CurriculumGrade 6English Language Arts

Running a Short Research Project

Aligned to W.6.7 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

What this lesson teaches

A research project starts with a focused question, gathers facts from several sources, and refocuses the question when the evidence points somewhere new. Keep the question narrow enough to answer well.

Worked example

Starting question: 'Why do bees matter?' Too broad. After a few sources, refocus to: 'How does losing bees affect the food we eat?' The tighter question makes the sources fit together into a real answer.

Practice questions

  1. Write a research question narrow enough to answer in a paragraph.
  2. Find facts from two different sources that help answer it.
  3. Rewrite your question to be sharper based on what you found.

Watch the lesson

Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.

▶ Watch this lesson

En español

Hacer un Proyecto de Investigacion Corto

Un proyecto de investigacion parte de una pregunta enfocada, reune datos de varias fuentes y reajusta la pregunta cuando la evidencia apunta a algo nuevo. Manten la pregunta lo bastante acotada para responderla bien.

Ejemplo: Pregunta inicial: '¿Por que importan las abejas?' Demasiado amplia. Tras unas fuentes, reenfocala: '¿Como afecta la perdida de abejas a los alimentos que comemos?' La pregunta mas precisa hace que las fuentes encajen en una respuesta real.

More Writing lessons

Argument WritingW.6.1Informative & Research WritingW.6.2Telling a Great StoryW.6.3Writing That Fits the TaskW.6.4Revising to Make It StrongerW.6.5Writing and Publishing with TechnologyW.6.6

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