Research Process

Directions to Students

  Scenario

The International Center for Economic Growth is searching for energetic and creative people to assist European countries in increasing their tourism and business, thus benefitting their economies. In order to apply for the job, you are required to create a Powerpoint presentation (or some other advertising product) encouraging clients to choose a particular European country to visit or to call home.

Task and Product

To complete the task, you must first research a European country and then decide which physical and cultural aspects of that country make it a desirable place to live and work. Then you must organize that information and display it in an appealing advertising product.

Your audience will need general background in order to understand why your country is a good choice; therefore, your final product will need to consider the following:

• Location of the country
• Language spoken
• Landforms
• Natural Resources
• Climate
• Important Cities
• Famous/Noteworthy Landmarks
• Economic Characteristics
• Political Characteristics
• Social Characteristics
  

Your advertising product may use one of the following formats:

• Power Point presentation or other multimedia product
• pamphlet or brochure
• other products as directed by your teacher

Assessments

You will be graded on your daily work on the research process as well as on your final product.

Research process:

• Research Process - Daily (Formative)
• Research Process - Summative (Student/Self)
• Research Process - Summative (Teacher)

Advertising product:

• Power Point      HTML form      Word document
• Pamphlet      HTML form      Word document
• Other products

Works cited sheet (MLA format)

Question

Essential Question:

Subsidiary questions:

• Why would someone choose to visit or to settle in a particular country?
• What traits make a country especially appealing for tourism?

A graphic organizer or a software program such as Inspiration may be helpful to brainstorm additional questions and/or to plan and organize your research.

Gather and Sort

Gather information from a variety of sources.

Sort your findings using a graphic organizer when taking notes.

Remember to cite your references. Check the MLA guidelines and examples for citing resources; however, your school may use a different format.

To avoid risking plagiarism, properly paraphrase and quote in your writing.

Organize

Analyze your research notes to determine which details will best answer the essential question.

Synthesize your findings by using this chart to organize your information.

• What new insights have emerged about your country?
• Which facts are the most compelling and would have the greatest impact on your audience? Which will have a positive influence on them?

Evaluate the effectiveness of your research for the task.

• Have you gathered sufficient details about your country for each required category?
• Are your details organized in the right categories or sub-topics to make sense for your audience?

Create your advertising product. Use your graphic organizer and chart to help in your preparation. Remember to include positive aspects only in the content. Check the assessment tool for your product to make sure you have done a thorough job and have met all requirements.

Conclusion

Presentation

Your teacher will assign you a time and place to share your product with the class. You may do this as an individual in your classroom or you may participate in a Gallery Walk in the classroom or computer lab where all students products will be on display at the same time.

As an audience member for your fellow students' products, you may be asked to complete this chart.

Reflection

Now that you have experienced a number of different country presentations, which country would you personally choose to visit based on what you learned? Prepare a Brief Constructed Response detailing your choice. Be sure to include reasons and supporting details based on the information from a student's presentation on that country.Scoring Tool for Brief Constructed Response

As part of your I-Search, think about your research process, by completing this reflection.