Language Arts: Research Skills
Three language arts activities prepared students, especially the researchers,
for the group project.

Language Arts in It's a Wild Ride:

Jill Whitesell started the language arts component of roller coaster unit after students had made the database of roller coaster Web sites in Science. The database was used to support the researcher role in the group project. Jill worked with the researchers and the the public relations students during the role-alike splits at the very end of the project.

"We had already done some researching earlier this year so this was a process that the students had already been through." --Jill Whitesell

Only the researchers needed to complete a research paper that would provide convincing information during the final presentation of proposals. All students, however, completed three lessons related to research for the project.

Narrowing a Topic:

1. Jill led a discussion with examples of how a topic can be focused with sub-topics. (For example: Design could focus on different careers involved in designing and maintaining a roller coaster.)
   
   
2. Students worked in pairs and spent about 7-10 mins. narrowing the four categories as much as possible. As a class they discussed what they came up with as partners--all the possibilities were written on the overhead.
   
   
3. Students selected two topics that they felt they would be most interested in researching.

Writing a Thesis Statement:

1. Students wrote the definition of a thesis statement.
   
   "They had already studied this extensively during the year. I just wanted to remind them of what a thesis statement was and its purpose in the paper." --Jill Whitesell
   
   
2. Students had to generate 5 questions for each of their two favorite research topics.
   
   One student chose the topic evolution and wrote a question, "How and why have roller coasters changed over time?"
   
   
3. After developing 5 questions to their two topics, students wrote a preliminary thesis statement for a research paper. They understood that this topic sentence may need adjusting based on the research they find. Their topic sentence may currently be false.
   
   Student's Thesis statement: After many years of evolution, roller coasters have become the main attraction at theme parks across the nation.
   
   
4. These papers were handed in and returned to the students after checking.
   
   
5. All students shared their preliminary thesis statements with their group. Using these statements they discussed and decided on the focus for their group presentation. The researcher used these thesis statement papers as a start for the group paper.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature:

1. Students had been introduced to Reader's Guide as a source of information for research.
   
   
2. They had a quick walk through demonstration using the overhead projector on how to find information using the guides along with some tips and strategies for using them effectively.
   
   
3. Students completed a practice activity finding sources using a page copied from a Reader's Guide.