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8th Grade LiteracyI Still BelieveResearch Essay

Anne Franks diary and her life have been studied by students all over the world. Despite herimportance, Anne Franks story is only one among many that describe the events taking place in the1930s and 1940s. What has readingAnne Frankmade you wonder about? Choose a topic thatinterests you, and research it.

You will hand in a 2 - 3 page essay describing what you discovered about your topic. This essay willbe due on Friday, March 22.

OutlineOn Monday, four days before the essay is due, you will turn in an outline of your essay to MissSheldon. Your outline should include your thesis statement (what you are claiming about your area

of research) and the three topic sentences of your supporting paragraphs. Additionally, you shouldlist three sources that you plan to use. (Your sources may change as you write the essay).

ScheduleFriday, 3/15 Choose and sign up for a topicMonday, 3/18 Outline of essay due to Miss Sheldon before 12:00.Wednesday, 3/20 Rough draft of essay due, for peer review.Friday, 3/22Final draft due. If for some reason you will be absent on Friday, its your responsibilityto e-mail your essay to Miss Sheldon by 3:00 on Friday. Late essays will not be accepted.

TopicsMiss Sheldon will post a list of bigger topics to get you started on your choice. You must sign up fora topic. No two students should end up having the same thesis. Please feel free to think of anothertopic that interests you, but check with Miss Sheldon or Dr. Marshall before beginning your research.Note that your topic choice does not have to be limited to World War II.

Guidelines for the essayYour essay must have a thesis. In your research, what have you discovered? Your claim about yourtopic will be your thesis statement. You must support your thesis with at least three examples. Youressay must have an introductory paragraph, and a conclusion paragraph.

There is a lot of information out there. Try to narrow down the focus of your topic. Make your thesisspecific enough that you can support it with detailed examples.

Heres an example of a strong body paragraph outline:1. Topic sentence2. Introduce your first piece of evidence that supports your claim.3. Elaborate on your evidence.4. Example + explanation of how it supports your topic sentence.5. Conclusion sentence/Concluding thoughts on how (all) the example(s) support thesis.6. Transition statement

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Textual connection and personal reflectionOn a separate piece of paper, explain why you chose your topic. What, specifically, inAnne Frankand our study of her historical context led you to be interested in this topic? One paragraph.

SourcesYou must use a minimum of three sources for your research.1 book (fiction or nonfiction)1 website1 source of your choice

Citing sourcesEvery time you use a quote from a source, you need to put the name of the source in parenthesesimmediately after it. Dont quote me on that (Miss Sheldon).

Format

Your essay should be typed and double-spaced.Your essay should have a Works Cited page.Well talk about this in more detail.

Approved WebsitesThe following are reputable websites you may use for your sources. If you would like to use anotherwebsite that is similar in quality to these, you may check with Miss Sheldon or Dr. Marshall toapprove it. *Note: Wikipedia is NOT a credible source.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museumhttp://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/

Yad Vashemhttp://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/index.asp

BBC Onlinehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/

The Library of Congress: American Memoryhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

PBShttp://www.pbs.org/

A word about plagiarismPlagiarism is anything that YOU didnt write, and didnt put in quotation marks. Do NOT copy andpaste information.