Procedure:
| 1. | Assign the students to groups of 3-4. | ||
| 2. | After reading about the battle of Five Forks, have each student select a noteworthy individual from the lists in Activities III and IV. Make sure that there is an adequate amount of information available. | ||
| 3. | Students should research and take notes on the person chosen as the subject. Remind students to document the sources used. | ||
| 4. | Give the students a copy of the assignment for "A Research Report on Butcher Paper." | ||
| 5. | It is suggested that there be periodic checks on student progress. The following is a suggested schedule: | ||
Thesis paragraph outline |
5 points |
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Labeled notecard and manila envelope check |
5 points |
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5 researched notecards and bibliography sheet |
5 points |
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All 25 researched notecards |
5 points |
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| 1. | Choosing the Subject
From the list provided, choose a military figure who is interesting to you. | ||||||||||||||
| 2. | Developing A Plan
Read the information about the person chosen. On paper, write down three major facts that make the person interesting and that are related to the battle of Five Forks and the Civil War. |
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| 3. | Developing A Working Outline
Use the information from step 2 to outline a paper. Remember that the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the role the person had in the battle of Five Forks. | ||||||||||||||
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| Each of the facts is really a statement that needs proving. Prove each one in the form of paragraph in full of events, quotes, and explanations in order to prove the thesis statement. | |||||||||||||||
| 4. | Additions To The
Outline Three facts have to be researched: (F-1, F-2, F-3). Each one of these will be one paragraph in the final paper. There needs to be an introductory paragraph (from T-1) and a conclusion (from T-2). To make the paper complete a paragraph is needed on the person's life. (Biography paragraph) and one on the times in which the person lived (Times paragraph). |
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| a. Biography Paragraph This paragraph should focus on the personal side of the officer. It should discuss the family life, personality traits, and hobbies and anything else which makes him seem real. |
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| b. Times
Paragraph This paragraph should focus on the major problems of the era in which your officer lived. It should give a general idea of what was going on at the time. Mention some other great leaders, social movements, and other important historical events of the time. These two new paragraphs fit into the outline as follows: |
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| 5. | Organizing Notecards | ||||||||||||||
| a. Materials Needed 25-30 3" x 5" or 4" x 6" index cards, and a manila envelope to hold the notecards (use a holepunch to put 3 holes in it so that it will fit into a 3-ring binder.) |
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| b. Labeling the Notecards
1).Five cards should be labeled for each of the following: Biography, Times, word or phrase from F-1, F-2, and F-3. 2).Write your name, your teacher and U.S. History period number on the back of each card. |
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| c. Taking Notes
All information gathered from research will be put on the notecards. Choose the appropriate card for each piece of information found. Put information from only one source on each individual card. |
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| 6. | Citing Resources
on the Bibliography Sheet
Take a sheet of notebook paper and label it BIBLIOGRAPHY. List all the books, magazines, internet resources, and other materials as they are found. This information will be needed to finish the paper. Make sure all information is complete. The information should include the title, author, publisher, page numbers, date of publication, or internet address. |
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| 7. | Gathering the Information
Search only for information that fits each individual card. Write down helpful notes on the correct cards. Sometimes information which fits several cards is found in one source. Be sure to place quotation marks around anything which is copied exactly from the sources. Generally is it faster and just as good if brief notes or paraphrasing is used. Notes do not have to be in complete sentences. In the upper right-hand corner of each card, write the last name of the author of each resource used, as well as the page number. | ||||||||||||||
| a. | Information from
an Encyclopedia
Write the last name of the author of the encyclopedia article and the page number in the upper right-hand corner of a notecard. If the article is unsigned, write a short version of the encyclopedia's name and the page number. On the BIBLIOGRAPHY sheet write information about the encyclopedia as in the following example: Encyclopedia Americana, 1999 ed. "Robert E. Lee" by John Doe If the article is unsigned write as follows: Encyclopedia Americana, 1999 ed. "Robert E. Lee" |
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| b. | Information from
a Book, CD, Cassette Tape, Etc.
Look up the officer's name in the card catalogue. On a piece of scratch paper write down the following information: 1). The title 2). The author 3). The number on the left side of the card Find the book, CD, cassette tape, etc. in the library according to the number copied down. In the books, be sure to look up the officer's name in the index or table of contents. Check for Biography or Times information. If the book appears to have information which can be used, check the book out to use at home. Most non-print materials must be used in the library. Add the book to the BIBLIOGRAPHY sheet as follows: Author (last name first). Title (underlined). City of publication: Publisher's name, copyright date. EXAMPLE: Thurber, James. The Thurber Carnival. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1945. |
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| c. | Information from a Magazine:
Find the green books called "Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature." Look up the officer's name in at least 3 different volumes. Check the first words of each entry. These are the titles of articles about the officer. Write the name of the magazine, the date, and the page numbers of the article on scratch paper. Give this information to the librarian who will find the magazine. After locating the article desired, scan the articles as was done with the books. If the magazine does not look useful, try a different one. Take notes on the notecards. Write the author's name and page number in the upper right-hand corner. If the article has no author, put the first word or two of the title in the upper right-hand corners along with the page number. Add the magazine article to the BIBLIOGRAPHY sheet as follow: Author (last name first). Title of article (in quotes), Name of magazine (underline), date, pages covered by the article EXAMPLE: Broyhill, James. "Lincoln's Early Days," History Magazine, May 1, 1999, pp.23-28. EXAMPLE: (NO AUTHOR) "Abraham Lincoln: A True Story," New Yorker, June 11, 1971, pp. 67-69. Finish filling out all of the notecards with information and facts that prove the thesis statement about the officer chosen. |
PART B: DOING THE WRITING
| 1. | Sorting the Research Cards
Sort the index cards into 5 piles, according to the headings. |
| 2. | Arranging the Research Cards
Look through each stack of cards, examining them for bits of information that seem to belong together. EXAMPLE: information about the person's early life or education, and an amusing story or anecdote. Arrange the cards in the order that the information will be written in each paragraph. |
| 3. | Writing Footnotes
If quoted or controversial information is used in writing the paper, the author and page number where the information was found must be cited. a. Place quotation marks around any words copied. Quotes of 25 or more words should be set off. Ask the teacher how to do that. b. Place quotation marks around all information that is not commonly known whether it is quoted or not. It is possible to have 3 or more footnotes per paragraph. |
| 4. | Doing the Writing
Double space the entire rough draft. a. T-1 Paragraph The opening paragraph has two purposes: (1) It tells the reader what to expect in the paper. (2) It must lure the reader. A good way to begin is by using colorful quotes or by using a strong statement or two about the importance of the officer's role in the Battle of Five Forks. The opening paragraph should state all three F's. (F-1, F-2, F-3). b. BIOGRAPHY Paragraph Examine the cards in the BIOGRAPHY pile for a common idea that can serve as the opening sentence for your BIOGRAPHY paragraph. Perhaps the subject had a very difficult childhood or showed leadership abilities very early in life. The second sentence should tell the information on the BIOGRAPHY cards. Go through each card and write what is on the card in a complete sentence on the paper. Turn each card over when finished writing the sentence. c. TIMES Paragraph Examine the TIMES cards. Find a unifying idea. Start the paragraph with that idea as was done with T-1. Use the information with the TIMES cards to explain the opening sentence. Go through the cards, one at a time, as was done with the BIOGRAPHY cards. End the paragraph with a T-2 that restates the unifying idea of this paragraph. d. F-1 Paragraph Start with the F-1 taken from the outline. Copying it will be fine. Go through the notecards as was done in the BIOGRAPHY and TIMES paragraphs explaining the F-1 as clearly as possible. End the paragraph with a clear restatement of the F-1. e. F-2, F-3 Paragraphs Use the same steps as for F-1. f. T-2 Paragraph Start this paragraph with a sentence that signals the paper is ending. EXAMPLE: After a thorough study of -----'s life, The last part of the opening sentence should give the message that this person was worth studying. Now brilliantly restate the three F's. Be brief--one long sentence that contains a bit of each F is enough. End with a flourish. Don't put the reader to sleep. Save a juicy quote that captures the essence of the person about whom the paper is written. |
| 5. | Writing the Bibliography
Make a second sheet titled BIBLIOGRAPHY. Alphabetize the entries on the BIBLIOGRAPHY sheet. Make sure that all of the commas, periods, names, colons, capitals, etc. are absolutely correct. If no author is known, alphabetize by the first word in the title. |
| 6. | Proofreading and Rewriting the
Paper
Read the paper aloud to your partners. On this first reading, listen to see that the paper makes sense. Correct the things the listener cannot understand. Look over the paper again checking for spelling, capitalization, homonyms, run-on sentences, fragments, or any other of those little mistakes that ruin a beautiful paper. This is a big production! Be proud of it! |
| 7. | Writing the Final Copy on Butcher
Paper
a. Marking the Sections Since this is group work, the final copy will be written on butcher paper. On the butcher paper provided by the teacher, mark off seven sections, one for each paragraph. Think about the outline (T-1, BIOGRAPHY, TIMES, F-1, F-2, F-3, T-2). Each part of the outline is a paragraph with interesting information and quotes. Save room at the bottom of each section for footnotes. b. Including Illustrations Save space between the paragraphs for illustrations which depict the paragraphs. These illustrations can be drawn by hand or photocopied and glued on. Each illustration should visually support the facts in the paragraphs. Feel free to use color in the butcher paper project. Different colors could be used for the footnotes or quotes. c. Identifying the Paragraphs Since this project is a learning tool to learn how to write a thesis paper, identify each paragraph by writing T-1, BIOGRAPHY, TIMES, etc. at the top of each paragraph. Remember there are only seven paragraphs and each has a clearly defined role. |
| 8. | Presenting the Paper to the class
Once the paper is completed with the seven paragraphs and up to five illustrations, be prepared to defend the thesis to the class. Simply follow the outline which has been created. Support your views with a few quotes, but otherwise use your own words. DO NOT read the report to the class. GOOD LUCK! |
[Credit to Larry Test, Valhalla High School, California, and Bill Manderson, Grossmont High School, La Mesa, California.]