Goals

Start gathering information for their topic, begin to notice trends and patterns, ask questions

 

Details

Duration: 120 minutes

Assessments: Student writing, Research

Materials: laptops, books for research

 

Description

Benchmark #2: Notecards were the second benchmark for students for the research paper.

1. Students were given about 12 hours of in-class time to complete this benchamrk, although many students also researched outside of class.

The requirements for the notecards were as follows:
o At least 150 notecards that observe the required format.
o A complete, typed bibliography in MLA format.

The following elements were required on every notecard:
o A number that corresponds to the source from which the information comes. Your working bibliography should list the corresponding source in MLA format.
o If the source is a book or print article, the page number where the information is located.
o If the source is an Internet site, the date you viewed the site.
o Your initials, just in case the card falls on the floor and someone finds it.
o A single, distinctive piece of information from the source. This may be either a quote or a fact. Do not put more than one piece of information on each notecard; that defeats the purpose of using notecards, which is the ability to change the order of your facts with ease. Unless you are quoting something directly, write in shorthand to avoid plagiarism.

Notecards Description
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Author Reflections

While students are in class paging through books, it is important to check in with each student to make sure that they are digesting the information. During this check-in we asked students questions that would prepare them for the next benchmark. For example, we would ask, "What similarities are you noticing?" "What do you find most surprising?" "Why do you think these differences exist?" etc.