Design Topic: Research Subject: English Grade: 8th Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier

Understanding by Design

Unit Cover Page

Unit Title: Just Research It! Grade Levels: 8th Grade

Topic/Subject Areas: English, Research

Key Words: Research, bias, collect, synthesize, information, summarize, paraphrase,

quote, MLA, plagiarism, Internet, Evaluate, formulate, revise

Designed By: Robert “Austin” Frazier Time Frame: 2 weeks

School District: Regent University School: Teacher Ed & IDS Dept.

Brief Summary of Unit (including curricular context and unit goals):

This unit focuses on research. The main objective of this unit is to help students understand how to
research a topic and how to properly synthesize the information they collect, to form an argument about
a topic. Students will understand how to create and revise research questions, collect and synthesize
information from diverse sources that are mostly free from bias and misconceptions, assess the validity
of sources, cite in MLA format, quote, summarize, paraphrase, publish their findings and receive
feedback, avoid plagiarism, demonstrate an ethical use of the internet, and perceive an author’s main
point, supporting details, and point of view. These skills are essential for students, as issues are often
obscured by different points of view and bias by authors and reporters. This unit is also diverse and has
many different teaching methods and instructional practices to benefit all students.

Unit design status: X Completed template pages – stages 1, 2, 3

Completed blueprint for each performance task X Completed rubrics

Directions to students and teacher Materials and resources listed

x Suggested accommodations x Suggested extensions

Status: Initial draft (date: ___________) Revised draft (date: ____________)

Peer Reviewed Content Reviewed Field Tested Validated Anchored

STAGE 1 – DESIRED RESULTS

Unit Title: Just Research It!

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 1
Design Topic: Research Subject: English Grade: 8th
Established Goals (cite specific VA SOL):
8.9 The student will find, evaluate, select, and synthesize appropriate resources to produce a research product.
a) Formulate and revise questions about a research topic.
b) Collect and synthesize information from multiple sources.
c) Evaluate and analyze the validity and credibility of resources.
d) Analyze information gathered from diverse sources by identifying misconceptions, main and supporting ideas,
conflicting information, point of view, or bias.
e) Cite primary and secondary sources using Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association
(APA) style.
f) Quote, summarize and paraphrase research findings.
g) Publish findings and respond to feedback.
h) Avoid plagiarism by using own words and follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information.
i) Demonstrate ethical use of the Internet.
Understandings: Students will understand that…
• The principles and methods used in research are
essential to understanding many issues in life and
can affect how one perceives these issues
• Many authors try to influence others by purposefully
using misinformation, selective information, and/or
biased language and ideas
• Authors work hard to produce their works of
literature and deserve credit for their words and
ideas
Students will know:
• Questions should be asked before, during, and
after researching and should be answered and
revised throughout the research process
• Some information in articles and books can be
contradictory to other articles and/or outdated and
need to be properly vetted, by checking other
related articles, the author’s credentials, if it is peer-
reviewed, and the objectiveness of the author’s
stance on the subject
• Information comes from diverse sources and needs
to be analyzed to check for misconceptions, main
and supporting ideas, conflicting information, point
of view, and bias
• The internet provides many articles and studies
related to different fields, but all of them could
potentially have incorrect information and need to
be vetted before using them
• APA format has multiple guidelines, such as a
specific page header, font, font size, title, and
margins
Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005)
Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier
Essential Questions:
• How does using research help support
arguments?
• How do biases and perspectives affect writings,
including our own?
• How can different perspectives improve our
understanding of subjects and widen our
worldview?
• Why do we cite information and give credit to the
original author?
• Why should the Internet be used ethically?
• Why do we ask questions and are there some
questions that should not be asked?
• How does collecting and synthesizing information
from multiple sources prove validity and strengthen
our arguments?
• Why do we collect information from diverse
sources?
• Why do we cite according to MLA or APA
guidelines and what is the purpose of citing
according to certain guidelines?
• Why do we summarize information instead of
directly quoting authors every time we use
information from their work?
Students will be able to:
• Analyze and summarize information in different
scholarly sources and synthesize the information
with other sources
• Utilize the Internet to find scholarly, peer-reviewed
articles and “.org” websites
• Format their papers in APA style with the correct
page header, font, font size, title, and margins
• Recognize biases and perspectives in articles
• Avoid plagiarism by properly citing authors
• Write a paper utilizing multiple scholarly sources,
correct APA format, proper citations,
summarizations, and quotations.
2
Design Topic: Research Subject: English Grade: 8th Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier
• Plagiarism is taking others’ work and using as their
own without, citing the original author
• Bias is prejudice against a thing, person, or group
and can obscure how a piece of writing is authored
• Articles and books used in research papers should
be scholarly and peer-reviewed
• Websites used in research should have “.org” in the
URL

STAGE 2 – ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE

Performance Tasks: Other Evidence:
• Research Paper: GRASP. The students will • Multiple-choice quiz on different aspects of
collect and synthesize information from 4 research and MLA format.
scholarly sources and create a 2-page research • Students will take notes on the scholarly
paper, arguing for or against a point of their articles that they review for their paper and jot
choosing. They will imagine that they are down the main idea of the article and whether
submitting their paper to an editor of a they agreed with the author’s point on a sheet
scholarly magazine, who will decide whether of notebook paper. The teacher will collect
their paper will be published or not. these and assess if the students are on the
• Cooperative Learning (modified): Students right track. The students will discuss their
will be given an article on a current issue (one findings with a classmate, and they will point
that is not too political) to read and find the out similarities in the articles they read.
main idea. They will then summarize the • Students will write a 3-4 sentence paragraph
article with the help of the teacher. Students expressing a counterargument to one of the
will be put in groups of 3 to discuss the main articles that they read, citing at least one time
idea and supporting ideas from the text. The in MLA format.
students will write a paragraph with at least 3 • Think-Pair-Share: The teacher will ask the
supporting ideas, which have been students a few questions about the research
paraphrased or quoted from the text (Burke, process. For each question, students will be
2012, p. 158-159). given 30 seconds to think, then they will pair
• Concept Map (modified): Students will create with a partner to discuss. The pairs will share
a concept map about their chosen topic and their answers with the rest of the class.
each circle will have an important point from (Rutherford, 2015, p. 112)
their research. The students will then draw • Students will read an article and work in
lines to show the connections between their groups to uncover bias and misconceptions
topic and the evidence. This will be done and find the main and supporting ideas. The
while they are in the researching phase of the teacher will give students a sheet of paper
project (“Concept Map”). with 5 statements about the article, which are
either true or false, and the group will have to
take a stand regarding these statements
(Rutherford, 2015, p. 107).
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection
• Exit ticket (modified): students will write down 3 things they learned in class, 2 things they learned
about their research topic, and one question about either, for the teacher (Rutherford, 2015, p. 114).
• One Minute Note: Students will be asked to write a note about the important things they learned in the
last 15 minutes within a time limit of 1 minute. The notes should express a main idea from the lesson
and will be used when the teacher is instructing (“One Minute Note”).
• Before and After: Students will write down aspects about their project that they would like to learn
more about. They will write 3 aspects they want to learn before beginning their project and analyze
Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 3
Design Topic: Research Subject: English Grade: 8th Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier
these aspects after they have turned in their project.

STAGE 3 – LEARNING PLAN

Summary of Learning Activities:
1. Reviewing the book To Kill A Mockingbird, which the students have just finished a unit on, the teacher and
students will discuss the horrible treatment of Tom Robinson. The teacher will show the students a scholarly article
about racism in the 1920s and use points from the article to support the depiction of how black people were
treated in the book. (Hook)
2. The teacher will ask students if they have a topic that they want to know more about from a book, movie, or
something else. Students will write down a topic they want to research and give it to the teacher, after being told
that they will have to write a research paper on the topic. (Mini hook, differentiated by interest)
3. The students will write down three aspects about their topic that they would like to learn more about. (Pre-
Assessment)
4. The GRASP project about writing a 2-page research paper using 4 scholarly articles will be introduced. The
teacher will discuss the big ideas, understandings, and essential questions of the upcoming unit. SOLs will also be
gone over. Grasp will be introduced.
5. The teacher will discuss what qualifies as a scholarly article and scholarly website and how to find them.
Additionally, the teacher will explain what bias, misconceptions, and main and supporting ideas are in relation to
articles. Students will use the one-minute note strategy and mark down important information from the lesson in
the time frame of one minute (“One Minute Note”).
6. Students will read an article and work in groups to uncover bias and misconceptions and find the main and
supporting ideas. The teacher will give students a sheet of paper with 5 statements about the article, which are
either true or false, and the group will have to take a stand regarding these statements (Rutherford, 2015, p. 107).
Struggling learners and advanced learners will work through different articles that are appropriate for their reading
level. (Cooperative learning) (Instructional strategy) (Differentiation for advanced and struggling learners)
7. The teacher will explain what summaries, paraphrases, and quotes are and show how to use them to support an
idea.
8. Students will review a scholarly article on a current issue in the world, such as COVID-19, and show their ability to
summarize a text and use paraphrases and quotes to support the main idea of the text, while working in groups
(Burke, 2012, p. 158-159). (Cooperative learning) (Instructional Strategy)
9. The teacher will explain conflicting information, point of view, and synthesis in relation to articles. The teacher will
also show students how to form research-based questions about a topic.
10. Think-Pair-Share: The teacher will ask the students a few questions about the research process. For each
question, students will be given 30 seconds to think, then they will pair with a partner to discuss. The pairs will
share their answers with the rest of the class. (Rutherford, 2015, p. 112) (Cooperative learning)
11. Students will take notes on the scholarly articles that they review for their paper and jot down the main idea of the
article and whether they agreed with the author’s point on a sheet of notebook paper. The students will discuss
their findings with a classmate, and they will point out similarities in the articles they read. (Cooperative learning)
(Instructional strategy)
12. Students will work on creating questions about their research topic.
13. The teacher will show the students what MLA style is and how to use it for their papers. Additionally, the teacher
will explain what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, as well as how to use the Internet ethically.
14. Students will write a 3-4 sentence paragraph expressing a counterargument to one of the articles that they read,
citing at least one time in MLA format. (Instructional strategy)
15. Students will take a multiple-choice quiz on aspects of research and MLA format.
16. Students will work on their papers in class.
17. The teacher will explain how to create an exit ticket with 3 things they learned in class, 2 things they learned about
their research topic, and one question about either, for the teacher. Exit tickets will be used every day until the
project is complete. (Rutherford, 2015, p. 114)
18. The teacher will have students create a summary of their research findings, using proper MLA citations if the
student borrows from others’ works, and give this to the teacher. The teacher will use this to assess how students
are doing with their research papers.
19. Students will work on their research papers.
20. Students will create a concept map about their chosen topic and each circle will have an important point from their
research. The students will then draw lines to show the connections between their topic and the evidence
(“Concept Map”).
21. Students work on paper.
22. Final day of working on research papers.
23. Students will turn in their 2-page research paper and discuss their papers and the articles they researched with a
partner.

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 4

Design Topic: Research Subject: English Grade: 8th Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier
24. Students will review the three aspects that they wrote down about their topic on the first day and analyze how their
research shed light on these aspects.

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 5

Design Topic: Research
Consider the WHERETO elements. You must include enough instruction for 10 lessons.
Monday
1. Teacher shows scholarly
article to students and
supports a point using it.
2. Teacher will ask students
to think about a topic to
research.
3. Students write three
aspects about their topic.
15. Quiz on research and
MLA format.
16. Students work on paper.
17. Exit Ticket introduced,
and students complete one
every day.
Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005)
Subject: English Grade: 8th
Stage 3 – Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
Tuesday
4. Big ideas,
understandings, essential
questions, and GRASP are
introduced.
5. Scholarly articles, finding
scholarly articles, main
ideas, and supporting ideas
will be gone over. One
Minute Notes strategy will
be taught.
6. Students will work in
groups to uncover bias and
misconceptions in an article.
Students will also take a
stand regarding statements
from the teacher.
18. Students create a
summary of research
findings so far.
19. Students work on paper.
Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier
Wednesday
7. Summaries, paraphrases,
and quotes will be gone
over.
8. Students review a topical
article and discuss main
ideas and supporting ideas
with group members.
20. Students create a
concept map on research
for paper.
21. Students work on paper.
Thursday
9. Conflicting information,
point of view, and synthesis
will be gone over. Research
questions discussed.
10. Think-Pair-Share.
11. Students will discuss the
articles they read for their
project with a partner.
22. Final day of working on
paper.
Friday
12. Students create
research questions for their
topic.
13. MLA format and
plagiarism will be gone
over. How to use the
Internet ethically will be
discussed.
14. Students will write a 3-4
sentence paragraph
expressing a
counterargument to an
article they read, cite once
in MLA format.
23. Students turn in
GRASP.
24. Students will review the
three aspects that they
wrote about their topic.
Design Topic: Research Subject: English Grade: 8th Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier
Research Paper for a Scholarly Magazine

Task: Generate questions about a research topic and then refine them throughout the research process. Gather information from 4 credible scholarly
sources (3 books/articles and 1 .gov website), then write a 2-page paper which utilizes and synthesizes information from these sources and formulates an
argument for or against the research topic. Format the paper in MLA style.

Advanced (10-8 points) Intermediate (7-5 points) Novice (5 or less

points)

Content Clearly formulated May have formulated Did not formulate

questions about the
research to delve deep
into the topic. Paper
shows deep thought and
consideration of the
sources used. Stays on
topic and clearly
establishes an argument
for or against
something.
questions about the questions about the
research to delve into research. Paper shows
the topic. Paper shows little to no thought and
some thought and consideration of the
consideration of the sources used. Does not
sources used. Stays stay on topic and has
mostly on topic and no argument.
establishes an argument
for or against
something.

Format and Grammar The paper is 2 pages,
has a clear thesis,
correct MLA format, and
has a works cited
section on a page by
itself. Mostly free from
grammatical errors and
the sentences are clear
and concise.
Sources Uses 4 credible
scholarly sources (3
book/articles and 1 .gov
website) and quoted,
summarized, and
paraphrased the
information from them.
Sources are mostly free
Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005)
The paper is 1-1 ½ The paper is less than
pages, has a mostly 1 page, has an unclear
clear thesis, mostly in thesis, not in MLA
MLA format, and has a format, and does not
works cited section have a works cited
somewhere in the section. Many
paper. Some grammatical errors and
grammatical errors and the sentences are not
the sentences are very clear or concise.
mostly clear and
concise.
Uses 2-3 credible Uses 1 or no credible
scholarly sources scholarly source
(books/articles or .gov (books/articles or .gov
websites) and quoted, websites) and quoted,
summarized, and summarized, and
paraphrased most paraphrased a little bit
information. Sources of the information.
have some clear bias Sources are biased
Design Topic: Research Subject: English Grade: 8th
from bias or
misconceptions and the
student recognizes
these aspects.
Synthesizes the
information and cites the
information used in
correct MLA format in
the works cited page.
Designer: Robert “Austin” Frazier
and misconceptions, and have
and the student did not misconceptions that the
fully identify these student does not
aspects. Synthesizes identify. Does not
the information and cites synthesize the
the information used in information and does
mostly correct MLA not cite the information
format in the works cited in correct MLA format
page. in the works cited page.

References
Burke, J. (2012). The English Teacher's Companion. Heinemann.
Concept Map. theteachertoolkit. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2020, from https://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/Concept-Map
One Minute Note. theteachertoolkit. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2020, from https://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/one-minute-note
Rutherford, Paula. (2015). Instruction for All Students. Just Ask Publications and Professional Development.

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005)