Ancient Mesoamerican Civilizations Research Project

Research is an investigation. The idea behind doing research is to find out all the facts you can about the subject in which you are interested. A research report shares information you have learned in a formal way. Heres a simple procedure for doing research that we will follow for our Mesoamerican civilization projects: I. II. Decide with you team members on each members role in the project. Each role has its own specific research area(s). Create a KWL chart in your e-journal. a. K: What do you already know about your civilization? b. W: What do you need to research? You should write at least ten questions for your research area(s). c. L: This is where you jot down new concepts that answer your questions and which you want to discuss in your report. These are NOT the specific quotes and facts you will write in your final draft; instead, use this section for brainstorming. Develop a rough outline for your report by categorizing the 10+ questions. Using your various sources, take notes of important and interesting information. Include these notes in the Notes section of your e-journal. a. For each fact or idea, be sure to note the source (including the page number if there is one). If you wind up using that idea in your reprt, you will have the information about the source ready to put in your bibliography. b. If you copy something directly without putting it in your own words, put quotation marks around it so you know it is a direct quotation. This will help you to avoid plagiarism. Revise your outline based on your notes. This will help you plan your paragraphs. Write a rough draft for review and approval by the teacher. Use the Research Report Rubric as a guide. Once approved, correct and convert your rough draft into a final draft to post on your webpage. Assemble a Graphics section in your e-journal. This is where you will put any pictures, maps, charts, timelines, etc (and their sources) as desired to enhance your webpage. Create a MLA Bibliography page in your e-journal for all sources used in your final draft. Create your webpage. Use the Webpage Rubric as a guide. Work with your team to assemble your website. See Team Website Rubric for more information. Work with your team to plan your presentation to the court. All team members must take part in the presentation.

III. IV.

V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII.

E-Journal Set Up
Page 1: KWL

Know
Aztecs built step pyramids

What to know (Questions)

Do they use pyramids as tombs like the Egyptians do?

Learned
-some tombs, not all -mention carvings -pictures!

Page 2: Outline A. Pyramids/temples 1. Do they use pyramids as tombs like the Egyptians do? 2. What types of pyramids do they build? 3. Other questions about this topic B. Houses 1. Include questions about your civilizations style of housing C. Tools 1. Questions about tools D. City/Empire structure/layout 1. Questions about how cities were designed, how empire was structured 2. After doing research, you may decide to split this into two sections to maintain one topic per paragraph. Page 3: Notes (May be multiple pages) The Great Pyramid or Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan Source: http://www.crystalinks.com/pyramidmesoamerica.html Page 4: Graphics (May be multiple pages) [Picture of Templo Mayor] Source: http://www.crystalinks.com/pyramidmesoamerica.html Page 5: Bibliography "Pyramids of Mesoamerica." Pyramids of Mesoamerica. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.