The best thing to do is to break the assignment down into small, manageable steps. Although most teachers will give students at least a couple of weeks to work on the report, get started, if possible, the day the report is assigned. What then? Here's a day-by-day plan to research report success (procrastination not included!).
Day 1
Determine the topic and begin planning research. Unless the teacher assigned a specific topic, your child probably has to come up with one on her own. More than likely, the teacher will give a general guideline, such as choosing a historical figure, and expect the students to narrow it down. Help your child pick a specific topic that she is interested in. For instance, if she needs to write about a historical figure, she should pick someone she knows a lot about or wants to learn about. Let’s say she chooses Harriet Tubman. Have her then write a list of questions she wants to answer, such as
“When and where did H.T. live?”
“What is H.T. known for?”
“What challenges or obstacles did H.T. face?”
“How did H.T. affect the world?”
“What is something H.T. said that shows what kind of person she was?” (Quotes are always good to include in reports – get her used to finding them now!)
In a notebook, she should write each question at the top of a separate page.
Day 2
Begin research.
Have your child choose one medium to search first: the Internet, the library, the encyclopedia, etc.
She should start with the first question and find as much information as she can before moving on to the next.
On the question page, she should take detailed notes and write where she got the information –
copy the Internet URL if it’s a website;
for a book, write the title, author, page number(s), etc.
If the teacher asks for a detailed bibliography/reference list, be sure to write down all the information he wants before leaving that web page or putting away that book.
Day 3
Continue research. Choose a different medium this time. If yesterday she searched the Internet, today she should look in an encyclopedia or go to the library. She should add the information she finds today onto the same question page, so she has information from at least two sources for each question.
Day 4
Write a thesis. This is very difficult for children (and, let’s face it, adults too). An extremely helpful professor I once had taught us a simple method for writing a thesis. First, take the assignment given and turn it into a question. For this assignment, which is to write a research report on a historical figure, a logical question would be, “Why is this person considered a historical figure?” Then answer the question: “Harriet Tubman is considered a historical figure because…” That’s the basis for her thesis. She just needs to write it into one or two concise sentences.
Day 5
Write an outline. She should take the information she’s gathered and sketch out a logical order. Each page of research notes can be condensed into one paragraph. So her outline might look like this:
- Introduction
- Dates, facts, general information
- What H.T. did that made her famous (Underground Railroad)
- How H.T. affected the world
- Conclusion
Day 6 and onward
Write the report. If she has at least five days, she can write, edit and revise one paragraph per day. If she has less than five days, she should write the entire rough draft in one or two days, and take at least one day to edit and revise it.
SOURCE: Kate Smith @ Education.com
