Instruction 4-4

Narratives | Expository Compositions | Word-Processing | Research Reports | Summary

Pre-Test
Q&A	Discovering Language Arts: Writing (Grades 3-5)

We've talked about how to write narratives and expository essays. Now we want to talk about research reports. A research report is just what its name suggests. It's a report on a topic or question you have researched (investigated). In science class, you do research by conducting experiments. In Language Arts, you do research by reading.

There are two main kinds of research reports. The first is called a Report of Information.

Reports of Information

In a Report of Information, you only report facts -- what you found out about the topic.

If you are writing a Report of Information about crocodiles, for example, you might ask the following questions. You would then include as many of the answers as possible in your report.

What does the name crocodile mean?
What do crocodiles look like?

How many kinds of crocodiles are there?
How long have crocodiles been on Earth?
Do crocodiles eat people?
Do people eat crocodiles?
Where do crocodiles live?
How do crocodiles reproduce?
What do crocodiles hunt?
Who or what is the crocodile's biggest enemy?

Don't copy the answers right out of books. Make notes and then write the report in your own words. At the end of the report, list all the places you found information. This list is called References or Works Cited. There are specific ways to list references. We'll show you how at the end of this Instruction.

For an excellent example of a Report of Information, click:

http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/forms%20of%20writing/bc_inforeport.htm

The other kind of Research Report is simply called a Research Report.

Research Reports

When you prepare a Research Report, you do the same thing you do for a Report of Information. You gather information. But there's a big difference. In a Research Report, you are encouraged to include your own opinions. Your final report is a combination of what you found out and what you think. In that respect, a research report is like an expository essay. But you have to put your opinion in the correct place. That's because research reports have a fairly rigid format.

Here it is:

The most important thing in writing a research report is that the findings accurately reflect what was found and done. Tables and figures add clarity. But you will probably want to put them in the Appendix. When you write about them, refer to them by number.

References (Works Cited)

Now here is a very brief description of how to list your references:

And for more information on how to write a Report of Information and/or a Research Report, click on any of these helpful Student, Parent and Teacher links:

Links for Students, Parents and Teachers

Now let's do Practice Exercise 4-4 (top).

Summary

You have now completed this Lesson and are ready to do the Problem and Test sections.

You may wish to review any or all of the topics before answering the questions that follow. You may also wish to obtain additional material from the links in any of the Instructions or the links below before answering the questions.

Good luck!

Next Page:  Problems (top)