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| With your teacher, choose an endangered
species or a nature preserve you want to learn more about. This
can be in your own country, or in another country. Decide with your teacher if you are going to do this project alone or in groups. If you are in groups, decide who is going to work with you. Decide how long the project will last and how much class room time will be given to the project (the rest will be done outside of class). The rest of this web page will explain the things you have to do in the project. Remember, you have to keep a project portfolio with all your work, showing your progress from the beginning of the project to the end. (If you are working in a group, the portfolio will be for the entire group.) The first page of the project portfolio will be a progress check list, which your teacher will date when you complete each of the things you had to do. Copy-and-paste the following check list and put it into your project portfolio: For a sample progress check list, please click here. Stage One: Getting Ready for the Project 1. Make a list of the things you already know about the topic you picked. 2. Now decide which things you would like to learn about the topic. Of course you may learn a lot of things that you didn't plan for, but let’s start here with a list of research questions. These questions are very important because they will be the focus of your project. 3. Find out and list what sources of information you can use in your project: specific Internet sites, specific material from the library, sources you have at home, material you can ask for in the mail, the names of people you can ask, etc. You will find more sources along the way, but try to be specific as possible now. For your Internet searches, try using:
or a search engine that your teacher suggests. Go to the library to see which encyclopedias and books are available. Ask your teacher if there are any experts you can ask, in person or by mail (electronic or regular). 4. If you are working in a group, divide the tasks and list what each member of the group is responsible for. 5. Put your four lists in your project portfolio, in a section marked “Stage One: Getting Ready.” Ask your teacher to check your project work portfolio when you have reached this point, and mark the date on your progress check list. Stage Two: Gathering Your Data 1. Find and evaluate your data. While you are gathering information, ask yourself the following questions:
At the top of each piece of information (the top of the first photocopied page, the top of a computer file, the top of your summary, etc.) briefly write the answers to these questions. This will help you use the information better when you start organizing your project. 2. If you are working in a group, make sure the name of the student who found the piece of information is also at the top of the page. 3. At the same time as getting the information, you have to note exactly WHERE you got that particular piece of information. You want the author's name, the name of the item (the book, magazine, Web page, ),etc. and the publisher and date if itit'srinted, the exact URL if it is a Web page. Write this information on the top of your photocopies, computer files, and summaries. Eventually, all the sources of information you actually use in your project must be listed in a “reference list” (some people incorrectly call it a “bibliography”), with the following information:
The list will be in alphabetical order, according to the author's last name, or the name of the organization that created the piece of information. 4. Make sure all your photocopies and a printout of all your computer files are in your project portfolio in a section called “Stage Two: Gathering the Data.” Make sure every item has its source marked, at the top of the first page, and your brief evaluation of its value as a source. Check with your teacher that you have gathered the data correctly and have your progress check list dated. Stage Three: Organizing Your Data After you have gone to the sources that you listed in Stage One and have photocopied or summarized the information, now it's time to organize your information. The first thing to ask is if the information helps you answer the research questions you listed in Stage One. Remember, even if some information is interesting, it may not be relevant to your research questions. Of course, you may find new sources and new information. Hopefully this new information will fit into the general organization of the information you have. If it doesn't fit in, then ask yourself if the information really helps you answer the research questions. If it does help to answer the research questions, but doesn't fit into your organization, ask yourself if the general organization is really correct. You might have to improve the organization of your information. 1. Make a “graphic organizer” to help you put together all your information. Some of the more common graphic organizers are webs (“mind maps”), flow charts, linear strings, hierarchy diagrams, and double cell diagrams. You might want to use “Inspiration” if you have it on your computer. Decide with the teacher which graphic organizer is best. 2. Because you will write a final report about your project, you have to write an outline. This outline takes the information from the graphic organizer and makes it into a linear form that helps you write your presentation. “Inspiration” does this for you automatically, which is another good reason to use this computer program. 3. Put the graphic organizer and the outline into your project portfolio, in a section called “Stage Three: Organizing the Data.” Have your teacher check your project work portfolio when you have reached this point and date your progress check list. Stage Four: Preparing the First Draft of the Written Presentation Now that you have gathered and organized your basic information, you are ready to start writing your presentation. Don't worry if you find some holes in your information that will demand more research. After your teacher puts the date on your progress check list for Stage Three, you can start writing your first draft. Your project presentation has to have an introduction, a body, a conclusion, and a reference list. The introduction presents the rationale for the project: why does the topic interest you? Then list the research questions which gave a focus for your project. You can then tell the general type of sources you used for finding the answers to the research questions. Be general here, all the exact information about the sources will be in the reference list. The introduction doesn't have to be very long, but it should interest your readers and get them ready for the body of the project. The body of the project presents the information from the sources in an organized way. For example, the body might be organized chronologically, showing what came first, second, third, etc. Another way to organize the body is “pro and con” presenting the various arguments for or against something. (Try to stay as objective as possible in presenting the information. You will have time to give your opinions in the conclusions.) The body should be broken down into sub-sections, each with a heading that reflects the content. Remember, when you use someone else's words, make sure you put them in quotation marks and write who said them. If you summarize someone else'sideas or research data, tell who your source is. Examples: John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy told Americans that helping their country was more important than asking for help from their country. Although the organization of the body depends on your information, make sure that you deal with all your research questions. Answer the research questions if you can, or tell why you couldn't answer them, if that was the case. In all cases, use good English writing style. If there is a lot of information, put each point in a separate paragraph, with a topic sentence. The conclusion sums up the body and presents your opinion (if you have one). In some ways the conclusion looks like the introduction because you should restate your research questions. Then you should briefly summarize the answers you gave, in detail, in the body of the presentation. You might write about your sources, in general: which were the best for answering the research questions. An important part of the conclusion is thinking beyond the research questions. What are the implications of your findings, what new questions do you have about the topic? In the introduction, body, and conclusion of the project, you will probably want to have some visual aids (pictures, maps, graphs, charts, etc.). Your teacher will tell you the minimum number you need for your project. These visual aids help the reader understand the topic better and make the project more interesting. Make sure you ask permission to use all visual aids that belong to someone else. Under each “borrowed” visual aid, write that you have received permission to use it, or that you have requested permission. This is particularly important if your presentation is published as a Web site. (Put a copy of your request to use a visual aid and the permission, if you get it on time, in your project work portfolio in a section called “Additional Material”.) After the conclusion, you put your reference list, which is the list of all the sources that you used. There are many styles of writing a reference list. Check with your teacher if the style suggested below is O.K. in your school. Carefully look at all the capitalized words, the punctuation, and the parentheses. For a book: Author's last name, First initial. (Publication date). Title of book in italics (capitalize only the first word, the word after a colon, and words that must be capitalized). Place of publishing company: Name of publishing company. Example: Amaya, M. (1972). Pop art and after. NY: The Viking Press, Inc. For an article: Author's last name, First initial. (Publication date). Title of article (capitalize only the first word, the word after a colon, and words that must be capitalized). Title of magazine in italics (capitalize all important words), volume number (issue number in parenthesis), pages. Example: Peterson, M. (2001). MOOs and second language acquisition: Towards a rationale for MOO-based learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 14 (5), 443-459. For a Web page: Author's last name, First initial or Organization's name. (Publication date). Title of Web page in italics (capitalize only the first word, the word after a colon, and words that must be capitalized). URL (full Internet address). Example: The National Park Service. (September 13, 2002). The official web site of Yellowstone National Park. http://www.nps.gov/yell/home.htm Put the first draft in your project work portfolio, in a section called “Stage Four: First Draft of Presentation”. Have your teacher date your progress check list when your first draft has an introduction, a body, a conclusion, and a reference list. Stage Five: Editing the Written Presentation After you finish your first draft, you should show it to your friends in class and your teacher. They will give you feedback that will help you improve your project. Your friends will tell you how to make the project more interesting. The teacher will probably correct your content, writing style, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Make the corrections and show the second draft to your teacher. Keep on working with your teacher until he/she says that the English is correct. This may take a lot of time, but it is very important to do. After you have your text and visual aids, then make a title page and a table of contents page. The title page has:
The title page should be easy to read, with each of the items on a separate line. You might want to put a picture on the title page, but don't let the picture distract the audience from the written information. The table of contents should list all the sections of the final presentation: introduction, body, conclusion, reference list, and any other additional parts. If the major sections of the final presentation have sub-sections, these sub-sections should also be listed. Each of the items on the list should have the page number to the right of it. If at all possible, make the list of page numbers in a straight column. The finished written presentation stands by itself and doesn't have to go into the project work portfolio. Nevertheless, ask your teacher to date the items in “Stage Five” on your progress check list. Stage Six: The Oral Presentation Now you are done with the written part of the project. Many teachers will now want you to give a short oral presentation in English. This is a short summary of the introduction, body, and conclusions of your project. Make sure you present the research questions and whatever answers you found for them. Your teacher will tell you exactly how long you have to talk and if all the members of your group have to say something. Your oral presentation will go much better if you give the audience something to look at while you are talking. A multimedia presentation is an excellent idea, but must be made very carefully, usually with the help of the teacher. Other visual aids could be large posters, slides, a web site, or even a video tape. The important thing is that visual aids will help the audience understand your project much better. The visual aids will often be “graphic organizers” for you during the oral presentation, reminding you about the important things you wanted to say about your project. Like the finished written presentation, the oral presentation stands by itself and doesn't have to go into the project work portfolio. Nevertheless, ask your teacher to date the items in “Stage Six” on your progress check list. Stage Seven: Assessment An important part of every project is the assessment. Your teacher will tell you exactly how the assessment will be made, and when. The teacher may have the assessment tools ready, or may ask the class to help make them. It is important that each student evaluate his/her own work and the work of the group, if applicable. The teacher will, of course, make an evaluation of the student's work and the group's work, if applicable. In addition, the classmates may be asked to evaluate the written or the oral presentations. Here are two examples of assessment tools:
Checklists are simple lists that tell you, and the teacher, what you have done already and what still has to be done. For a final assessment, students and the teacher will probably use a rubric. This rubric should be given to all the students at the beginning of the project so they understand what is expected and how they will be assessed. (Perhaps the students will participate in creating the rubrics.) Using these rubrics will help the student focus in on the important parts of the project. Click here for sample rubrics for this project. _________________________________________ * This Web page is based on the following article: Mann, G., Shemesh, R., & Shlayer, J. (June 2002) Projects at Work. The English Teachers’ Journal (Israel) 54, 18-39. |
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