Review of “Write for Life” Research Papers by Karen Lange

I’m happy to review Write for Life Volume One: Writing the Research Paper by Karen Lange.

Do you remember writing research papers when you were young?  I remember writing about Saturn, The Effect of Ethylene on Growing Bean Plants, Reasons Airplanes Crash, A Correlation Between Rock Music and Suicide Rates, and The History of the Piano.

Since my oldest kids are now in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades I know that it’s time to teach them to write a research paper.  But I was really hoping for a great guideline to lead them (and me) through the process.

I have found it with Write for Life: Volume One: Writing the Research Paper!  It’s a very easy-to-follow downloadable e-book curriculum that guides kids through the research writing process with 8 lessons in 52 pages.  It could take 8 weeks, or spread out the assignments (give them longer to complete them) and it could take a whole semester.  The price is only $.99!

Here is what you will find in Write for Life: Volume One: Writing the Research Paper:

Assignment Schedule:

• Week One – Topic, several preliminary sources, and rough thesis statement
• Week Two – Remainder of preliminary sources and revised thesis statement draft
• Week Three – Working outline, any additional sources and revisions to thesis statement
• Week Four – Pages one through three of rough draft, any additional revisions
• Week Five – Finish rough draft, any additional sources
• Week Six – First revisions of rough draft, rough draft of Works Cited Page
• Week Seven – Additional revisions to rough draft and Works Cited Page
• Week Eight – Final draft and Works Cited Page

Along with these assignments you have several pages to read through and study in order to learn how to do it.  For example, with Week One Karen gives lots of ideas of how to go about picking a topic for the research paper.  She gives examples of how to narrow the topic, so it’s not too hard to write about it.

I loved the various brainstorming ideas she gave.  I know kids could really have fun with those.

She also gives links to websites to get more information about writing.

You could certainly change things if you want to, but I like how the assignments and rubrics are so specific.  For example, she says to use a minimum of fives sources and that three of them need to be print books.

Also, at the end of each lesson is a “Just For Fun” activity such as finding out the true stories behind inventors of candies or cookies!

A rubric is included so the students know to check off the guidelines to make sure they aren’t missing anything in their writing.  This was very helpful for me, as the teacher.

Other subjects taught on are plagiarism, taking notes with note cards, writing an outline, and the bibliography/works cited page.

 

The next book Karen Lange is working on is:

Write for Life Volume Two: Essay Writing

This book offers ready to use lessons for grades 7-12 that guide students through the essay writing process. Suitable for homeschool families, co-ops, or other student groups, these eight lessons break down the steps from start to finish with helpful tips, instruction, practice, and encouragement.

Lesson topics include:

• Essay basics and structure
• Choosing topics and sources
• Taking good notes
• Thesis statements and outlines
• Developing content
• Revision and editing
• MLA style source documentation
• Preparing for the test essay

(Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Write for Life
in order to write this honest review.  This post also contains affiliate links.)