College professors often complain that students do not know how to write.  High school students who enter college with a firm understanding of how to organize a paper or an essay perform much better than those who struggle with the concept.  Needless to say, the earlier a student learns this skill, the more smoothly his school years will flow.

This 8-week online course will teach middle school and high school students how to create a research paper and a short essay.  We will cover thesis formation, research skills, note taking, paper organization, and citations.  

Online learners will engage in interactive online lessons and weekly assessments or assignments.  In addition, students will interact with other students and the teacher via weekly discussion forums and activities.  Students have one week to complete the weekly lesson activities.  This class runs “asynchronously” (participants to do not need to be online at a specific time each week).  Students will email assignments to the instructor each week.  She will review the assignments, provide comments, and return them to the student.  

Course Syllabus:
Week #1 Choosing a Topic, Creating a Thesis:  What will your paper be about?  Why are you writing it?* 

Week #2 Researching: Where will you get your information?  What sources are reliable?  You’ll explore tips on how to use the internet reliably and maybe even find out what a library is!

Week #3 Using Your Sources & Taking Notes:  What is plagiarism?  You’ll differentiate between paraphrasing and direct quotations while you learn to take notes from your sources.

 Week #4 Creating Citations:  How do you write a citation?  Now it’s time to explore the joyful and confusing details that make paper writing so much fun.

Week #5 Outlining the Paper: Once you have your notes, what will you do with them?  This week you’ll learn how to organize the piles of note cards spilling off your desk into a cohesive outline.

Week #6  Writing the Paper: How will you defend your thesis?  It’s finally time to write the paper! And you thought you’d do it all in one day!

Week #7 Editing the Paper: Should you turn it in?  Not so fast.  First, you need to edit for clarity, organization, and wordiness.  Then, double check your spelling and punctuation.

Week #8 Writing Short Essays: Essay tests are mini research papers without all the hassle.  This week you’ll learn some tips on how to create a good essay.

NOTE: WEEKS 2 & 3 (& MAYBE 1) WILL PROBABLY REQUIRE A LIBRARY VISIT.  DEPENDING ON YOUR NEEDS, YOU MAY NEED TO VISIT THE LIBRARY MORE OFTEN. VIRTUAL LIBRARY VISITS ARE ACCEPTABLE IF YOU CAN FIND THE MATERIALS YOU NEED.

Research Paper Requirements
Group A1:       1-3 page informative report with topic sentence (At least 3 sources; no more than 1 web source)

Group A2:       2-4 page informative report with topic sentence (At least 4 sources; no more than 2 web sources)

Group B        2-4 page research paper with thesis (At least 4 sources; no more than 2 web sources)

Group C        3-6 page research paper with thesis (At least 6 sources; no more than 3 web sources)

* Web sources are information found ONLY online.  A traditionally published and printed book or article also available on the internet does not count as a web source.