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Chasidy Dancer Informational essay A research paper is more than just retrieving information from the internet or out of a book about a random object or thing. A good research paper addresses a specific research question. The research question — or study objective or main research hypothesis—is the central organizing principle of the paper (Perneger, 2004). A research paper consists of one becoming an expert and knowledgeable of the topic they are writing about. It’s asking a question about the unknown to become familiar with its works or function and then being able to speak formally about it through written communication or presentation. To become interested in writing a research paper, it is highly important not to just start writing immediately. When teaching students it’s important to teach them the writing process. Once they have a background in the writing process it would be a great idea to help students write in steps to making their paper successful. Planning an outline is the first step towards writing a research paper. According to A teacher guide to the multi-genre research project it states that while planning for a research paper, students need to learn to adapt their language to different audiences and to other contextual variables. This is highly important because the target audience will determine the language that is being used in the paper. Students use writing in two distinct ways: as a tool for learning and as a way to demonstrate their learning (Tompkins, 2011). This is essential because writing a research paper is not only retrieved information but also the paper reflects what you have learned about a topic and how well you can defend the topic using your own original thinking. A research paper is not limited to resources from the internet. While conducting a research paper, there are countless amounts of tools that can be placed in the paper itself. This is the idea we want to push away from our student idea of thinking. We want them to explore and be able to understand the

Chasidy Dancer ultimate meaning behind doing a research paper. Encouraging students to plan for an interview, or find a creative way to present the information along with the notes they used to conclude their thesis question. More importantly, as a teacher you want your students to have some say so in their leaning. Doing this may encourage students who take ownership in their learning. If the research paper is an assignment that all students must research, try giving students the option to choose what specific attribute or function they would like to research. Having the class divide the research up, it creates more responsibility for a student to complete his part. Doing so, students become more connected to their topic and take research seriously. Again, giving students the option to take their research and make it their own helps students become more engaged. This leaves room for students to come creative and have fun with their knowledge. For example, having students consider conducting interviews to collect information. Being said, if you want to make interviewing a strong component of the research, you’ll need to take some class time to take your students through the steps: how to make contacts set up appointments, and use good manners when people make some time for the interview (Harvey, 2007); which leads into a whole new lesson.

Teaching students cool and unique ways to present research papers opens avenues for the student to expand and develop their thinking. Charts and surveys can be incorporated in a research paper as well. However, it is important that if students pursue this method in their paper, they understand the meaning of the chart or survey. Research papers are not limited to interviewing or conducting surveys. However, it is important that students use their resources to the highest potential to ensure that they have a successful paper. Having a variety of resources make the research more solid in accuracy (at time) and makes the research to be rich. Drafting is

Chasidy Dancer important when it comes to research papers as well. While drafting and editing a paper, it is recommended that students have other students or peer to read over their work. Reason for this is because it is rare that an individual editing their own paper will not overlook and conventional errors. More than likely students can get feedback on how they sound writing. It is much easier for someone else to notice a grammatical error. Lastly, it is imperative to go over how to properly cite their information to avoid accusations of plagiarism. In many cases, a student may not know that they are plagiarizing because they may lack the proper knowledge of citing a paper. Introducing the definitions of plagiarism- is the form of taking one’s information and using it as your own. Citing information in your paper represents that a small portion of another work is their own and giving credit to that of the source. A successful research paper is possible and most definitely can be interesting for students of all ages. As a closing, students who understand the process and important components to have in a research tickets tend to enjoy researching. They have much more understood and will gain memorable knowledge through writing and expressing their information within the paper. As a connection to this project, the multigenre was all a research in itself. This research was similar to any other research but its presentation of informational findings is creative. It made the research become more interesting and I had the opportunity to put my own personality in it. I believe that this is a great example of how we as future teachers should make writing a research paper are. We should strive to make the writing not only educational but enjoyable as well. And in the end writing a research paper will be more than just copying and pasting for students. It will be more than researching one source and turning in a long paper reiterating the

Chasidy Dancer same uninteresting information, showing that students didn’t retain or learn much from the assignment.

Chasidy Dancer References

Harvey, D., Zemelman, S., & Steineke, N. (2007). Content-area writing every teacher's guide. Portsmouth, NH: Offices and agents throughout the world.

Perneger, T. V., & Hudelson, P. M. (2004). Writing a research article: advice to beginners. International journal for quality in health care.

Putz, M. (2006). A teacher's guide to the multigenre research project. Portsmouth, NH : Offices and agents throughout the world.

Tompkins, G. (2011). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. (6th ed.).Pearson