Providing a Roadmap for Research

   These are trying times for our students who are learning how to write research papers. ’s Word of the Year to be post-truth, an adjective that describes emotional appeal as mattering more than objective facts. With so many mistruths flying about on the Internet, it is hardly surprising that teachers are concerned about their students’ ability to discern not only fact from opinion, but also trustworthy sources from unreliable ones (and this study from Stanford supports that charge). Troubled by this state of affairs, you may find yourself tempted to return to your old ways of teaching research and put your students in the driver’s seat of finding their own sources right from the start. Resist the pressure. There is a better way! If you are working through IEW’s units at the pace of about one a month, Unit 6: Summarizing Multiple References is just peeking up from the horizon. It is one of my favorites! Unit 6 helps students learn to filter and fuse information. Using this method, teachers provide the sources in the beginning so that students only have to filter what is actually in the source, not filter the sources themselves. Just as students begin driving in a parking lot and gradually progress until they are skilled enough to enter that on-ramp to the highway, they need to proceed in a similar manner with the research paper by taking measured, incremental steps towards autonomy. Yes, students will eventually need to learn to filter the sources themselves. The question is— is today that day? Read on to learn more about how to decide when that time should be. Limit the students to sheltered texts to give them time to discern fact from opinion. Ideally, upper elementary teachers should provide source texts to their students so that they could focus on the skills of filtering facts on a topic and fusing them into a cohesive paragraph without needing to practice discernment about the source itself. If you are using our lesson plans and student materials or our File Box Source Texts to create your own lessons, you have exactly what your students need! Limiting the sources you give to students is like providing a roadmap that they shouldn’t wander from. They need to focus on the task at hand—filtering and fusing. Extending the students’ skill set beyond those foundational basics, fifth graders who are already experienced in Unit 6 could begin learning about how and when to cite their work. In Andrew’s talk, Developing the Essayist, he suggests the order of how to teach citation skills, which you may find helpful in your lesson planning. Another potential concept to introduce during this time would be to provide a variety of different media types so that students could learn how to cite different types of sources. Give them a magazine, a video, or an article from the digital database at the library. Let them use an online tool to format their citations. Provide lots of opportunities to practice! Once students have established the skills of filtering, fusing, and citing, they are ready to leave the parking lot! At this point the temptation to let them take off independently is strong. Again, resist! They are not yet ready to enter the interstate highway that is the Internet. It will overwhelm them, as their discernment skills are still insufficient to navigate that terrain. They will continue to need you to help them navigate by filtering their sources for them. But how should you accomplish this task? Limit students to the library to give them time to discern credible sources from unreliable ones. This article from the Smithsonian suggests that history teachers are the remedy for detecting fake news. While that is one good solution, you should also consider the library and the librarian as the place to go to let your students practice spreading their wings. By limiting their sources to resources contained in the library, you are able to coach them to recognize the dark alleys of unreliable sources before they turn in to them. This bears repeating, as it is so very important! Do not let your students begin the journey of finding their own sources until they have had enough experience in the skills mentioned above, even if you teach middle school or high school. Skills students gain by harnessing the power of the library and librarians include learning How to find a variety of different sources such as magazines, audio files, and digital databases The difference between a card catalog and a browser How to check and verify facts How librarians use their training and education to assist the researcher How to utilize different strategies for tackling pure research versus applied research How to distinguish between print and electronic resources, academic and non-academic sources, and primary and secondary sources How resources are categorized, organized, and stored How to recognize and incorporate trustworthy sources over unreliable sources in their research in various media forms By initially limiting the students’ sources so that they can practice distinguishing between fact and opinion, students are gently and gradually prepared to discern credible and unreliable sources in the library. When they have been thoroughly trained in these skills over an extended period of time, they will not struggle to distinguish between fact and fiction in the real world and even on the Internet. The key is to give students responsibility incrementally. With discernment and responsibility cultivated, students are free to go where the research takes them. The open road awaits!    Janet Spitler, IEW's Schools Division Director, heads up our efforts to support full-time schools with ongoing training, teacher mentoring, telephone contact, and classroom-specific materials. With abundant classroom experience, Janet shares her experience of building a linguistically rich environment to develop a love for language and a community of learners. While she cherishes the time she spent influencing students and parents, today she applies that same dedication to the classroom teachers who use this method. She is accredited as an IEW ® Instructor at the highest level. Log in or register to post commentsJanet Spitlers blog Log in or register to post comments Thank you for this review Permalink By gardenerinthesandJan25 Thank you for this review onresearch skills. What strategy would you suggest to learn the listed skils if a family does not have access to a library/librarian? Rebecca Log in or register to post comments Research Roadmap Permalink By Janet SpitlerJan26 I'm so glad you found this post informative. If you do not have a public library in your community, I think it is worth driving to the closest  town with a library. You could call ahead to let them know you will be spending the day there. Send them the list of skills above so that they are ready to help. They will feel appreciated because you recognize their value. Log in or register to post comments Here is another viable option: Permalink By Jennifer MauserJan30 http://www.freelibrary.org/ It's a link to the Free Library of Philadelphia, although free doesn't necessarily mean free if you don't live in the area. The cost for an annual card has  been steadily rising. When I first discovered it, I believe a card cost $15.00. Now it's $50.00. Still, it is well worth the money if you don't have access to a library in your area.   For research, databases can be a wonderful solution. The Free Library has access to many. Additionally, librarians are available to assist patrons. Many local library online databases are available to people who live in a county. Go online and find the one closest to you and see what types of online resources are available. This may be the best (and cheapest) option for a family.   Log in or register to post comments

Whats a Good SAT Score for College Admissions in 2019

Female Participation And Gang Activities Essay - 1189 Words

Female participation in gang activities acquired greatest attention due to its â€Å" sensational nature of the media s portrayal of girl gangsters (...). During the period of 1990 and of the new millennium† (need or not?) This attention (...) â€Å"has also contributed to a renewed academic interest in female gangs.† (Nurge_2003, p 1) There existed a â€Å"traditional view† (Hunt et al._2000) of female gang members, and it â€Å"contrasts sharply with recent public discussions about female gang members, which indicate that these females are no longer simply male gang members molls but are establishing their own ground, taking an active, independent role in crime and violence† (Hunt et al._2000). I think it s necessary to start here from the initial motivations and reasons for joining the gang. Those are, through might be similar for both genders in some cases, overall female has different reasons to engage in a gang than male. And often those reasons are more complex than just â€Å"the problems of adolescent maladjustment or teenage rebellion.† (Hunt et al._2000) â€Å"Sex composition, independent of sex itself, is important in shaping the norms and activities of the gang and their members.† (Peterson et al., 2001, p 1 ) The family thus plays a central role in the structure and process of gender as social control. (Hunt et al._2000) I believe the role and the importance female accord for their family are naturally more higher than those of male. But after the reading of thisShow MoreRelatedThe Violence Of Gangs And Gangs1377 Words   |  6 PagesGangs have become one of the nation’s fastest growing problems within recent history. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 2.4 million members are criminally active in the U.S. today. They use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal moneymaking activities, which include but are not limited to: robbery, drug and gun trafficking, fraud, extortion, and prostitute rings. With as much researchRead MoreThe Theories Of Female Offenders965 Words   |  4 PagesTheories of female offenders Most of the theories of crime was developed to explain male crimes by male criminologists. For decades, women offending challenges traditional theoretical explanations of crime, which were developed to explain male offenders. There were a few debates that indicate the concern of whether the theories were being used equally to explain both female and male crime. Criminologists came to a conclusion that the traditional theories are male-specific theories. For that particularRead MoreSocial Influences Of Female Gang Membership1474 Words   |  6 PagesWithin the last decades, gangs have become one of the fastest growing issues in the United States. When most people define gangs, females are not part of the definition. Most government officials and researchers do not see females a contributor to the fasting growth of gangs in the United States when in fact, the number of females associated with gangs is constantly increasing. Female gang membership in the United States is estimated to b e between 10 and 35 percent of the gang population, with someRead MoreFemale Gangs888 Words   |  4 Pagestribes for waging wars, and eventually in the urban times, now street gangs are formed in mostly developed cities, which are filled with crime and hate towards people other than their own gangs. Gangs all over the world especially in the United States of America, are very often very underlined as a male dominated one, and females that were supposed to be with the gang members, were either their wives of girlfriends, and females who were seen actively involved were supposed to be for sole purposesRead MoreCanadian Gangs Essay1330 Words   |  6 Pagesdefinition of a youth gang member. Partnered with the Montreal Police Service, Statistics Canada was able to generate the definition of a gang member: An organized group of adolescents and/or young adults who rely on group intimidation and violence, and commit criminal acts in order to gain power and recognition and/or control cer tain areas of unlawful activity [2] (Statistics Canada, 2008). Gangs have been around for many years; the founders of some of the original gangs in the United StatesRead MoreA Research Study On An Imaginary Team Essay1373 Words   |  6 Pagespotential estimates- who are the potential ex-gang members. After the weekly reading, we can already construct a picture of the process, based, as always, on several factors, such as :race, age, gender. , which are known to us from the reading but also through the asked question. Now, we have several answers, as: our selected simple is consistent from the white males gang members of 20-25 yo, from the city of Chicago, who will decide on their gang s membership desistence. From Pyros (2013)Read MoreThe Incarceration Of The United States1044 Words   |  5 Pageswe [I?] chose to narrow our [my?] focus to African-American male juveniles who have not previously been incarcerated or involved in gang activity. Adolescents sentenced within the US juvenile justice system have especially high rates of recidivism (when compared with their adult counterparts), with male juveniles incarcerated at a rate five times higher than females (Sickmund et al., 2015). African-Americans are an especially vulnerable demographic within this group. In numbers similar to the adultRead MoreCja 374 Week 2 Crime Causation and Diversion Essay1019 Words   |  5 Pagessound, and as hard as it is to believe juvenile crimes in America are on the decline. For example the numbers of juvenile arrests for forcible rape were at their lowest reported numbers in 2009 since 1980. However between 2000 and 2009, the number of female juvenile arrests increased 9%, while male arrests declined b y 25%. Vehicle thefts committed by juveniles between those same years, decreased by 61%. Of all states in the union, Florida, California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Louisiana reported theRead MoreTransnational Gangs And The United States1820 Words   |  8 PagesTransnational Gangs and Immigration August 2015, 907 murders, and average of 25 murders per day committed by 13-15 year old gang members. (Transnational Gangs Part 1;Understanding the Threat, 2016) El Salvador is the epicenter of gang activity in Central America and the largest influence on gang activity in the US. Showing no respect for law enforcement, borders, and little for human life gang violence is a requirement for young teens to become members of the La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and theRead MoreGirl Gangs and the Female Crime Wave in America Essay6758 Words   |  28 PagesStarting in the 1980s, reports of female involvement in gangs, drug sales, and violence began to surface as a serious problem in America. To support claims of increased female delinquency, reporters and scholars often cite crime statistics or anecdotes from field studies. The reasons they give to explain this female crime wave generally fall into one of two categories: drugs as a means for economic success the idea that the increased avai lability of crack cocaine provides economic means to poverty-ridden

John Adams, Who Became The Second President Of The United States, Has Essay Example For Students

John Adams, Who Became The Second President Of The United States, Has Essay been accused by some historians of being the closest thing America ever had to a dictator or monarch (Onuf, 1993). Such strong accusations should be examined in the context of the era in which Mr. Adams lived and served. A closer examination of the historical events occurring during his vice presidency and his term as president, strongly suggests that Adams was not, in fact, a dictator. Indeed, except for his lack of charisma and political charm, Adams had a very successful political career before joining the new national government. He was, moreover, highly sought after as a public servant during the early formation of the new federal power (Ferling, 1992). Adams was a well educated, seasoned patriot, and experienced diplomat. He was the runner-up in the election in which George Washington was selected the first United States President. According to the electoral-college system of that time, the second candidate with the most electoral votes became the Vice President (Smelser Gundersen, 1975). As president, Washington appointed, among others, two influential political leaders to his original cabinet; Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson, a veteran politician became the Secretary of State and Hamiliton, a young, outspoken New Yorker lawyer, became the Secretary of the Treasury (Ferling, 1992). Jefferson, like Adams, had also signed the Declaration of Independence. Hamilton, however, was the only cabinet member relatively unknown to Adams (Ferling, 1992). It was Hamilton, nonetheless, who excelled during this new administration by initiating numerous, innovative, and often controversial programs, many of which were quite su ccessful. Adams and Hamilton were both Federalists. Unlike Hamiliton, Adams was more moderate (Smelser Gundersen, 1975). During this first administration, Adams and Hamilton quarreled (Washington Retires, 1995), and Adams contemptuously began referring to Hamilton as ?his puppyhood? (DeCarolis, 1995). This created a rift in the administration, for Washington generally favored Hamiliton (Smelser Gundersen, 1975), and disregarded Adams (Ferling, 1992). Hamilton also went to great lengths to drive Jefferson out of the cabinet (Allison, 1966). Jefferson did finally, indeed, resign from the cabinet. The Federalists ?party,? of which Hamiliton was the leader (DeCarolis, 1995) was greatly divided and even violent, at times, under his leadership (Allison, 1966). This is significant in assessing Hamiltons and others arguments of Adams being a dictator after his presidential victory in 1796 A.D. There are several traits that were conspicuous about John Adams. First, he was known as an honest man of integrity (Ferling, 1992; Smelser Gundersen, 1975). He was also often described as ?stubborn,? quick-tempered, and even cantankerous at times (Liesenfelt, 1995; Smelser Gundersen, 1975; Wood, 1992). He was, however, quite intelligent and apparently had a secure self-esteem, being quite willing the challenge tradition (Wood, 1992). Adams was an intensely self-introspective man, though confident (Calhoon, 1976). By 1795, conflict was raging with France. Washington made it clear that he was not returning to office. This, for the first time, provided the impulse for the two differing political philosophies to align into separate parties, even though the Federalists never considered themselves to be a party (Wood, 1992). Hamilton tried to by-pass Adams by nominating Carolinian Thomas Pickney (Ferling, 1992). He had instigated a similar conspiracy to keep Adams from defeating Washington in the second national election, as Adams had discovered (DeCarolis, 1995). In spite of the divided Federalists, Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson by three electoral votes. He became the second president and Jefferson, having the second largest number of votes, became vice-president. This event, too, is significant because for the first time in office here were two men of totally different philosophies of government, attempting to run the country together. Adams presidency was stressful from the moment of his inaug uration. In his address, he sought to make it clear that he was not a monarchist (Allison, 1966). France had decreed to seize American ships. The country was divided over whether to be pro-British (as was Hamilton) or pro-France (as was Jefferson). Hamiliton eventually resigned the position of inspector general, but continued to send Adams unsolicited recommendations regarding foreign policy issues (DeCarolis, 1995). Adams resented Hamiltons meddling in his executive prerogatives. He eventually expelled two other Hamiltonian cabinet members. The height of Adams presidency and popularity came primarily from the victories the navy had over French vessels, and the exposure of the scandal called the XYZ Affair, in which Adams was applauded for revealing the dishonesty and corruption of the French officials, and French insistence on demanding bribes. Preparation of 1-Bromobutane from 1-Butanol by Sn2 Reaction EssayReferencesAllison, J. M. (1966). Adams and Jefferson: The story of a friendship. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. Calhoon, R. M. (1976). John Adams and the psychology of power. Review of American History, December 1976, 520-525. DeCarolis, L. M. (1995). The precipice of power: The quasi war with Adams, 1789-1800. , Available: http://grid.let.rug.nl/~welling/usa/hamilton/hamil36.htm. Esler, L. A.. (1993). Presidents of our United States. Chicago: Rand McNally. Ferling, J. E. (1992). John Adams: A Life. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press. Liesenfelt, J. (1995). John Adams (1735-1826): Childhood. A biography of John Adams. , Available: http://grid.let.rug.nl/~welling/usa/adams/ad_ch1.htmlOnuf, P. S. (1993). Thomas Jefferson: Federalist. Essays in History, 35, n.p. , Available: http://www.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH35/onuf1.html#26Smelser, M. ; J. R. Gundersen. (1978). American history at a glance. (4th ed.). New York: Barnes and Noble Books. Washington Retires. (1995). , Available: http://grid.let.rug.nl/~weling/usa/ch3_p8.htmlWood, G. S. (1992). The radicalism of the American revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.