Research Papers and Honor Updates

The Honors class is the first in the AP / IB model here at Maynard Jackson High School. You will be pushed and tested further than before. You must realize that now is the time to develop good work habits, because if you fall behind now. Not only will you received a bad grade for the class but you also will have your pathway placed in jeopardy. As failing any honors class can be used as proof that you are not ready for the AP / IB or early college program. I encourage you to do your best and succeed in the class.

What sets this class apart from my on-level American Government is research. When you enter college you will realize that opinions matter little and it is only with evidence based research can you truly prove your position. Words matter little unless you can quote from primary documents and cite from experts. You may have a similar idea or thought but you are not the expert or authority. You must find evidence and quote. This is a common theme here at Maynard Jackson High School and is part of our best practices. Get used to finding evidence now and the next eight years (high school and college) will be much easier.

We will have several research based projects during the year.

We are going to acomplish three research papers and quite a few projects during this semester. The first is an introduction. The second is the Social Studies Faire. The Third is your master level project proving mastery of the standards.

First research paper: You get one week to accomplish this. You will research a topic and write a one page paper citing evidence from at least 2 sources. One page means 5 paragraphs of 4-7 sentences. This can be typed or hand written.

In addition to the body of the paper you must have a works cited page. For the first research paper you must select from the attached list of topics. Furthermore I understand that the directions and the rubric are skeletal. That is because I want to find out what you can do when presented with a research topic. Do your best to answer the question and do not get lazy when it comes to research. Students fail the first research paper beacause they develope an opion essay with no evidence. Or they fail to nail down evidence and forget to add a works cited page. This is a research paper as such it must have evidence and citations to count!

Rubric:

Works Cited Page - 10 points

Evidence (nail it down don't be vague) - 30 points

Inferences (make connections) -30 points

Logic (does it make sense) - 10 points

Length (is it 5 paragraphs of 4-7 sentences) - 20 points

List of Topics

Mini DBQ: When students are sick and miss essays you have the option to do a mini-DBQ. Students are given a packet of articles and the following rubric to do the DBQ. Students are to create an essential question and then use all three articles to answer it. Ultimately student were to create a 5 paragraph essay using all 3 articles as evidence.

Rubric - Mini DBQ:

Evidence (3 pieces minimum, 1 from each article.)- 40 points

Inferences (make connections between your evidence and your knowledge) -30 points

Logic (did you construct a logical paper) - 10 points

Length (is it 5 paragraphs of 4-7 sentences) - 20 points

Mini-

DBQ

Articles

The annual Social Studies faire is a way for students to show case their talents in a competitive environment. Students are required to create a long paper, have a board to display their work, and have a diagram or display. Students are also required to speak at their display to answer any questions during judging. This project is time sensitive and the students only get 2 weeks for the entirety of the event. Because this is a competition among the district, no extensions can be given to the student. It is critical that students and parents understand how important this project is, as students that fail to complete this project usually fail the class. Complicating matters is that this is a 2 for 1 project. The grade you get on this project is good for both Mr. Eberhart’s class and Dr. Minor’s class. Here is the link to the rule book: http://www.gcss.net/ssfairguide.pdf

Mini-

DBQ

Articles

Rules for the Social Studies Faire are online as the file is too big.

A4: Vocabulary 4 is now an essay.

Select five of the vocabulary words

Find an article that uses the words.

Find 1 piece of evidence for each vocabulary word

This is a 5 paragraph essay.

Good luck.