Ninth Grade Research Paper Assignment

Research Paper

According to the DESK standards, all ninth graders are to write a research paper that meets the following criteria:

Know and use the Big Six Information Literacy Process
Use the MLA format and demonstrate the ethical use of sources
Demonstrate the ability to integrate sources into a research paper as support for a student's own position
Write a research paper on a controversial or current issue using a minimum of five sources, both print and electronic

Click here to see how our school DRSLs relate to this project.

Your Cross-Curricular Research Guide contains all the technical information you will need to complete the research paper.
You'll also need this handout, found on this web site. (Fill it out as you go through the steps in the Big Six research process.)

First you have to decide on a topic. In order to meet the above requirements, your topic should be something of interest to you, but not something you already know everything about. (The reason you do research is to learn new things!) Your topic should be something current and/or controversial. That means it has to be something arguable. You are not writing simply a report that restates information you find in your research, but rather you are writing a persuasive research paper in which you devise an arguable thesis statement and then support it with the evidence you discover in your research. To get started with the topic search, try some of these web sites to look for topics you feel strongly about:

UCSC Library: How to Choose a Topic

Questia: Research Topics

Anti-Plagiarism Page: Research Topics

CDI: Research Topics

Baylor Research Topics