All research projects have the following requirements:

Big6 Steps

1. Task Definition. What does your teacher want you to do? What information do you need? Write questions to help answer the task.

2. Information Seeking Strategies. List possible sources of information to help answer the task assigned.

3. Location & Access. Find sources.

4. Use of Information. Read and take notes.

5. Synthesis. Writing process! Prewriting, Drafting, Conferencing, Revising, Editing, Publishing steps.

6. Evaluation. Answer questions prior to turning in project to confirm assignment accuracy.

Research

Get or design a research organizer.

Use age appropriate search engines. Research Websites

Website Evaluation

Choosing a website to gather your research is just as important as research itself.  Not all websites are credible and should not be used.

• Do NOT use - wikipedia, ask.com, yahoo.com, ehow, about.com, personal blogs
• USE - edu (education), gov (government)
• Maybe - .net and .org - You must check to see if the company is an expert or credible in the field you are researching. Check the About Us tab for the website. READ!!!

Sources

Kindergarten                 1 source

1st-2nd Grade               1-2 sources. Depends on project.

3rd Grade and Up         3 or more sources. Depends on project.

Typing Your Paper

MLA Format

Here's a fantastic video* showing all the steps below.    MLA_Paper Example*        MLA_Checklist*       

MLA Format requires the following:

• Top left corner line 1 is your name, line 2 is your instructor's name, line 3 is the course name, line 4 is the date.
• Header - top right is your last name followed by a page number. Don't forget your space between.
• 1 inch margins all the way around.
• Title line is centered.
• All text should be Times New Roman size 12.
• Line spacing is double but 0 spacing after each line.
  

Hit Tab key to start each paragraph. Don't hit Enter key until you are done with that paragraph.

Use correct capitalization.

Use correct punctuation.

Use complete sentences or thoughts.

Use Spelling and Grammar check!!! The button is located on the Review Tab.

Use citations for all research, videos and photos.

The last page of your paper must be a Bibliography page. Here's a detailed example of what we've covered in class.    
Bibliography.docx

* Materials used with permission from Jaime Anderson, Instructor of English, Wake Technical Community College 

Short cuts to use -

• Ctrl X = Cut                     Ctrl B = Bold
• Ctrl C = Copy                  Ctrl I = Italics
• Ctrl V = Paste                  Ctrl U = Underline
• Ctrl Z = Undo
• Ctrl S = Save
• Ctrl N = New
• Alt & Tab = switches windows "toggling"

Presentations

Common Craft's video on how to create effective presentations.

Citations

Plagiarism equals a 0 and a write up. I've created a page showing you a FEW examples of how it works. Please use the online resources to double check your work as I cannot cover every type of source you will see. Citation Examples

Kindergarten                 Does not cite sites. :)

1st-2nd Grade               Cite a site by writing the website title or name.

3rd Grade and Up         Cite EVERYTHING - research, videos, pictures, music, or whatever. Cite a site using the instructions below.

• Here's a copy of my cheat sheet for online magazines/newspaper/articles AND professional websites.
• There are websites to assist you with proper MLA format.

Purdue OWL Citation Worksheet      Old Citation Machine      New Citation Machine

Article on WHY we use citations.

Camera Options

Cameraoid    

Pixect   

Webcam Toy       

Photos Options

Creative Commons   

Photos For Class     

Music Options

Freeplay Music   

Incompetech Royalty Free Music        

Royalty Free Music.com [Award winning library of royalty free music]

Website Options

KidBlog     

Weebly

Extra Fun Stuff to Use

Animated Text 
Glow Text

"Manly" Textcraft

Spooky Text