Second Draft Mini-Lecture

MONTANA COMMON CORE STANDARDS (grade 10)

Writing 7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question
(including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the
inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating
understanding of the subject under investigation.
Writing 8: Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources,
using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in
answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the
flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Student understands the focus on outside evidence that the research paper genre
requires.
2. Student reviews the concept of scope and applies it to the research paper genre.
3. Student reviews MLA citation so that s/he may comfortably apply it to her/his work.
4. Student understands what is expected of second draft.
MINI-LECTURE SCRIPT
1. RESEARCH ISSUES: Remember our model of Claim Island and Evidence-land? (Draw on
Board) Can anybody tell me what happens if your bridge doesnt connect with Evidenceland? If
you just build a bridge to nowhere? You end up in the SEA OF MEANINGLESSNESS. You need to
make sure that this paper relies on hard evidence. This isnt quite like an opinion piece, where
your own reasoning is the central focus. Your central focus here is research, exploring your
topic through outside evidence.

2. SCOPE: We talked a lot about scope in the course of the flash fiction unit and Ive discussed it
in the context of this piece with some of you. The scope of your research is the amount of
information that exists on the subject youve taken on. I know that several of you have talked
to me about needing to broaden, or widen, the scope of your research because you havent
been able to find enough information about the relationship between your specific animal and
humans. Some of you also might want to think about narrowing your scopes so that you can be
more specific and concise. Remember what concise means? Brevity? This isnt that long of a
research paper.
3. SOURCES/FORMATTING: You should be thinking about sourcing and citations at this point. I
want to review how we cite our sources in MLA. Take out your Research Guidebooks. Whats
the difference between an in-text citation and an entry on a works cited page? What does an
in-text citation look like in MLA?
(Write the following excerpt on the board):
But researchers used a modified version of this bacterium to destroy an advanced cancer that
had spread to a patient's shoulder. When injected directly into the shoulder tumor, the altered
bacterium killed the cancer cells, sparing nearby healthy ones
(Explain that this is an excerpt from an article called Bacterial healers: microbes can redeem
themselves to fight disease by Susan Gaidos published in Science News on November 1st, 2014
about repurposing dangerous bacteria to actually help fight disease. Pretend you are writing a
piece about the threshold between humans and bacteria, specifically focusing on the ways in
which bacteria are important to human health. How would you insert this quote into your
piece? First, how would you introduce the quote? How would you transition into it? Second,
what would you need to add to or change about the quote to make it work for your piece?
How would you do that, stylistically speaking? Finally, how would you format the quote? How
would you format another quote used from a different part of the article later in your piece?
How would you format it if it ended up being over five typed lines long?

How would we create an entry for this piece in our Works Cited Page? (Write the rest of the
information on the board in random order):

Author: Gaidos, Susan.

Title "Bacterial healers: microbes can redeem themselves to fight disease."
Publication: Science News
Publication Date: 1 Nov. 2014
Page #: 18
Database: Science in Context.
Source Type: Web.
Date of Access: 3 Dec. 2014.
URL
Tell students that the Gale databases from the library have ready-made MLA citations--just click
on the Citation Tools icon under Tools
4. WRITING SECOND DRAFT: As you move into your second draft, you might want to consider
doing a little more research. Additional questions or areas that need clarification may have
come up as you wrote your first draft and its good to figure that stuff out before you get too
far in the drafting process. Its not mandatory, but I think its a good idea to have at least one
source from the Library databases--as Ive mentioned before, Science in Context is particularly
helpful for this assignment. I also want you to work on narrowing or broadening your scope (if
need be), which also might include additional research. Finally, work on integrating your
sources with introductory and transitional phrases and begin to compile a properly formatted
Works Cited Page--you dont need all your sources perfectly cited right now, but it will make
things less stressful for you on Friday afternoon when youre trying to put your final draft
together. Your second draft should be pretty close to the length requirement of 1,000 words.
Make sure you have it done for tomorrow as we will be workshopping.