6TH GRADE STATES

RESEARCH ESSAY

Mrs. Freitas

Read research essay examples

What makes a good research essay?

•Facts/Research•Works Cited or Bibliography•Declarative•Organized•No “you” “me” “we” “I”•Each paragraph flows from one to the next

State DraftWrite down your top 5 choices…

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois

Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana

Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon PennsylvaniaRhode Island

South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Brainstorm & Research• You should already know something about your state. Write

that down

• Do a Google search

• “Minnesota” is going to give you a ton of information about the state• “Climate in Minnesota” is better than “facts about Minnesota”

• Don’t just quit after one search – keep trying different ways of phrasing your search

• “I can’t find anything” is both whiny and represents a lack of effort

• If, after much trying, you really can’t find anything, you need to rethink your topic or come up with a new one (you have to make it up)

Write it down

•Put each of your research pages/outlines IN YOUR BINDER (clipped in or in a page protector!)

•Write all your research including your sources on it

•Having random pieces of paper is a bad idea.

• I highly suggest you trying the 11x17 paper method I will show you in class. Store that in your LA folder. Students often love this and rarely lose their big paper.

ORganize• Your research should reveal three strong points that prove your thesis.

• You will need three facts to prove each point, so make sure they are broad enough.

• This and writing the thesis are the most mentally taxing parts of this assignment so be prepared to think, be quiet, and work. It should feel like effort, and you will need a quiet space to be successful.

MinnesotaTopic 1: Weather/Climate

in MNTopic 2: Geography and land features in

MNTopic 3: Places

to visit in MN

Thesis

• Thesis• Clear, declarative sentence• that states topic• and lists three points in order. These 3 points will be your body paragraphs.

•Parallel verbs•Specific

BORING…

I am going to tell you about places

to visit in Minnesota, the weather in Minnesota, and

the geography of Minnesota.

There are places to visit in Minnesota,

an interesting climate, and

cool land features.

Thesis•Thesis•Clear, declarative sentence that states the name of the state you are researching• and lists three points in order. These 3 points will be your body paragraphs.

•Parallel verbs•Specific

Minnesota has weather that allows

for the enjoyment of all four seasons,

is home to land features that make

it possible to enjoy a multitude of

outdoor activities, and has a number

of unique places to visit.

What topics are listed in the thesis?

•Topic #1-

•Topic #2-

•Topic #3-

•Each of these topics will become each of your body paragraphs!

Minnesota has weather that

allows for the enjoyment of all

four seasons, is home to land

features that make it possible

to enjoy a multitude of outdoor activities, and has a number

of unique places to visit.

YOU WILL RESEARCH 3 TOPICS ABOUT YOUR STATE!

1. Topic #1: Places to Visit (ex: largest ball of twine, MOA, Duluth (North Shore), etc.)

2. Options for topics #2 and #3:

• GeographyLocation (Continent, hemisphere, latitude,

longitude, etc.)Physical features (Tropical, mountains,

desert, etc.)Climate

Animal life

• History First inhabitants-who lived in your

country/discovered it first?Famous leadersMajor wars, revolutions, or events

• Economy Major industries Major agriculture (what

crops do they grow?) Occupations (what kind

of jobs do most people have?)

• People Population (Ethnic

groups (races and ethnicities), Major religions, Life expectancy)

Foods Holidays and Customs

(Celebrations and traditions)

More research• You have a framework, but need to fill in the gaps

• Find sources

• Take notes on large sheets of paper into a combined outline

• For each body paragraph, take notes and find sources, write a combined outline

• Proper citations – MLA format; Google “purdue owl mla” or use easybib.com

CITATIONS

YOU NEED AT LEAST 4

CITATIONS IN YOUR ESSAY

1-BOOK3-Internet, magazine, newspaper, article, etc.

MLA Citations• Citing an Entire Web Site

• Last name, First name. “Article Title.” Name of Site. Web (just write the word “web”). Day Month Year article was accessed.

• No author or editor: The Purdue OWL. Purdue University. Website. 23 Apr. 2008.

• Serendip. Bryn Mawr University. 25 January 2012.

• With author or editor: Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue University. Website. 10 May 2006.

• Quotations In Your Paper

• Use the author’s last name or the name of the website plus the page number in parenthesis at the end of the sentence. Ending punctuation follows the parentheses.

• According to Foukes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes, 184).

• Last name, first name of interview subject. Personal interview. Date.

• Hansen, Debbie. Personal interview. 2 Feb. 2013.

• Pettit, Jake. Personal interview. 4 Jan. 2013.

How to cite an e-book

• Format:

• Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. edition. Place of Publication [if not available, use n.p.]: Publisher [if not available, use n.p.], Year [if not available, use n.d.]. Name of Database. [in italics] Publication medium. Date of access.

•  

• Example:

• Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence. New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company, 1920. World Book Online Reference Center. Web. 16 January 2012

Don’t plagiarize: if it’s someone else’s idea or string of words used in a unique way and you don’t cite that correctly, it’s stealing. Don’t steal. It’s breaking the 7th Commandment and God is watching.

However, if every idea in your paragraph was new to you, but it’s common knowledge or facts that are publicly known (like, the Hulk is green and muscly), you don’t need to quote it. If, however, you are using an interesting facts or series of words (like, “The Incredible Hulk has sold $5 million in merchandise,” or “the Hulk’s bulk intimidates and irritates his opponents”) you have to put quotation marks around that and tell where you got the info.

Bibliography•When you are done, you will use www. Easybib.com, citationmachine.net, bibme.org

•You will need the author, the website, when you accessed it, what the name of the article was.

•WRITE THESE THINGS DOWN NOW

•YOU MAY VERY WELL NOT BE ABLE TO GET BACK TO THE PAGE YOU’RE USING EVER AGAIN

Mrs. Freitas’s assistance

Source:Author’s last name, first name. Title of Book. Place of publication: publisher, year. Print. 1.

2.

3.

Source:

I. 1.

2.

3.

Source:

I. 1.

2.

3.

Source:

I. 1.

2.

3.

Combined OutlineI. (t/s)

1.

2.

3.

Clincher

TOPIC1:

Places to Visit in MN

*Citations for EVERY Source:Website nameDate you found itName of articleName of author

• I WON’T:

•Tell you if it’s good•Help with every sentence•Think up your DUs/SOs or individual words•Tell you how to punctuate (use online resources)•Help you anymore if you’ve already asked 2-3 times in one class period – you’re relying on me too much!

I WILL:

•Help you find more sources if you get stuck

•Help you restructure your sentences for clarity

•Help you find online resources for grammar and punctuation

•Help you organize your ideas if you have them all written down

•Help you stay on task

•Proofread your work

Don’t pester others

•Don’t ask for help while someone else is working – they are thinking and you are interrupting them. Nearly always you can figure it out on your own if you think about it for a minute.

•Don’t interrupt someone to show them a funny picture, website, article, or anything else you think is amusing while they are writing.

•Do ask for another student to edit a section. We read what we meant, not what we said.

Helpful handouts: Keep these for HS

• In cart, you will find handouts with the following information:

•Rubric – lists all requirements including checklist for DU’s/SO’s (no label = no credit)

•Transition words organized by logic

•MLA format/Citation guide

•Hook options

Writing: Begin with the bodyBody One

• Follow outline• Use direct quotations and citations• Frank Belling writes, “Television doesn’t promote ignorance. Instead, it

educates people about the world that one lives in.”• “Television doesn’t promote ignorance. Instead, it educates people about

the world that one lives in” (Belling).• In his article “Top Ten Attractions of MN,” Frank Snyder explains that

Minnesota is home to at least five national parks.• Minnesota is home to at least five national parks (Snyder).• Not only are there 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, but there are also 565

rivers (Name of Site)

• DUs, SOs, labeled• Transition words• Conclusion explains why this paragraph is important to your research about your state• Turn in R/D, get comments back, edit, turn in final

Your NameBody One RD

•Use direct quotations and citations• Frank Belling writes, “Television doesn’t promote ignorance. Instead, it educates people about the world that one lives in.”• “Television doesn’t promote ignorance. Instead, it educates people about the world that one lives in” (Belling).• In his article “Top Ten Attractions of MN,” Frank Snyder explains that Minnesota is home to at least five national parks.• Minnesota is home to at least five national parks (Snyder).• Not only are there 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, but there are also 565 rivers (Name of Site)

• Compound: FANBOY• I love ice cream, but I eat spinach more frequently.

• Complex: A WHITE BUS• The girls giggled while the boys played badminton.• Because of the weather, I’m always cold.

• VSS – 2-4 words• Shocked, he stopped.• She was happy.• Jake quivered in fear.

Transitions

•Be sure you have transitions in each paragraph. They are essential for logic. You should have between 2-4.•You also need to transition between paragraphs•Free transition between intro and Body One – intro ends with thesis and body one starts with a topic sentence that is the first point from the thesis•Every other paragraph needs to repeat an important word, phrase or idea from the previous paragraph’s conclusion

Body paragraph 2

• Follow combined outline

• Begins with word, phrase or idea from conclusion of Proof One

• Start with t/s

• Use direct quotations and citations

• DUs, SOs, labeled

• Transition words

• Conclusion explains why this paragraph is important to your argument

• Turn in R/D, get comments back, edit, turn in final

• Compound: FANBOY• I love ice cream, but I eat spinach more frequently.

• Complex: A WHITE BUS• The girls giggled while the boys played badminton.• Because of the weather, I’m always cold.

• VSS – 2-4 words• Shocked, he stopped.• She was happy.• Jake quivered in fear.

INtroduction

•Hook – read “Mars” examples•Explain topic•Define terms •Ends with Thesis

•Hooks1. QUESTION

QUOTE

2. There’s a common expression, “No pain, no gain,” which means that achievement requires some sort of sacrifice-mental sacrifice, physical sacrifice-something. Little did I know how important that phrase would soon become in my life,k all because of an invitation to witness, up close and personal, some of the most fascinating (and loveable) animals on this planet.

3. ONOMATOPOEIA

4. POEM

5. SONG• “Montana, Montana, glory of the West! Of all the states from coast to coast, you’re easily the best! Montana, Montana, where skies are always blue! M-O-N-T-A-N-A, Montana, I love you!”

Hooks continued…

6. INFORMATION or a STARTLING STATISTIC• Over $1 million of branded Backyardigan items were sold in the United States last year.

• “A species of large, apelike creatures in habits the forests of America’s Pacific Northwest. We call them Sasquatch or Bigfoot.”

–”Sasquatch is out There” by Kirsten Miller

7. DIALOGUE

8. STORY or “Setting the Scene”• Make your reader feel like he/she is there!

“Imagine sun bathing on a white sandy beach. As you wiggle your toes in the rough sand, you hear the waves roar and the seagulls cawing quietly in the distance. You feel the cool water touch the tips of your toes as the waves roll in, and you finally feel relaxed.”

Hook

• Cast your mind back. Remember when you were seven or eight years old, and, for the first time, someone handed you a book with no pictures (Mars, 17).

• If you had told me back in high school that scientists would soon invent a tiny portable device that could call any phone on earth or visit any website, I would have said, “You are a very crazy person. Also, what is a website?” (Mars, 28)

• BabyNameWizard.com charts Jennifer as the most popular girl’s name in the 1970s, the decade I was born (Mars, 32).

• There’s a common expression, “No pain, no gain,” which means that achievement requires some sort of sacrifice (Mars 60).

Conclusion•Begins with idea, word or phrase from clincher of Body 3

•Reviews the three topics you covered in your paper (reword your thesis from intro)

•Call to action: tell the readers what they should do based on what they learned from your scintillating paper

•Return to hook

Return to hook•Refer back to your witty, interesting, splendid HOOK.

•Hook: Have you ever thought vacationing in Minnesota would be awful and boring?

•Conclusion: Now that you’ve read about Minnesota’s variety of seasons, land features that make it possible to enjoy the great outdoors, and unique sites to see, you now know that vacationing in Minnesota can be a blast!

Bibliography

•Use www. Easybib.com, citationmachine.net, bibme.org

•You will need the author, the website, when you accessed it, what the name of the article was

• If you don’t have all this information, you have to go back and find it.

Final paper

• Print a clean copy

• Label DU’s/SO’s, other requirements

• Final rubric goes on top – be sure your name is on it

• Bibliography goes on bottom

• One staple in the top left corner

• Put it in the 8th grade box

• If it’s not in the 8th grade box at the right time, it’s late. I didn’t lose it; you didn’t turn it in correctly.

TRAVEL BROCHURE

Mrs. Freitas

Go to www.mrsfreitasclass.weebly.com• “Materials” >6th Grade LA> Research Essay

• Download “Travel Brochure”

• Using your own information for each of your topics, create a travel brochure that would convince one of your classmates to travel to the state you’ve researched.

What topics are listed in the thesis?

•Topic #1-

•Topic #2-

•Topic #3-

•Each of these topics will become each of your body paragraphs!

Minnesota has weather that

allows for the enjoyment of all

four seasons, is home to land

features that make it possible

to enjoy a multitude of outdoor activities, and has a number

of unique places to visit.

How do I make my body paragraphs “flow” from one to the next?

• Body Paragraph #2 (Topic: Geography/Land Features of MN)Did you know that Minnesota is referred to as the Land of 10,000 Lakes?

Not only is Minnesota’s weather wonderful for those who like to enjoy all four seasons, but its land features also contribute to the overall enjoyment of Minnesota’s climate. According to Worldatlas.com, during the Ice Age, “the land now called Minnesota was totally covered by glaciers. When those masses of ice retreated (or melted) they left behind a rocky and pockmarked landscape of rolling hills and plains, tens of thousands of freshwater lakes (in all sizes) numerous rivers and countless small streams.” Because of these rolling hills, plains, and lakes, Minnesotans are able to actively participate in the following activities: biking, swimming, fishing, boating, and skiing. Richard Johnson, a member of the Minnesota DNR, claims that because of Minnesota’s great landscape, “our campsites are some of the best in the country” (“Why Minnesota Camping Is Best). In this article, Johnson went on to say that near its Canada border, “Minnesota is home to the Boundary Waters, an attraction that draws people from all over the Midwest.” Because of its geological location and formations, Minnesota offers a number of landscape to enjoy and places to visit.

• Body Paragraph #3 (Topic: Places to Visit in MN)