1. 5th Grade Research Writing Project—Biography
Dear Parents,
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During the remainder of 3 quarter and for a portion of 4 quarter, your child will be working on a research writing project-a biography. Because we have never done a project involving researching and taking notes from a source before, all students will
be researching the same person for their biography. We will be researching and writing about the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses II, as
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this ties in with the 5 Grade Social Studies unit. Please take a few minutes to read through the following information regarding this
project. Included with this letter is a statement on plagiarism, as well as outlined dates for the project.
The dates listed on page 3 are for specific items I will need to grade and/or check progress, as well as to give you a general idea of
what we are doing in class to complete the research project. (Please keep in mind that dates may have to be altered due to the
needs of class throughout the project. If dates are changed, students will be told in class, and their planners will reflect change. The
weekly newsletter/e-mail will have the corrected dates.) Because we have never done a writing project like this, a majority of the
work will be done in class. However, time may need to be spent outside of class to complete work for due dates.
Completing work by the due dates is an important part of this project. This writing project will be a large portion of your student’s
grade for this quarter and part of next quarter. The finished project will count as a test grade (100 points), plus the individual due
dates and in-class work will count as homework grades.
If you have questions about this project, please e-mail or call me. Thanks in advance for your help and support during this research
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writing project! Please sign and remove the bottom portion of this document and turn in by Monday, February 18 .
Blessings,
Mrs. Weber
--------------------------------------------------------------------We have read through the Parent Letter, Statement on Plagiarism and the outlined due dates for this project.
Student Name: ____________________________________________________
Student Signature: ______________________________________________________
Date: ___________________
Parent Signature: ________________________________________________________
Statement on Plagiarism
Date: ___________________
The following is what Marquette High School Language Arts Department sends home with their students explaining Rockwood’s
policy on plagiarism.
“Recent media reports about plagiarism in our nation’s high schools and universities reveal how tempting it is, with the abundant
Internet sources available, for students to “borrow” from such sources and others without properly crediting the authors. Most
students will never make the mistake of plagiarizing, and indeed this behavior may be truly unintentional, with students simply
unclear on how to correctly paraphrase and document. At other times, however, students may understand they are plagiarizing
and yet see it as the easy way out without realizing the seriousness of their actions. Rockwood School District now has a districtwide policy on academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism. Even so, the consequences detailed in this new policy are minor
ones compared to what students could suffer at the college level. For example, a top Princeton senior was rejected by at least six
law schools after she plagiarized an assignment only months before graduation.
With all this in mind, the Language Arts Department at Marquette wants to be certain that everyone understands what plagiarism
is and how to use sources properly. In any kind of research, the correct use of source material can benefit a student, while the
misuse of sources could damage a student’s academic standing. During the course of the school year, every Marquette English
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2. 5th Grade Research Writing Project—Biography
teacher gives a definition of plagiarism and explains what must be done when writing a paper or preparing a speech in order to
ensure ethical treatment of all sources.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------Students at St. John need to understand how to use information they get from a variety of sources. As a class, we will go through
how to use information from sources without plagiarizing, and hopefully students will not plagiarize, either intentionally or
unintentionally. According to our school handbook, cheating or the appearance of cheating will result in a grade of zero for the
assignment, plus we will contact the parent. Please help your child understand that plagiarizing is cheating.
Thanks for your cooperation and support!
Important Dates for the Biography
February 20
Project Explaining in Class—Parent Forms, Overview & Process, Due Dates
February 20
Parent Packet Sent Home—Signed form due on Monday, February 24
February 24
Finding Sources (Source 1: History Book, Source 2: Reliable Website)
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February 27
March 3
Creating a Works Cited Page & Source Cards (due on Friday, February 28 )
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Reading/Noting Sources (finish reading, noting and highlighting due Tuesday, March 4 )
March 4
-Compare Notes from Sources
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-Creating an Outline (due on Wednesday, March 5 )
March 5
-Note-taking Basics
-Setting up/Formatting Note Cards
March 6
Research/Note Taking
March 7
Research/Note Taking
March
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Research/Note Taking (Research/Note Cards FINISHED by Tuesday, March 11)
March 11
Rough Draft Writing
March 12
Rough Draft Writing
March 13-14
Rough Draft Writing (Rough Draft due on Friday, March 14 )
March 17-21
Spring Break 
March 25-29
-Rough Drafts Returned / Mini-Conferences
-Typed Draft Guidelines & Reminders
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-Typed Draft due on Thursday, March 27
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-Adult Edit of Typed Draft due on Tuesday, April 1
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3. 5th Grade Research Writing Project—Biography
April 3
-Typed Draft Returned / Mini-Conferences
-Final Draft Guidelines & Reminders
April 7-11
-Final Draft Preparations (Final Draft due on Monday, April 14 )
April 14
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FINAL DRAFT DUE!
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