Your Choice - Informative Research

Informative vs. Persuasive

Some of your topics may lead you to write a persuasive essay instead of an informative essay, make sure you understand the difference!

Informative: you are the reporter remaining unbiased, objective, and only presenting facts.

• Give information

• Explain an issue or topic

• Provide straightforward facts with a balanced explanation of the topic

Persuasive: your goal is to persuade the reader to agree with your opinion.

• Often a combination of facts (informative) and personal point of view (persuasive)

• Focus on benefits of your point of view

• Use strong, comparable facts for both sides; never stretch facts to strengthen your argument

Your Goal!

Your goal for this assignment is to select a topic of your interest and create an informative, well written, paper with your research findings.

The Process

Select your topic:

Remember! You do not want a topic too broad or too narrow! You want enough information to write your paper, but not too much that you are overwhelmed!

• Go to Gale Databases on your WebGrades and select, Gale in Context: High School.

• Select "Browse Topics" at the top of the page

• Select a topic from this list

  • If you select from this list, you will have an abundance of information

  • If you do not see a topic that interests you, try doing a search for a topic you are thinking of and see what comes up, see if you will be able to find sources of information

Create your Working Bibliography

Check your assignment papers to see how many sources are required

• Login to NoodleTools (Click Google on the right side of the page)

  • You may need to update your information (Graduation year & School) if you have not logged on this year

• Select "+New Project" in the top right-hand corner

• Type in your topic as the title of your project

• Keep your Citation Style with MLA

• Select "Advanced: Comprehensive coverage of the style guides, 70+ forms" under Citation level

  • This will help you create any type of citation you may need for this assignment!

• At the bottom of the page, you will see examples of how to create citations for various types of sources

  • If you have questions or problems, email Mrs. Stump (nstump@warwicksd.org) to get assistance

Locating Information:

When your topic is selected and approved, you can begin finding more sources

Avoid using Google when you begin researching - stick with databases or sources suggested by your teacher or Mrs. Stump!

Books:

• Use the Warwick Library Catalog to see if we have books on your topic in our school

• If you cannot find things at Warwick, check Access PA to see books that we can request from other libraries in PA

  • Use the form at the bottom of the page to request your book from another library

  • When we get the book from the library you will get an email saying it has arrived and that you can pick it up in the library

  • Be sure to watch your due date since these are not our books!

Databases:

Warwick has access to many databases and paid subscriptions - not all of them will work for your topic, but one or more could be helpful

• EBSCOHost

  • High School Search for Power Library

  • Science Reference Center

  • AP Newsroom

• CultureGrams

  • World Edition

  • States Edition

  • Provinces Edition

• World Book Online

  • Student

  • Advanced

  • Timelines

  • Ebooks

• Gale Databases

  • Global Issues

  • High School

  • Opposing Viewpoints

  • Science

  • U.S. History

  • World History

• ABC-CLIO

  • American Government

  • American History

  • Daily Life Through History

  • World at War

  • World History: The Modern Era

  • World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras