Day 2 - Digging Into Research

Today your challenge is to begin really digging into the research on your chosen theme.  To do this you will be adding to the Background Research document that you created yesterday (remember this document can be found by logging in to your google/gmail account and accessing your drive).

A Note About Research and the Research Process

WHY are we doing this?  WHY can't we just make a powerpoint or write the essay?! A few students asked this question yesterday.  Whenever you begin researching a new topic there are a few stages.  Stage 1 is research, this is when you will collect all the information you can on your chosen topic, gather your thoughts, and prepare to write.  Stage 2 is planning and drafting, this is where you take your gathered thoughts and research and craft them into a coherent (logical, consistent, and reasoned) essay and/or presentation.  Stage 3 is to revise and edit that draft.  Finally, stage 4 is to proofread and present your work as a final draft.

We are currently in stage 1 of this process: research and data collection.  You will notice that I have not given you the exact prompt that you will be writing about or presenting about, this is to make sure that you do NOT skip stage 1.  Great research = a great final paper.  

Today's Task

The questions that you will need to research can be found below, but can also be found in the task assignment for Day 1 (scroll down).

The following information needs to be included in your background research document.  You may organize the information however works best for you.  

Some suggestions:  use bullet points, a numbered list to answer each question, or use paragraph indentation to separate each source/question.  

1. What is it? Learn everything about it?
2. What is it made of? Does it have a food label?
3. What chemicals are in it?
4. What are the chemical reactions involved or needed?
5. List all of the components of your theme (everything it is made of [ex. sucrose, lactose, polyvinyl-chloride, etc])
6. If you chose a ... that has multiple parts then you might need to make separate sections for each part (example: The Chemistry of Skateboards: make headings under "The Composition of Skateboards" for each of the 'parts' of the skateboard: Board; Trucks; Wheels; etc? Under each heading include the composition of each 'part')
7. What are health and safety issues with your chosen theme?  Does it harm humans or the environment in any way?  Consider how the thing is made, is the process of making it harmful?  What might people in your community (school, family, friend group, church, etc.) need to know about this product? 
8. How could the thing/material/product be improved upon?  Make a suggestion and support your suggestion with research.