February 2010

Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians,

Over the next few weeks, all ninth-grade students will be producing a research paper in their history
classes to support research and writing skills that are emphasized as part of the ninth-grade curriculum.
This project aims to reinforce skills already presented and introduce new research skills in an attempt to
challenge our students and help them with the transition to the tenth grade.

Students have been assigned a designated thesis question that they will begin researching in class. We will
also review basic note card organization and requirements for annotated bibliographies. Research in the
library will take place during the second week of the project. The following week, we will spend four class
periods in the LHS computer labs so that students will have an opportunity to begin their papers during
the school day. All homework for this time period will focus on gathering more information from Cary
Library resources or investigating a topic on the Internet at home. Students will be evaluated on their
ability to collect and organize information.

The requirements of the paper are as follows:

Type: Analytical research paper, focused on proving a thesis
Length: 4-5 pages, double-spaced, 1” margins, 12-point Times New Roman font
Research: Most research will be on 3x5 or 4x6 note cards (models provided)
Organization: Outlines and webs will be used to organize notes

According to our department policy, the process and final paper will count for 60% of each student’s final
exam grade. The other 40 percent will be an exam at the end of the year during the finals period. These
two percentages combined will constitute 20 percent of each student’s year average. Graded and
commented essays will be returned to students on the last day of the school year.

The paper will include:

An annotated bibliography of at least 4-6 sources (models provided)

The annotation will answer a series of questions from a guideline sheet. Required sources
will include the textbook and one LHS supported database article (such as the ABC-Clio
database). Other sources will be composed of a minimum of two books and two Internet
articles.

Citations
Students will cite any direct quotes, uncommon information (information found in fewer
than three sources), and the ideas of others in parenthetical citations. The format of these
citations will be given in class. There should be at least one parenthetical citation in each
major argument of the paper. 4-6 unique parenthetical citations must be used to show
balanced research.

While much of the writing of this paper will take place in school, we do expect students to e-mail or print
out sections of the paper they are working on for continued writing at home. Students will need to have an
e-mail address or a flashdrive so they can have access to their documents both at school and at home.
They will also need standard sized notecards and a separate binder dedicated entirely to the Freshman
Research Project.

The paper is due on Monday, March 23, before 3 p.m for ALL CLASSES

Please sign the bottom portion of this letter by Wednesday, Feb. 24, to show that you have read this
letter and understand the upcoming project.

Sincerely,

Jacquelyn Ruback (jruback@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us)

Social Studies Department, Lexington High School
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I have read the explanation of the ninth grade research paper and understand the requirements.

Student Signature: _____________________________ Date: _______________

Parent/Guardian: _____________________________ Date: _______________