The information he had culled from the Web was clearly marked as such. When the paper came together it was wonderful, an interesting and pleasurable experience for the reader and a real breakthrough for the young writer. Still I could see a potential problem. Often when students like Jeffrey begin to write, they write down all of their information from one source and then start over again from the beginning with the facts from their next source, even if it means repeating information that they found in successive sources. I suggested to Jeffrey that before he write, he organize his note cards.
Students can reserach alone or in teams.
As he was doing a biography of a sports figure, the categories arranged themselves in a natural chronological order. This meant putting into separate piles information about the athlete's birth, information about his family, information about his initial involvement with sports, and information about the individual's break into fame. When the paper came together it was wonderful, an interesting and pleasurable experience for the reader and a real breakthrough for the young writer. Too often we ignore students such as Jeffrey. We regard the research project as the result of an education in reading and writing.