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Learning Connections Language Arts & Social Studies Updating For more than 30 years, the Staples High School (Westport, Connecticut) juniors have Research Paper undertaken a major research paper. Th eir English teachers supervise this project-based unit and get feedback about the preparation students feel they have gotten in research and in writing. We used to teach students to use notebooks, paper, pencil, and index cards for research and to transfer their material to a word processing program for the writing of the paper. Th e project is evergreen, but the research methods and materials have become outdated. Last year, I began to explore ways to help students collect data and present it in more effi cient and practical ways than they had. Th en last summer several col- leagues and I examined how to integrate spreadsheet, graphic organizer, outlining, and word processor applications into our curriculum. We also developed online and classroom support materials for teachers and students. (Editor’s note: All fi les and presentations referred to in this article are online in the research paper section of the Staples High School English department By Werner Liepolt Web site at http:// shs.westport.k12.ct.us/ Subject: Language arts, social English/.) studies Five Integration Ideas Grades: 9–12 (Ages: 14–18) Weighing each for effi ciency, Technology: Offi ce applications, accessibility, ease of use, Internet and assessment, we found fi ve places to integrate Standards: NETS•S 3; NETS•T II, computer technology to III; NETS•A II (http://www.iste.org/ improve our research standards/) paper curriculum: 30 Learning & Leading with Technology Volume 32 Number 4 Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. Language Arts & Social Studies • Planning a spreadsheet The mail merge directory or catalog template links to the spreadsheet students use to store • Creating an annotated collected source information and research. bibliography When the merge is executed, Word ignores • Expanding the spreadsheet empty fi elds and prints an annotated bibliogra- • Submitting notes phy ready for proofreading. • Brainstorming and outlining Detailed instructions on imple- menting the strategies is available Upon executing the mail merge, students online. In this article, we’ll limit have a fi le consisting of all notes, each ourselves to general discussion of the on a page the size of a fi le card. concepts. This fi le can be turned in electronically or printed. Planning a Spreadsheet Students and teachers familiar with using spreadsheets to calculate auto loans or to graph the results of newspaper, book title, date of publi- Th e mail merge directory or cata- science experiments sometimes miss cation or copyright date, publisher, log template links to the spreadsheet using them to contain and control place of publication, date accessed, that the student uses to store collected textual data. Students can collect research infor- Web link, annotation (approx. 100- source information and research. mation in a spreadsheet or fl at data- word summary). When the merge is executed, Word base. If some care is taken in planning Th e titles of the columns are color ignores empty fi elds and prints an the spreadsheet, it will be valuable coded and explained by a key. Not all annotated bibliography ready for the throughout the research paper writing fi elds are applicable for all sources, a student to proofread. process. In this case, advance plan- book, for example, must have infor- Th e PowerPoint-supported lesson ning helps the student generate and mation in the author or editor, and on building the annotated bibliogra- submit an annotated bibliography, publisher fi elds, but wouldn’t require phy is best delivered in a computer a body of research, a paper outline an entry under the URL heading. lab where all students can download complete with correctly cited notes, We adopted the strategy of color and save a Word mail merge docu- and a works-cited page for the fi nal coding the column labels and provid- ment that we’ve already linked to the draft of a research paper. ing a color key to guide students as spreadsheets they have begun to use. Th e spreadsheet must have clearly they enter information about their I also present successful examples labeled columns for the informa- research sources. Grey column heads of annotated bibliographies from tion that will be required. Because indicate information (such as Author’s my earlier classes. I point out salient the spreadsheet information needs name) required for all sources. Blue features of the Modern Languages to be easily transferred to other pro- column heads call for information Association formatting and tips for grams such as a graphic organizer specifi c to books and periodicals using the spreadsheet, such as hiding and word processor, it is important (such as Publisher). Yellow column intervening columns between the Au- that students create spreadsheets that heads show students where to provide thor and Annotation columns when facilitate this. In our case, we use Mi- information such as URL or date ac- writing the annotations and showing crosoft Word’s mail merge features to cessed about Web sources. the fi rst row when scrolling down. transfer data in and out of the spread- During discussion, I emphasize sheet. Th e contents of the cells in the Creating an Annotated the results students are expected to fi rst row act as labels, so clear descrip- Bibliography achieve and encourage them to de- tions are important. Th e 15 columns All students submit annotated bib- velop an approach that works best set up at the outset are: source, author liographies early in the research for each of them. Students adept or editor, title of article, title of the process. Th e bibliographies result at using relational databases, for Web site, database name, database from mail merging a formatted Word example, grasp how to import the server, library from which database document with the spreadsheet used worksheet into the database applica- was accessed, title of magazine or to collect information about sources. tion and develop a suitable report. December/January 2004–05 Learning & Leading with Technology 31 Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. Language Arts & Social Studies Students learning disabilities with perience of the student writ- empowered are often by using the er. Th e payoff in using con- computer to record research. cept mapping software comes when students want to convert their fi nished graphic organization into an outline. In the outline view, students can shift the positions of topics, pro- Expanding the Spreadsheet ing the computer to record research. moting and demoting them as neces- After students develop their topics Finally, once the student has written sary. And the new organization is, for into thesis statements, they are ready the note, why should they have to the most part, readily visible in the to begin taking notes on their re- copy it again? diagram view. In Inspiration, students search. I demonstrate how to add Th e mail merge template links can toggle between diagram and out- fi ve columns to their spreadsheets: to spreadsheet columns containing line views. Th e outline can be export- subject of note, notes, pages, outline information about the author, the ed to word processing documents. position, and used in works cited. date (needed when multiple works are As each note will be defi ned by a by the same author), the position in Outlining with Notes and Citations row, I also go over how to add rows, the outline, and the page (in the case Students print copies of their prelimi- how to fi ll down, and how to drag of books and articles). Th e center of nary outlines and keep them handy the note column to the left so that the digital card contains links to the while they are taking notes. Updating the columns between A and P are subject of the note and note columns periodically enables them to strength- hidden. Sometimes students need in the spreadsheet providing a brief en their mental maps of their chosen to see all the words in the cell, so description of the subject of their topics of research, facilitating writing I review how to resize cells as well. note and their notes—direct quotes, the rough drafts of the paper. paraphrases, or summaries. Students Students assign outline positions Submitting Notes type their name into the footer so it for each note, and then they record In the past, students have taken appears on all the note cards. A Word these positions in the new outline notes on index cards. Th is method merge fi eld counts the rows and the position column of the spreadsheet. has persisted so long because it had total number of fi lled rows in the Once each note has been assigned a advantages. Students could shuffl e spreadsheet. It reports the informa- position in the outline (for instance, the deck, rearranging the cards to suit tion so the student and teacher can II, B, 5, a) students use the Sort their developing comprehension of keep track of the completed research. menu item to reorder the data in the the topic being researched. Th e cards worksheet. When they sort using the were portable and easily held together Brainstorming and Outlining outline position column, they fi nd with a rubber band. While students are researching, I ask that Excel recognizes the hierarchical With the advent of online storage them to begin to develop an idea of outline enumerating system. and e-mail, a fi le containing notes is how their papers will progress. Start- Th e third mail merge is a rough more portable and less susceptible to ing with their theses, they use graphic draft starter. It generates a document loss than the physical deck of index organizer software to develop multi- with all the quotes—properly cited— cards it replaces. Further, issues of level diagrams and corresponding in the order of the outline. Seeing the legibility and tedium are addressed outlines. notes and sources ordered by the out- when students take notes electroni- After reformulating the strongest line position column is a great way to cally. No one, the student researcher of their controlling questions as a get a sense of the scope and structure included, gleefully faces the frustrat- positive thesis statement, students of the fi nished paper. At this point, ing task of deciphering whether the use it as the main idea, and type in students can see whether sections of illegible scrawl on an index card writ- the topics they think they will need their papers are overly dependent on ten at 2 in the morning represents to cover to satisfy it. individual sources. If a section ap- a direct quote, a paraphrase, or a fan- When elementary school students pears to follow a book or article page ciful creation of an overworked mind. begin writing, teachers frequently en- by page through a number of notes, Lengthy URLs can be copied and courage them to sketch mind maps or it is a sign that the student may be pasted. Students with learning dis- idea webs as ways of brainstorming. merely reporting on a source or mim- abilities are often empowered by us- So this process taps into the long ex- icking an argument. 32 Learning & Leading with Technology Volume 32 Number 4 Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. Language Arts & Social Studies Although they still have lots to ted according to MLA standards, the computer in the school and at home. do, students are hardly starting with students alphabetize the spreadsheet Students’ backpacks are fi lled with a blank page. Having the notes orga- according to authors, then produce a fewer scraps and jottings noting nized makes them ready for writing. new directory or catalog mail merge. sources, and students feel as if they Th e resulting document can be are more organized and their work The Works-Cited Page saved as a fi le, then inserted into the is more orderly. We think they view As students write the two or three fi nished research paper after a page the annotated bibliography as more drafts of the research paper, they break, and printed out. Th e advantage fl uid and less fi xed than before and frequently discard unnecessary or of this is that the student can then have seemed more ready to explore repetitive notes. Th ey sometimes win- get the formatting in the header and and add new sources. We have had now the number of sources they use footer of the paper to be consistent only two instances of lost work and, signifi cantly. To prepare a works-cited with this section. our school system operator speedily page, students return to the Excel restored the lost fi les. spreadsheet. Because the works-cited Measuring Success Teachers observe that checking page is to contain only the sources We began the integration of MS both sources and notes is easier, and the students actually used in the fi nal Offi ce into our junior research paper they can provide more and better paper, the student needs to mark just curriculum during the current aca- guidance to students’ research. Leg- those sources used in the paper. demic year. As preparation, we had ibility, once an issue, is no longer. Th e method we use is to have one experimental trial the year before A few teachers observed that some students type an asterisk in the used in only a few of my classes. During students seem to write the fi rst draft in works cited column of the spread- the summer, we prepared teacher and more easily. Finally, some teachers sheet after one note from each source student material. have taken readily to the integra- the student has cited. Th is enables the So far, our observations tell us that tion of computer technology. We use of a mail merge conditional to about two-thirds of the students take have found that a summer work- signal the printing of only the aster- readily to the integration of computer shop—where those teachers who have isked records. technology that they had experienced diffi culty with the integration of tech- Because the works-cited page con- in middle and high school computer nology into the research paper cur- tains all the information contained literacy classes. Many of the remain- riculum have an opportunity to talk on the annotated bibliography except ing third do not like using computers, about the problems they have had the annotation, students fi nd modify- but almost all seem to credit effi cien- and where they are involved in devel- ing that mail merge document as the cy to this approach. oping solutions to those problems— most expedient way of producing a One positive aspect of the ap- is an eff ective way to ensure that works-cited page. Making sure the proach for the student is that the what we think are best practices really works-cited mail merge is format- spreadsheet is accessible from any are and are adopted by all teachers. Further, one of our teachers has been assigned the equivalent of one class to provide support for integrating technology into the English curriculum during the coming school year. WWeerrnneerr LLiieeppoolltt sseerrvveedd oonn ttwwoo NNEETTSS wwrriittiinngg ccoommmmiitttteeeess.. HHee iiss ccuurrrreennttllyy eeddiittiinngg tthhee IISSTTEE 99––1122 EEnngglliisshh ccuurrrriiccuulluumm bbooookk.. AAtt TTeeaacchheerrss CCoolllleeggee,, CCoolluummbbiiaa UUnniivveerrssiittyy,, hhee hhaass ttaauugghhtt ggrraadduuaattee ccoouurrsseess iinn mmuullttiimmeeddiiaa ddeevveellooppmmeenntt aanndd ddaattaabbaassee--ddrriivveenn Web design. Named an Apple Distinguished A portion of a student outline. In Inspiration, Educator and teaching English at Staples High students have the ability to toggle between School, Westport, Connecticut, he has developed diagram and outline views. The outline can software and written and produced several plays be exported to word processing documents. and fi lm scripts. December/January 2004–05 Learning & Leading with Technology 33 Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved.