This document provides instructions and guidelines for students completing a 6th grade country report. It includes sections on the parts of the report, grading, note taking, sample title page and outline, writing guidelines, creating a map and flag, citing sources, formatting, and plagiarism. It also includes a schedule with due dates for completing drafts and sections of the report.

1. Name__________________________________________
6th Grade Country Report Information
Table of Contents
Parts of the Country Report 2
Grading Scale 3
How to Make Source Cards 4
Taking Notes 5
Sample Title Page 6
Sample Outline 7
Guidelines for Writing Rough Draft 8
Directions for Creating the Map and Flag 9
Citing Your Sources 10
Works Cited Page 10
Country Report Typed Format 11
Statement on Plagiarism 12
Due Dates/Outline of Schedule for Country Report 13
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2. Name__________________________________________
Parts of the 6th Grade Country Report
These are the parts of your country report.
1. A title page includes your country, name, and date in proper form. No other cover is needed. A sample title
page is on page 6.
2. An outline tells how your country report is organized. A sample is on page 7.
3. The report (between 4-6 pages) includes the following:
A. Introduction
B. Body
C. Summary
4. A map of your country. For more details see the Map Section on page 9.
5. A flag of your country showing the colors and symbols. For more details see the Flag Section on page 9.
6. A works cited page is a formal listing of all the sources (books, websites, encyclopedia, magazines, etc.) you
used. A sample is on page 10. You must use at least three sources. You must use one of each of the following:
one source must be a reliable website, and one source must be a book. The third source is your choice.
7. Extra credit information is optional. You may use pictures, diagrams, or charts IF they serve to enhance the
quality of your report. These will come at the end and will NOT take the place of the body of your report.
If any of the required parts are not included, a score of 0 in both content and mechanics will be given for that section.
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3. Name__________________________________________
Grading Scale for the Country Report
Each section in the completed country report is worth the following points of the total grade. Points will be deducted for
both content and mechanical errors.
Content
Title page 2
Outline 6
Body 26
Map 7
Flag 3
Works Cited 6
Total 50
Mechanics
Title page 2
Outline 6
Body 26
Map 7
Flag 3
Works Cited 6
Total 50
The final grade will be worth 100 points, plus the individual note card checks will count at homework grades. Much of
the preparation work will be in quarter 2, while the remainder will be in quarter 3. Since this is such a major project,
please try to do the best you can by:
Having your work in by each deadline
Doing the neatest job you can
Asking for help when needed
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4. Name__________________________________________
How to Make Source Cards
Use the sample outline to help you know what kind of information you could be looking for. When you find your
sources (the books, etc. that contain the information you will need for your report), make a source card for each one.
Follow the sample below, and make sure that all the information is complete and in the right place. You will be
graded on your source cards.
Sample Source Card
Source #
Print citations from the site www.bibme.org, and tape them
onto your source cards.
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5. Name__________________________________________
Taking Notes
All of your notes should be on note cards. Follow the sample below. You will be graded on your note cards.
Sample Note Card
Put a topic from your outline here. Source #
The information goes here. DO NOT use sentence
form. Use BULLET form.
Put the page number(s) here.
This tells where you found the info.
Important Notes:
Use one note card for each idea or topic.
Use only phrases – NO SENTENCES on the note cards.
If you read something that is SO good you want to copy it word for word, you must use a direct quote. This means
that you are copying the statement word for word and have put quotation marks around the words you copied. This
should not be done often.
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6. Name__________________________________________
Sample Title Page
Country’s Name
By: Student’s Name
Date
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7. Name__________________________________________
Sample Outline: Your outline may look very similar, but is tailored to fit your country. Preview your sources to make
sure you can find the information that you want to put in your outline. You may need to make substitutions or
adjustments.
Name of the Country
I. Introduction
II. Land and Climate
A. Land regions
B. Bodies of water
C. Plants and animals
D. Climate
III. History
A. When
B. Important events in history
IV. Economy
A. Natural resources
B. Industries
C. Agriculture
V. Government
A. Current leaders
B. Kind of government
VI. People and Places
A. Population
B. Famous people
C. Important cities
VII. Religion
A. Dominant religion
B. Beliefs
C. Other religions
VIII. Summary
Important Notes: Remember your outline and your report should match. If it’s here, it needs to be in the report. If it’s
not here, it shouldn’t be in your report. Watch the spacing and capitalization of the outline. Also, no Roman numeral can
have just one letter section under it.
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8. Name__________________________________________
Guidelines for Writing the Rough Draft of the Sixth Grade Report
Steps in writing your rough draft:
1. Arrange your note cards according to the topics on your note cards, and in order of your outline.
2. Write your introduction. Remember, this is formal writing. It should NOT include you and me.
(Don’t include statements such as, ―I will tell you about…‖ or ―I found out lots of interesting things
about…‖) Also, it should NOT refer to your paper. (Don’t include statements such as, ―This paper
will talk about…‖ or ―In these paragraphs it will tell you about…‖) Introduce your country, and briefly
describe what will be included in your paper.
3. Write each part according to your outline.
4. Write the conclusion. No new information should be included in the conclusion. Again, keep you
and me out of the paper.
Reminders:
1. Skip lines on your rough draft.
2. When you’re writing the rough draft, don’t worry about details such as exact wording, spelling, etc. Just
keep writing.
3. Whatever is in your outline must be in your paper. If ideas aren’t in the outline, they shouldn’t be in the
paper.
Your handwritten rough draft is due on Tuesday, December 20 or earlier. This only includes the handwritten rough draft,
it does not include the cover, outline page, flag, map, or Works Cited page.
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9. Name__________________________________________
Directions for Map Page
The only part of the map that may be computer-generated or traced is the outline itself. The rest is to be hand-
drawn, hand-labeled, and hand-colored.
The map should take up most of a page.
The following items need to be on your map:
Show and label several major countries around your country.
Show the capital of your country with a star and label it in pen.
Show at least 3 additional major cities with dots and label them in pen.
Show major bodies of water, colored in blue and labeled in pen.
Show major rivers, labeled in pen.
Directions for the Flag Page
The flag is to be hand-drawn. See me early if you feel the flag of your country is too complicated to be hand-drawn. Don’t
wait until just before the project is due!
The flag should take up most of a page.
The flag is to be neatly colored, with symbols or words in black pen.
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10. Name__________________________________________
Citing your Sources
In the body of your report, there will be times when you need to tell where you got your information. This is known as
citing your sources. Anytime you give statistics, opinions, or material that is contrary to popular belief or is only found in
one source, you MUST tell where that information came from.
Here’s how: After the information, put parentheses. In the parentheses put the author’s last name and the page number,
like this. (Jones 14) This tells the reader you used the book by someone named Jones and this information was on page 14
of that book. For an internet source do it the same way. If there is no author listed, put the title of the article/website
and page number, if given.
You do not have to tell where all your information came from. For example, almost every source would
say that George Washington was the first president. That is considered common knowledge and it would not be
necessary to tell where you got that material.
Creating a Works Cited Page
Works Cited
―Colorado.‖ World Book Encyclopedia, 1992.
Evans, Amber. ―Ohio.‖ http://www.states/ohio/gov.
Milton, James. Louisiana. [CD-ROM]. Grolier’s Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2000
Sawyer, Ryan. Discovering the States, A History of Our Country. St. Louis: St. Louis
University Press, 1994.
Woolfolk, Kris. Investment Patterns in the World Petroleum Industry. New York: The
Chase Manhattan Bank, Dec., 1996.
Important Things to note:
1. Sources are listed in alphabetical order according to the last name of the author.
2. Pay special attention to the punctuation, underlines, and order of information. Generally the order is as
follows: Last name, first name, middle initial, title of article, title of book, city of publisher, publisher’s name,
date, and page numbers. In some sources, you will not find all the information. Use what you can find.
3. Notice the indenting. The first line is NOT indented, but the remainder of the lines are.
4. We are using the site www.bibme.org to generate our Works Cited page in MLA format.
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11. Name__________________________________________
Country Report Typed Format
-Typed draft will be typed on a Google document (Google Docs) to allow you to access your work from home, school, or
any other computer.
-Use Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri size 12 font using black ink. Do not use bold or underlining.
-This paper does not require a title or a heading (Except on your Title Page)
-Use standard margins.
-Please double space your work. Do not leave extra space between paragraphs.
-To turn in your final draft on January 13th—download your Google doc to a Word document, and correct any formatting
issues. Create your title page in Word as well. Submit your final paper in the following order:
1. Title Page
2. Outline
3. Paper
4. Works Cited
5. Map
6. Flag
7. Extra Credit
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12. Name__________________________________________
Plagiarism
The following information comes from a book entitled MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi,
Fifth Edition, published by the Modern Language Association of America, 1999.
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is using another person’s words or ideas in your writing without giving credit to the source.
One type of plagiarism is using another’s ideas without giving proper credit.
A second type of plagiarism is using another’s actual words without giving proper credit.
Another type of plagiarism is turning in a paper that you turned in previously for another class.
Some hints to avoid plagiarism:
When taking notes, put them into your own words. Do not take notes in sentence form. Use bullets or lists.
You will still need to tell where you got the ideas, but you will be less likely to plagiarize the words of another
writer.
When reading from a source, close the book (or turn away from the computer) and put the information in your
own words.
Plagiarism is wrong, it’s cheating, it’s not God-pleasing, and it will not be allowed. High schools and colleges expel
students for plagiarizing, or cause a student to fail a course. We at St. John take plagiarizing very seriously.
If you have questions about what is and what isn’t plagiarizing, ask me.
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Keep this page in a prominent place at home!
Important Dates for the Research Paper
*Students should have all research materials and sources in class everyday!*
November 18 Parent Letter/Due Dates/Plagiarism letter sent home
November 21 Country Report Introduction
November 22 How to find appropriate sources
November 23-27 Find your sources (books/websites) for your country. You
must have 3 sources with you in class on Monday, November 28th
November 28 -Parent Letter/Plagiarism Letter with parent signatures due
-Folder/Organization system and note cards in class today
-3 sources due
Nov. 28-Dec. 2 Source Cards, Works Cited Page, Outlines & beginning Research
December 2 Source Cards, Works Cited Page, and (Typed) Outline due
December 5-9 Research & Note-taking
December 7 Note-taking Check #1
December 12 Note Cards due—Research Complete
December 12-16 Rough Draft Writing
December 20 Rough Draft Due
January 3 Rough Drafts Returned
January 3-7 During Technology—Type Rough Draft
During LA—Work on Map/Flag
January 6 Typed Copy of Rough Draft Due
-Turn in one copy to Miss Pfund
-Take one copy home for an adult to edit
January 9 Adult Edit due
January 9-13 During Technology—Make edits to Typed Rough Draft
During LA—Work on Map or Flag
January 13 Final Paper due!
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