Welcome! We’re glad you landed at Oakland Schools’ Teaching Research Writing site. This site supports middle and high school teachers across the disciplines engaged in teaching research writing. So if you’re teaching students in grades 6-12 how to research and present their findings in an essay-based or multimedia format, you’ll find plentiful resources here. The site addresses both informational and argument writing.
The Common Core State Standards‘ focus on research spurred the creation of this site. In our work with districts and teachers, the project team recognized the need to provide a student research independence continuum, research writing skills progression, and lessons to support teachers as they implement the new literacy standards. The lessons on the site are intended to support existing research-related units you teach by focusing on particular skills in the research writing process.
We hope you’ll stay awhile and return often! The site will continue to evolve.
Using This Site
Ideally, research writing is taught throughout the year via smaller tasks and projects, as the Common Core stipulates. This approach allows for continued reinforcement of these all important skills. By examining the skills progression and lessons on this site, you can make decisions about which skills you would like to focus on in the existing units and writing tasks you teach.
We suggest perusing the site in the following order to move from the big picture to the more granular lesson level:
- Student Research Independence Continuum – This framework outlines increasing degrees of student responsibility in the research writing process.
- Research Writing Skills Progression – This interactive table charts skill development from grade 6 to 12; key skills in the progression are linked directly to ready to use lessons.
- Lessons – These ready to use interactive lessons were created in Google Docs to allow for easy download and adaptation/revision by teachers. They include handouts, Powerpoint presentations, suggested cloud-based tools, and visible thinking routines.
- Other Resources