GUIDELINES FOR TOPIC SELECT
Each student will choose a research topic. The following guidelines will assist the student in choosing the subject to be explored.

The research topic should be one that requires cumulative knowledge across grade levels and content areas. It should be a natural outgrowth of interest and combined skills of all, or most, content areas. For example, a student who researches the changes in the ozone layer is using cumulative knowledge from at least English, math, science, and history.

The research topic should be one that is broad enough to allow the student access to enough information, yet narrow enough to make the research scope reasonable. For example, a student choosing the topic  First Aid would find it impossible to include EVERYTHING about first aid (home remedies, history of emergency services, the treatment of bums, how to stop bleeding, evolution of first aid courses, etc.) On the other hand, a student choosing to research The Application of Band-Aids to Skin Abrasions probably won't find enough information.

The research topic should be one in which the student is interested, but not one about which the student is already an expert. If a student has been diabetic for ten years, worked closely with the Juvenile Diabetes Association, and has been a volunteer in the children's diabetic ward in a local hospital, he or she probably already knows a great deal about the subject of juvenile diabetes. Unless that student pursues a new angle to diabetes, that topic might not yield much new learning

The research topic should be one that is challenging to the student academically and creatively. The student should take care not to choose a topic that is limited to relatively simple ideas or one that has little application or extension possibilities. Making such a choice would relegate the essay, the product, and the presentation to the mundane and uninteresting. The topic should require an academic and creative s-t-r-e-t-c-h for the student.

Students should avoid choosing topics that might involve expenses they are not prepared to handle. For example, if the research involves travel or long distance calls, the student may want to make another choice. If the product that

4 grows out of the research will require expensive materials, the student may want to make another choice. Remember: the student is not EXPECTED to spend money in order to complete the project. Expenditures will not enhance the evaluation of the project.

Students should avoid choosing topics that might endanger themselves or others. For example, experiments that are potentially explosive or activities such as handling poisonous snakes are not appropriate.

Primary research is one of the requirements of the Project. It may be wise, therefore, to explore the possibilities for personal interviews, informal surveys, empirical observation, etc., before making a final selection of topic.

Some preliminary research may be helpful to the student. By reading about a certain topic, the student may expand his/her areas of interest. Possibilities for new areas of exploration may surface.

Students should use good judgment to be certain that the topics they choose are appropriate for presentation to a Review Board and the general public, and for filing in Charlotte's Web on the Internet. Remember that the senior English teacher, the mentor, and the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the student must approve the selection of the topic.

GUIDELINES FOR RESE
I Research is an integral component of the Senior Exit Project. Students should expect to make a diligent and critical inquiry into their topics.

2. Each essay must cite a minimum of five different sources. Encyclopedias and other general resources are not acceptable, including current, technological reference bundles. Students should strive for variety and balance in their selections.

3. Essays should be approximately six to ten pages of text.

4. Sources should include at least one primary source, such as original documents, authoritative interviews, and analytical data based on interviews, Primary sources add immediacy and relevance to the research. Students whose primary sources are individuals should note in the text or annotate in the works cited entry the person's area of expertise. NOTE: Students should identify primary sources with bold-faced type in the list of works cited.

5. Students should learn to interpret research in terms of possible bias and to examine research in teens of validity. This examination is especially important when students are using on-line sources.

6. Research should take a variety of forms both primary and secondary, traditional and non-traditional. Students may design, administer, and analyze surveys, conduct interviews of experts, access on-line databases, or consult portable database products. Students should tailor the type of research to their topic of research to ensure a reasonable balance of sources.

7. Students should be cautioned not to rely solely on on-line sources.

S. Students must carefully document all research information they cite in their papers. This should include parenthetical documentation within the paper and a list of works cited at the end of the paper.

9. Schools should select the most recent edition of a standard form of documentation that includes the appropriate documentation of technological sources. All senior high schools will be provided a copy of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5TH edition, by Joseph Gibaldi, 1999.

10. Students should be thoroughly informed of research ethics and the serious consequences of plagiarism.

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