Writing

		While the graphic organizer should help guide students through the wealth of information available on the subject matter, teachers will also need to assist students in narrowing their topics further so that they are appropriate for a short research paper. Teachers should take one of the research topics and ask students to come up with subtopic questions. Once this is successfully modeled, students should come up with questions for their chosen area of research. The teacher may want to evaluate the questions before students begin research, or have students evaluate each other's research questions. You may want to have students write a preliminary list of information they will research in order to answer their question. This will make their research more guided. During the course of their research, students will locate information which they feel will be especially useful for their topic. At the end of each class period have students post the most interesting information about their topic that they found on the chart. Encourage the students to read and discuss the new information on the chart. This is a key component to the lesson in that it encourages sharing and allows students to get feedback on information before they use it in their research papers. What do you want the students to write? After students have gathered their information, it's time for them to synthesize it into a coherent research paper on their selected gun-control research question. Start by exploring the characteristics of a well-written research paper. It may be helpful to expose students to some writing Web sites such as A+ Research and Writing. Another approach is to give the students two samples of research papers on another topic-one good and one bad example. Have the students evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both and use their answers to devise a writing rubric for their own research papers. A class period should be devoted to establishing this writing rubric. Once this is complete, students write their first draft. Once the first drafts are completed, the editing process will begin. Begin by emphasizing that the first round of editing should focus on organization and validity of content over grammar. Provide an editing checklist that students can use to evaluate each other's first drafts. Teachers may want to use peer-editing groups to increase the amount of feedback that each student gets on their writing. After peer critiques are complete, students should complete their second draft. Second draft editing will be structured the same as first draft, but the editing checklist will now focus on style, grammar, punctuation and capitalization. Teachers may elect to have the class or groups of students create an editing checklist. You will find our suggested checklist in the Organizers for Students section.