Fay School Faculty Guide to Student Writing & Research
Developed by Fay department chairs, these guidelines are based on research in student learning that identifies best practice for middle school students.

• Here's the rubric for grading student writing to print and attach to each student's work.
• Here's the rubric in Microsoft Word™ if you'd like to adapt it. (To fit it on one page, all margins must be set at .3")

The Research Road
The Research Road, Fay School's own online tutorial, is a personal research assistant, ready to guide the student through any research project step by step. RESEARCH ROAD TEACHER'S PAGE has a Research Timeline & Checklist and a Science Fair Timeline & Checklist. Both are in Word™ format and are easy to customize for your own classes.

Citation Guide
This is the online version of the Fay School Citation Guide, which shows students exactly how and when to cite their sources, prepare a bibliography, and use footnotes. Copies of the print version are available in the library.

Web Site Evaluation
An interactive tool for students to determine if the web site they have found using a search engine (like Google) is a good source for research. If you show your students how to use this, they will always have good sources for their research.

Create Engaging Projects

• Essential Questions
  A teacher's effective questioning strategy is the most important ingredient in making your students really THINK.
• Rethinking Reports
  Here are good ideas you can use right now to turn that ordinary report into an alternative research assignment that will engage your students and help develop higher-level thinking skills.
• Are Your Students Researching or Reporting?
  Carol Gordon's article, "Students as Authentic Researchers: A New Prescription for the High School Research Assignment", will help you design research projects that will engage your students! Rubrics included.