RESEARCH TEXT SET
Leah Nickerson
Lucus
Teaching Middle School Students to Be Active
Researchers
by
Judith M. Zorfass and Harriet Copel

Zorfass, J. (1998). Teaching middle school
students to be active researchers. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
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Used as a Teacher Tool
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This book shapes a unit called the I-Search
curriculum for teaching research. Each
chapter breaks down the process and how to
teach students to pose questions, accessing
various materials, making meaning from the
materials, and implement active research.
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I would use this text to define what active
research looks like and how to pose questions
after locating persuasive information as well
as make meaning from it.
Magical Library Lessons
by
Lynne Farrell Stover
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Stover, L. (2003). Magical library lessons. Fort
Atkinsn, Wisconsin: UpstartBooks.
Used as a Teacher Tool
This book includes 15 lessons plans lasting
anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes and is usable
for grades 4 to 8.
Pages 30 to 51 are related to research skills and 6
novels and literature books are used next to each
skill to make the lesson engaging and help students
make connections.
Skills include: defining primary and secondary
sources, citing sources, choosing the best resource
tool, and investigating indexes.
I would use this text because of the skills covered for
research and the popular children’s/young adult
novels used alongside them.
More Magical Library Lessons
by
Lynne Farrell Stover

Stover, L. (2004). More magical library lessons.
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin: UpstartBooks.

Used as a Teacher Tool
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The author strives to support teachers in their
efforts to make instructional activities and
construction relevant to students’ interests.
This text focuses more on diverse fantasy
books that are popular among young people.
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This text also includes 15 lessons plans lasting
30-45 minutes for grades 4 through 8.
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I would use this text because the research skills
addressed such as: periodical literature,
symbols, picking a topic, autobiographies, and
identifying fact versus opinion in resources.
Pass, Shoot, Dribble, Dunk: A New Basketball
Doesn’t Make the Team After All
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http://kids.nationalgeographic.com
/kids/stories/spacescience/basketba
ll/
 Pass, shoot, dribble, dunk: a new
basketball doesn’t make the team
after all. (n.d.).
I would use this article to walk
through the research process with
students. The article pertains to
their interests and comes from the
science section on the National
Geographic for Kids website.
Therefore, the scientific method is
included within the article.
Since I will be tailoring this research
unit to their science project, I saw it
beneficial to include a science
article for them to look at and see
how research is conducted.
There's more to basketball than ball handling. Leather balls play
better than synthetic ones.
Photograph by Scott Cunningham/National Basketball Association
Ten Freaky Forces of Nature
by
Douglas E. Richards

Richards, D. (n.d.). Ten freak forces
of nature. Retrieved from
http://kids.nationalgeographic.co
m/kids/stories/spacescience/freak
y-forces-of-nature/

I selected this science article to
interest students in various topics
that could be researched for the
project.
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The various topics also open up
opportunities to pose questions
about topics of interest.
Vanished: A Pueblo Mystery
by
George Johnson

Johnson, G. (2008, April 08).
Vanished: A pueblo mystery.
Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08
/science/08anasazi.html?_r=2&ref=sc
ience&oref=slogin&

This article highlights Archeology, a
branch of science. Most archeologists
use the scientific method during their
research.
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I would use this to engage students in
another form of science that could do
research for.
Fact Monster
(research website for kids)
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Fact monster: Science and
technology. (n.d.).
Retrieved from
http://www.factmonster.co
m/science.html
I would use this website
because of the variety of
information they offer for
students to research. It is
also very user-friendly