; Sacagawea; Pocahontas).


5. Choose a region and explain how environment affected the lifestyle of a tribe.

6. Study Native American healing and compare it to modern medicine.


7. Choose a particular episode or event in History that involved Indians and go into detail explaining why it is important. (Examples: Battle of Little Bighorn; the last Ice Age; formation of the Iroquois Confederacy)

8. Choose a local tribe, find Native Americans in the community and interview them regarding a topic.


9. Research the impact of horses on Plains Indians.

10. Write about US government policy towards Indians.

11. Research the ancient Mayan ball game


12. Invent an interesting and do-able topic and present it to your teacher for approval☺

Quiz on Thursday 9/27

In class on Thursday, students will demonstrate their knowledge of regional Native American groups and US geography by identifying regions of the US, labeling Indian tribes in those regions and describing one aspect of life for that tribe.

In class we will begin a primary source analysis of a Columbus letter to the Spanish monarchy. HW will be to complete this written analysis.


Friday we are in the media center.

No HW over the weekend.

Updates 24, 25, 26

Today, the 24th, students began with a Right Now Activity, watching CNN student news and taking bullet-style notes. Students were prompted to write in their notes that which they would need to re-tell the story.

In pairs, students read aloud their partner about the lifestyle of the Cherokee and other Southeast groups. Students then used Ven Diagrams to compare this tribe with others we have learned about. We also added on this new region to our Indian regions maps. HW tonight-- Read about Eastern woodland cultures and Southwest farming cultures and compare using an organizer.

We have a formal research paper in our near future. Tomorrow in class, we will be looking at the requirements of the project and example thesis topics. Our opening activity will be a journal writing prompt linking environment with Indian culture. We will have a wealth of media center materials in class for students to browse through as they brainstorm choose a topic for the upcoming paper.

Wednesday, the 26th begins 2 weeks of every other day media center visits to research and write the papers. Media center staff will be re-teaching Noodle Tools and Inspiration software and students will begin finding information. I hope in this project, students will practice extrapolating information from expository text sources. That is why we have been working on note-taking skills this past week.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns,

Adios!

Mr, Wells