8th Grade Literacy

I Still Believe

Research Essay Anne Franks diary and her life have been studied by students all over the world. Despite her importance, Anne Franks story is only one among many that describe the events taking place in the 1930s and 1940s. What has reading Anne Frank made you wonder about? Choose a topic that interests you, and research it. You will hand in a 2 - 3 page essay describing what you discovered about your topic. This essay will be due on Friday, March 22. Outline On Monday, four days before the essay is due, you will turn in an outline of your essay to Miss Sheldon. 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 should list three sources that you plan to use. (Your sources may change as you write the essay). Schedule Friday, 3/15 Choose and sign up for a topic Monday, 3/18 Outline of essay due to Miss Sheldon before 12:00. Wednesday, 3/20 Rough draft of essay due, for peer review. Friday, 3/22 Final draft due. If for some reason you will be absent on Friday, its your responsibility to e-mail your essay to Miss Sheldon by 3:00 on Friday. Late essays will not be accepted. Topics Miss Sheldon will post a list of bigger topics to get you started on your choice. You must sign up for a topic. No two students should end up having the same thesis. Please feel free to think of another topic 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 essay Your essay must have a thesis. In your research, what have you discovered? Your claim about your topic will be your thesis statement. You must support your thesis with at least three examples. Your essay 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 thesis specific enough that you can support it with detailed examples. Heres an example of a strong body paragraph outline:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Topic sentence Introduce your first piece of evidence that supports your claim. Elaborate on your evidence. Example + explanation of how it supports your topic sentence. Conclusion sentence/Concluding thoughts on how (all) the example(s) support thesis. Transition statement

Textual connection and personal reflection On a separate piece of paper, explain why you chose your topic. What, specifically, in Anne Frank and our study of her historical context led you to be interested in this topic? One paragraph. Sources You must use a minimum of three sources for your research. 1 book (fiction or nonfiction) 1 website 1 source of your choice Citing sources Every time you use a quote from a source, you need to put the name of the source in parentheses immediately 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 Websites The following are reputable websites you may use for your sources. If you would like to use another website that is similar in quality to these, you may check with Miss Sheldon or Dr. Marshall to approve it. *Note: Wikipedia is NOT a credible source. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/ Yad Vashem http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/index.asp BBC Online http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ The Library of Congress: American Memory http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html PBS http://www.pbs.org/ A word about plagiarism Plagiarism is anything that YOU didnt write, and didnt put in quotation marks. Do NOT copy and paste information.