The opening exercise in this instructional unit introduces class members to the writing process they will follow to craft an informative, expository research paper that addresses their research question. To begin, writers are asked to organize the evidence they gathered in the previous unit to develop a central claim for their paper.

Concepts

research writing, the writing process, literary analysis, evaluating claims

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Project the model paragraphs so that writers can see what is expected in each activity
• Display side-by-side the thesis paragraphs of information and an argumentative paper and ask viewers to identify the differences between the two types of writing

Classroom Considerations

• Lesson one in an eight-lesson unit on research writing
• The unit is the third in a three-module English Language arts course designed for ninth-graders
• The unit presumes class members are familiar with the texts required in the previous units: Grandin, Temple, and Catherine Johnson's Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, “The Brains of the Animal Kingdom,” an article from The Wall Street Journal, “Minds of Their Own: Animals Are Smarter Than You Think” National Geographic, “Think You’re Smarter Than Animals? Maybe Not” The New York Times, “Monkeys Can Perform Mental Addition” ScienceDaily, and “Animal Intelligence: How We Discover How Smart Animals Really Are” Encyclopedia Britannica Blog
• Class members have chosen texts for research based on their research question/problem 

Pros

• The detailed plan includes models for each activity, sample responses to the discussion questions, a lesson assessment, and a template for the Outline Tool

Cons

• None

Common Core

W.9-10.5 W.9-10.7 W.9-10.9.a