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Lesson 6

We will evaluate our research sources for bias; determine its relevance for our purpose; and consider revising, refining, or expanding our research questions. We will make a plan for what we need to do over the next two lessons to succeed on the Section 2 Diagnostic.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I work productively in a research team?

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of my chosen topic?

Texts

There are no texts for this Lesson.

Materials

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will review our norms and our plan to succeed on the section 2 diagnostic.

Review the norms you developed for your paired research.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will discuss our research findings with our partner to determine how we would like to refine the direction of our research.

Discuss your source with your partner. Use the answers in your Learning Log to guide the discussion.

  1. In a sentence or two, what is the main idea of the source?

  2. What are three or four sentences or ideas presented in the text that represent the main idea or move your thinking on the topic forward?

  3. Based on what you have read, would you like to further explore this topic?

Use the discussion to decide how you would like to refine your research on the topic. Write down the new research questions in your Learning Log.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will write an annotated bibliography for one of our sources.

An annotated bibliography is a brief summary, description, or evaluation paragraph, usually about 150 words in length. Some annotated bibliographies summarize, some assess or evaluate a source, and some reflect on the source's possible use for the project.

Examine the model annotated bibliography. Use the model and questions below from the 1984 Research Guide to write an annotated bibliography for your source.

  1. Is the source relevant? Does the source contain information that helps me answer my research questions?

  2. Is the source accurate? How do I know it is accurate?

  3. Is the source reliable? How do I know it is reliable?

Activity 4: Read

We will reflect on the activities we have done and evaluate our group’s effectiveness.

Use the following questions to reflect on your learning:

  1. What did I learn that is important for our research?

  2. What overarching claims can I make about my topic based on our research? How is the research connected?

  3. What new questions emerged?

  4. How did I contribute to my group? Be specific.

  5. What do we need to continue doing, or start doing, to be an effective research team?

Revisit your group’s norms and rate your group on a scale of 1-4 by responding to the following statement: We followed all of our group norms, which made our time effective (1, strongly disagree; 2, disagree; 3, agree; 4, strongly agree).

Activity 5: Read – Write

For homework, we will individually research and select a new potential source to use for our project.

For homework, conduct individual research on a new potential source to use, and use the following guiding questions to write an annotated bibliography for your source:

  1. Is the source relevant? Does the source contain information that helps me answer my research questions?

  2. Is the source accurate? How do I know it is accurate?

  3. Is the source reliable? How do I know it is reliable?

Be prepared to share the annotated bibliography with your partner.