Research Organization

In Steve Moline’s article, “Using Graphic Organizers to Write Information Texts,” he says that when children are presented with a research and report type of task, they need to have scaffolding for how to organize the information they find in their final product. The graphic organizers he suggests are helpful, but my cooperating teacher has developed another way to help students organize data in her class research projects that seems very straightforward and helpful for students.

The students in my class have recently started a president research project where each student has one president and must find information on the president to write a report from and give a presentation. To help students stay organized, my cooperating teacher gave each student three envelopes, one for each main topic. The envelopes have a list taped to the outside with the subtopics in order of how they should appear in the final write-up. As the students research, the students are supposed to have separate, labeled index card for each of the sub topics and keep them in the corresponding envelopes. Once the students have note cards with research completed for each subtopic, they can begin writing that section of the report. They pull out their cards and synthesize the information in the order listed on the envelope. This way, the students understand what order information should be presented in and get practice ordering their notes in a logical way.

Along with the research/note organization, my teacher also has mini lessons and examples of pieces of the final project. On one day, she provided examples of a poor introduction and a good introduction. On another day, she presented examples of a poor “early life” section and a good “early life” section. She will be doing the same thing for the other main sections as well as for the conclusion.

Although my cooperating teacher doesn’t have a drawn web or other visual organizer for the students, she does provide the structure through the envelopes and examples of well-organized reports through her mini lessons. Just thought it was a great way to scaffold students’ research.