1. DISASTERS PROJECT
NOT ANOTHER RESEARCH PAPER

2. ORGANIZATION CHECKLIST
 E-MAIL
 GOOGLE DOCUMENTS
 LINK TO PROJECT SITE
 NOTE CARDS
 4 COLORS – MARKERS OR HIGHLIGHTERS
 BIG ENVELOPE

3. PICK YOUR TOPIC
Choose a Disaster that interests you
DID YOU LIVE IT?
KNOW SOMEONE WHO LIVED IT?
READ ABOUT IT?
SAW A DOCUMENTARY OR NEWS REPORT?
SAW A MOVIE?
JUST CURIOUS?

4. WHERE TO BEGIN
START WITH A QUESTION
??????????????????

5. WHAT HAPPENED?
Describe what happened
Timeline or sequence of
QUESTIONS
WHEN
events WHERE
What sorts of resources
Did geography or
were available during the
culture play a part in the
time period the disaster
amount of damage or
occurred?
WHY? rebuilding decisions?
Were there natural causes?
Were there man-made causes? WHO?
What were environmental, Who was affected by this disaster?
political or cultural factors that Who were responded while the disaster
determined the amount of was taking place? What did they do?
damage or loss of life? Who came to help? What did they do?
Who are scientists, politicians, media,
religious figures, humanitarians ,
HOW? celebrities involved?
What is the science behind this disaster? What organizations are involved?
How was the disaster managed by
government, volunteers, disaster relief
organizations, scientists, media?
How will future disasters be prevented or HOW MANY? SERIOUSLY?
damaged minimized? HOW MUCH? An amazing fact
Statistics

6. CHECK YOUR QUESTIONS
Have you included the basic SHORT ANSWER questions
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
WHO
HOW MUCH – STATISTICS
Do some of your questions require DESCRIPTION OR
EXPLANATION?
WHAT - DETAIL, SEQUENCE , TIMELINE
WHO – ROLES AND
Do some of your questions require ANALYSIS, MAKING
CONNECTIONS, OR DRAWING CONCLUSIONS?
WHY – CAUSES
HOW – EFFECTS AND PROCESSES

7. FIND SOURCES
PRINT BOOKS & WEBSITES
FOLLETT LIBRARY CATALOG
PRINT ENCYCLOPEDIA, REFERENCE, AND MAGAZINE
ARTICLES
GALE DATABASES
APPROVED WEB SITES
https://sites.google.com/site/9thgradedisasterproject/hom
e

8. EVALUATE YOUR SOURCES
AUTHORITATIVE
Who is the author or organization responsible for the content of the site?
How is this person or organization qualified to speak to this subject?
Do you recognize the name of the author or organization as a trustworthy source?
Is the purpose of the site to educate and inform you, to persuade you to agree with a
position on the topic, to sell you something?
ACCURATE
Are sources cited for the information presented?
Does the information agree with other information you’ve read about the subject?
CURRENT
Is there a copyright date or posting date on the information?
Is new information about your topic still being discovered and reported or has it
happened far enough in the past that its history established? The answer to this
question will determine how much the date of publication matters.

9. DOCUMENT YOUR SOURCES
GIVES CREDIBILITY to your work
GIVES CREDIT to your sources for their work

10. MLA DOCUMENTATION
Standard form used in liberal arts
research to reference sources within the
paper using
PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION
and to list bibliographic information about
sources at the end with a
WORK CITED PAGE

11. WHAT IS BIBLIOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION?
TITLE
AUTHOR
PUBLICATION INFORMATION
DATES

12. WHERE DO YOU FIND
BIBLIOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION?
DEPENDS ON THE SOURCE
BOOK – TITLE PAGE OR VERSO TITLE PAGE
GALE –BEGINNING OR END OF THE
ARTICLE
WEB - ON THE PAGE WITH THE ARTICLE
ON THE MAIN OR HOME PAGE
ON THE “ABOUT US” PAGE

13. WHAT DOES AN MLA
CITATION LOOK LIKE FOR A
BOOK?
BOOK
Vogel, Carole. Shock Waves through Los
Angeles: the Northridge Earthquake.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
1995.
The formatting does not always appear correctly on web
pages.

14. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE
FOR A MAGAZINE FROM GALE
DATABASE?
Monastersky, Richard. "Northridge quake
packed
unusual punch." Science News 30 Apr.
1994: 287. Gale Student Resources In
Context. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.
The formatting does not always appear correctly on web pages.

15. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE
FOR A WEB SOURCE?
National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Earthquake Northridge California. NIST: U.S.
Department of Commerce. 12 Aug. 2011.
Web. 21 Mar. 2012
<http:www/northridge/nist.gov>
The formatting does not always appear correctly on web pages.

16. EASY BIB
Citation made easier
http://easybib.com/

17. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO?
Be able to identify:
•Author, Editor, or Responsible Entity
•Title of the book, article, or web page
•Title of the anthology, magazine, journal, or web site
•Name of the editor or compiler for an anthology
•Responsible individual or organization
•Date of publication
•Place of publication and publisher for print sources

18. WHAT DOES EASY BIB DO?
•Provides cues for bibliographic information you
need to include.
•Formats the information you supply.
•Saves citations from previous entries.

19. HOW SHOULD YOUR WORKS
CITED PAGE LOOK?
Works Cited
Monastersky, Richard. "Northridge quake packed unusual punch." Science
News 30 Apr. 1994: 287. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 21
Mar. 2012.
National Institute of Standards and Technology. "Earthquake Northridge
California 1994." NIST. U.S. Department of Commerce, 12 Aug. 2011.
Web. 21 Mar.2012. <http://www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/1994.cfm>
Vogel, Carole. Shock Waves through Los Angeles: the Northridge Earthquake.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995.
*THIS EXAMPLE MAY NOT APPEAR CORRECTLY ON THE WEB PAGE .PLEASE REFER
TO THE PRINT EXAMPLE ON THE PINK BROCHURE YOU PICKED UP IN THE LIBRARY.

20. CHECK YOUR WORKS CITED
PAGE
•DOUBLE SPACE WITH NO EXTRA SPACES BETWEEN
ENTRIES
•HANGING INDENT FOR EACH ENTRY
•ALPHABETICAL ORDER
•“Works Cited” AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
•CAPITALIZE ALL WORDS IN TITLE EXCEPT ARTICLES AND
PREPOSITIONS (unless the first word is an article or
preposition)
•PUT URLS INSIDE BRACKETS <http://www...>

21. THESIS STATEMENT
Focus your paper
Tell what you hope to prove
Explain which questions you will
answer

22. USE QUESTIONS TO FORM
THESIS
EXAMPLE: Spanish Flu Pandemic
What caused the Spanish Flu?
Why did it spread so quickly?
How did it spread from country to country?
How did doctors handle the epidemic?
Did each country handle it differently?
Did that effect the number of deaths?

23. THESIS STATEMENTS FOR THE
SAME TOPIC MAY VARY
EXAMPLE 1: Several factors contributed to the
Spanish Flu pandemic which spread across the
entire world between 1918 and 1920 killing between
50 and 100 million people.
EXAMPLE 2: The Spanish Flu Pandemic that
occurred worldwide between 1918 and 1920 had a
profound effect on modern medicine and health
practices.

24. DIFFERENT THESIS/DIFFERENT
QUESTIONS
Several factors contributed to the The Spanish Flu Pandemic that
Spanish Flu pandemic which occurred worldwide between
spread across the entire world 1918 and 1920 had a profound
between 1918 and 1920 killing effect on modern medicine and
between 50 and 100 million health practices.
people.
Focuses on the medical and health aspects:
 When?  When?
 Where?  Where?
 How many people died?  What was the effect of the pandemic on
 What caused it to spread? medicine and health practices?
In the paper
In the paper:
 Describe the disease and its symptoms
 Describe the disease and its symptoms
 Explain how it was transmitted and spread
 Explain how the disease was transmitted
 Explain what doctors and health officials
between people did to treat it
 Trace how the disease spread across the  Why did so many people die from Spanish
world Flu?
 Explain how World War I, health  Explain what changes were made in health
practices and social practices, mobility of practices after this event
the population, etc. contributed to the  Has it occurred since and, if so why was it
spread of the disease less deadly?

25. CHECK YOUR THESIS
STATEMENT
•Can your thesis statement be proved?
•Which questions do you need to answer in order to prove your
thesis?
•Have you found sources that answer those questions?

26. OUTLINE
Identify which questions apply
to your thesis
Sort your questions into
categories of knowledge
Create an outline

27. BASIC SAMPLE OUTLINE
I. Introduction
II. Causes
A. Natural
B. Man-made
III. Damage
A. Financial cost
B. Human cost
IV. Prevention
A. Government
B. Private
V. Conclusion

28. QUESTIONS FOR INQUIRY
Where did the Spanish Flu originate?
What are the symptoms?
Why was it called a pandemic?
How did it spread?
How fast did it spread?
Why did it spread so fast?
How was it transmitted?
What was it’s geographical path?
Who treated the Spanish Flu?
What health regulations resulted from the epidemic?

29. CATEGORIZE YOUR
QUESTIONS
What is the Spanish Flu?
What are it’s symptoms?
CATEGORIES
Where did the Spanish Flu start?
Disease
Why was it called a pandemic?
Spread of the disease
How was it transmitted?
Treatment of the
How fast did it spread? disease
What caused it to spread so fast? Impact of the disease
What was it’s geographical path? on society and
What were symptoms? medicine
Who treated the Spanish Flu?
What health regulations resulted from the epidemic?
What medical knowledge was gained from the experience?

30. USE YOUR CATEGORIES AS
OUTLINE TOPICS AND SUB
TOPICS
I. Introduction
II. Disease
A. Biological characteristics – What is the Spanish Flu?
B. Symptoms – What are the symptoms
C. Treatment – How was it treated?
III. Spread
A. Transmission – How did people catch flu from one another?
B. Geographic Path – How did it spread across the world?
C. Social, biological, and political factors – Why did it spread so
quickly?
IV. Impact
A. Medicine and health – What did doctors and nurses learn from
treating flu?
B. Social and economic – How did it effect families, cities, and
nations?
V. Conclusion

31. CHECK YOUR OUTLINE
•Logical categories for your topic
•Introduction at the beginning with Roman numeral I.
•Conclusion at the end with the last Roman numeral in
sequence
•Double spaced
•All the Roman numerals line up
•All the subtopic letters line up
•All letters are indented evenly under the Roman numerals
•There has to be more than one category to break down a
Roman numeral - no A. with or a B; does not have to be a C
•If there is more than A, B, and C consider making a new
category with another Roman numeral

32. NOTES
One fact per card
Facts that answer questions
Match fact to outline slug
Match fact to source

33. ANSWER ONE QUESTION ON
EACH CARD
Movement of troops after
World War I allowed to flu to
travel across borders or
countries and oceans.
THIS CARD HELPS ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
How did it travel worldwide?

34. AREN’T NOTECARDS OLD
FASHIONED?
YES, BUT…
Writing your notes on the cards helps prevent plagiarism.
It is easier to tell whether you have found enough information to
cover your topic.
It is easier to sort note cards into the order you want to present
your facts when you are ready to write your paper.

35. What is an outline slug?
I. I. Introduction
II. II. Disease
Each letter A. Biological characteristics
Roman numeral combo B. Symptoms
counts as a slug – C. Treatment
II.A. is a slug III. III. Spread
III.B. is a slug A. Transmission
B. Geographic Path
Each Roman numeral
 C. Social, biological, and political
that does not have a
factors
letter to subdivide it
IV. IV. Impact
counts as a slug.
A. Medicine and health
IV. is a slug
B. Social and economic
V. IV. Conclusion

36. INCLUDE THE
CORRESONDING OUTLINE
SLUG FOR EACH FACT
I. Introduction
III. C. Billings
II. Disease
A. Biological characteristics
B. Symptoms Movement of troops after World
C. Treatment War I allowed the flu to travel
III. Spread across borders and oceans.
A. Transmission
B. Geographic Path
C. Social, biological, and political f
IV. Impact
A. Medicine and health
B. Social and economic
V. Conclusion

37. Include the first word
of the bibliographic
INCLUDE THE SOURCE entry.
Author’s last name
or the first word of
FOR EACH FACT the title that is not an
article if your entry
has no author listed.
Works cited
Aaronson, Virginia. The Spanish Flu Pandemic of
1918. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000.
Billings, Molly. The 1818 Influenza Pandemic.
Stanford University. Feb. 2005. 26 Mar.
III.C. Billings
2012.
Movement of troops after World
<http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/>
War I allowedHolmes,to travel C. "1918 and all that." Science
the flu Edward
across borders. 303.5665 (2004): 1787+. Gale Student
Resources In Context. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.

38. CHECK YOUR NOTES
•Every fact or card answers a question and has a slug
•At least one slug per outline slug
•Every fact has a documented source
•Enough facts for each slug to answer the corresponding
question

39. WRITE YOUR PAPER
Write an introduction
Use your outline and note cards to write
the body
Write a conclusion

40. Introduction
Make sure you answer What? When? And Where? In your
introduction.
Hook your reader. Start with one of your “Seriously?” facts
Introduce your topic with basic facts that lead into to your
thesis.
Last sentence of your introduction is your thesis
statement.

41. SAMPLE INTRODUCTION
With the thesis statement at the end
SERIOUS
In spite of the name, Spanish Flu did not originate in LY?
Spain. There are a number of theories about where this
WHAT?
deadly, highly contagious disease originated. Several factors
contributed to the Spanish flu pandemic that spread across
WHER
the entire world between 1918 and 1920 killing between E?
30 and 40 million people (PBS). WHEN
?

42. Write from your note cards
Put your note cards in outline order
Put facts on cards into a complete sentences
It’s okay to combine several related facts into one
sentence
Use outline categories to form paragraphs.
If you have enough facts you can make each A. B. C.
slug its own paragraph.
If not use larger divisions II. III. IV. to separate facts into
paragraphs

43. Parenthetical documentation
Credit your sources with parenthetical documentation
when you use:
QUOTES
STATISTICS
UNIQUE FACTS OR IDEAS FOUND IN ONLY ONE
SOURCE

44. PARENTHETICAL
DOCUMENTATION EXAMPLE
In spite of the name, Spanish Flu did not
originate in Spain. There are a number of theories Cite statistics
with parenthetical
about where this deadly, highly contagious disease documentation
originated. Several factors contributed to the
Spanish flu pandemic that spread across the entire
IV.B.
PBS
world between 1918 and 1920 killing between 30
Death Stats
and 40 million people (PBS). 30 to 40 million died
worldwide

45. It’s a Rough Draft
Just go through your note cards and write
Just get your facts and ideas on paper
You can reword and grammar & punctuation mistakes
later

46. SAMPLE BODY PARAGRAPH
IIA Jones
100 times more deadly than the H1N1 virus 100 times more deadly
than H1N1 (36)
that today’s flu shot prevents (Jones 36) the IIA PBS
Spanish flu often killed its victims just hours after Some victims died within
hours of the first signs
they became symptomatic. Scientists recreated of infection
the Spanish flu in a lab. They learned that the IIA Jones
lung tissue preserved from
Spanish Flu started as a bird flu and passed autopsies of two soldiers
genes showed the Spanish
through swineWhen citing a PRINT source,
before it could infect the human flu came directly from a
include the page number in bird virus and moved
population. the parenthetical humans after mutating (49)
documentation

47. SAMPLE BODY PARAGRAPH
II B
The symptoms were fevers over 104 Spanish Symptoms: fevers
of 104 degrees or higher
degrees and extremely painful body aches. Some and aches
IIB Spanish
Cyanosis, a lack of oxygen
victims turned blue-black because of a lack of
in the blood that turns the
r
skin a bluish-black color
oxygen. (Spanish) Most victims were healthy young
IIB Spanish
adults. This was unusual because victims of most young healthy adults
usually flu strikes older
infectious diseases are babies, the elderly, and people, babies, and those
with weakened immune
people with poor immune systems. The kind of systems
IIB
Jones
people the flu claimed as victims influenced the Increased mobility
Cars-faster plane &
way it spread. Younger people were the ones who boats
travelled more and who were in World War I.

48. JUST KEEP WRITING FROM
YOUR NOTE CARDS Spanish
IIIB
The Spanish flu probably did not
There are several theories on where the IIIB
originate in Spain. World War I
Jones
was still going on and since Spain
Spanish Flu originated. Early, but milder cases was neutral and its press
Theory: Started w/ milder
uncensored, the Spanish press
case amongthe epidemic.
reported on Austrian soldiers
in the flu in Austria made cause some scientists Spring of 1917 & mutated.
IIIB
Another theory- France
PBS
to say that’s where it started (Jones, 87). The
Theory: Some believe that it
started in Kansas. 1st really
first serious cases were in Kansas where they IIIB cases were there
serious PBS
spread to a nearby Army post and could have
Theory: China, to the
United States to Europe
been carried overseas from there. Since many - spread worldwide
because of the war.
bird flu start in China many scientists think that

49. III.C Spanish
deadly strain may have mutated there then
close troop quarters and
moved out with troops (PBS).
massive troop movements
made it easier for flu to
spread
Because of World War I troops were III.C. PBS
Travel easier - Cars, faster
moving around the globe. Troops were trains and steam ships
III. C.
housed in close quarters and travelled in large Spanish
Kansas case in 1918 mutated
III. C.
groups. For example within a month of the strain
Spanish
III.C. boy got when he died
“All a
first Kansas solder’s illness,1100 troops at Jones sheet. There weren’t
was a
Started caskets to bury the
enough in Kansas
Camp Funston were hospitalized. Almost
3 III.C. later at Army campPBS
dead.
months
simultaneously the same thing was happening Week later 100 troops
Quarantines
Month later 1100 troops (22)
III.C. later 100
Week
in Boston and Chicago. “All a boy got when he Spanish later 1100 troops (22)
Month
Countried with blockades had
died was a sheet. There weren’t enough fewer cases
caskets to bury the dead.” (Spanish).

50. People wore masks for protection but this IV. A.
PBS
backfired because dirty masks were good hosts for Dirty masks were hosts for
the virus
the virus (PBS). Spanish Flu offered this and otherIV. A. Jones
Doctors exhumed bodies to
lessons for doctors. A large number of deaths
study spread of the flu and
were able to discover that
originally blamed on Spanish Flu were really from IV A.
the nature of the flu
Spanish
aspirin poisoning(Spanish). Studying this flu with
Aspirin poisoning – the
IV. B.
treatment acutally caused
modern technology is helping doctors learn how flu Jones
more people to die
Because so many people
spreads. died in the war at the same
time the economic and
The personal impact of the flu on individuals is social impact of the flu
IV. B. be separated from
can’t
reflected in 675, 000 deaths in the U.S. alone Spanish (87)
that
Same population, young adults
(Spanish), and over 3 million worldwide It is died from flu and in WWI
impossible to separate out the social and economic

51. Axis “Commander Erich von Ludendorff blamed IV. B.
Spanish
Spanish Flu for the failure of Germany’s major Spring“Commander Erich von
Ludendorf blamed Spanish
offensive” (Spanish) Flu for the loss of
Germany’s major Spring
II.A
The factors that caused the spread of the Spanish offensive.”
PBs
Flu were World War I, modern transportation, and the Called the “forgotten
pandemic”
population it affected. While the timing led to its other
nickname, “The forgotten pandemic” (PBS) the Spanish
Flu may have helped the Allies win the war (Spanish).

52. CONCLUSION EXAMPLE YOUR THESIS
RESTATE
The factors that caused the spread of the
Spanish Flu were World War I, modern ADD YOUR
CONCLUSIO
transportation, and the population it affected. NS ABOUT
THE THESIS
While the timing led to its other nickname,
END WITH
“The forgotten pandemic” (PBS) the Spanish ANOTHER
INTERESTING
Flu may have helped the Allies win the war FACT OR IDEA
(Spanish).

53. EDIT AND REVISE
After you write it
READ IT!
Have someone else read it
Make it better

54. LOOK FOR MISTAKES
Spell check and Grammar check – The first thing, not the only
thing
Tense agreement – Past Tense when you are talking about an
event
Person – 3rd Person for a formal paper
Documentation – (Source) after quotes, statistics, unique facts
Punctuation – If documentation is at the end of the sentence the
period goes after the (Parenthesis).
Complete sentence – Minimum 1 verb
Paragraphs – Facts from one Roman number slug together in a
paragraph
If paragraph is longer than 5 sentence make a separate paragraph

55. EDITING WITH MICROSOFT
REVIEW
HOW TO REVIEW A DOCUMENT IN WORD 2007
1. Select the text you would like to comment upon
2. Open the Review ribbon,
3. Click on Balloons and choose Show revisions in
Balloons
4. Select New Comment in the Comments section
3. In the balloon that appears in the right margin, type
your comment
4. Click anywhere in the document to continue editing
the document

56. COMMON CORRECTION
TERMS
G = fault in grammar
P = fault in punctuation
wdy = wordy
awk = awkward or confusing phrasing
rep = unnecessary repetition
S/V = subject verb agreement
T = tense
frag = fragment – not a complete sentence