A Comprehensive Approach to Teaching Research and Writing

Helping students become confident researchers doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. With our carefully designed resources, research opportunities are thoughtfully woven into reading modules (text sets) throughout the year, and you are equipped with everything you’ll need to walk students through the entire research and writing process—step by step, skill by skill.

At the core of this research approach is a  9-part video series paired with a Research Project Graphic Organizer that scaffolds the research process for students. These tools provide clear, explicit instruction and guidance in essential research skills, supporting students as they develop their abilities to investigate, synthesize, and communicate knowledge effectively.

The Research Process—Built Right into Your Curriculum

Each of our reading modules is organized around a specific topic or theme, offering students a cohesive and meaningful context for learning. Every module includes:

• An overarching guiding question to anchor learning
• Several focused research questions that explore different angles of the topic*
• Curated text sets that build background knowledge and offer multiple perspectives

These components encourage students to deepen their understanding by exploring different facets of a topic and analyzing information from multiple texts and sources. You can assign research questions to students or allow students to choose one that sparks their interest. With the help of the video series and graphic organizer, students then work through the process of finding/organizing information and crafting a research paper or project aligned to the module’s theme. This process also supports students in developing further questions based on their curiosity and research.

*Focused research questions are available for All-Access teachers on the Instructional Pathways. Teachers can also create their own relevant questions to use with the Research Project Graphic Organizer.

Explicit Skills Instruction

Our resources help students master key research and writing skills, including:

• Gathering relevant information from both print and digital sources
• Using search terms effectively
• Evaluating the credibility and accuracy of sources
• Quoting and paraphrasing properly while avoiding plagiarism
• Citing sources using a standard format

These skills are broken down into manageable steps through the videos and Research Project Graphic Organizer, making them accessible to students and easy for you to reinforce. The 9-part video series includes the following topics: 

• Research and Writing Projects Part 1: Introduction to Research
• Research and Writing Projects Part 2: Developing a Research Question
• Research and Writing Projects Part 3: Finding Reliable Sources
• Research and Writing Projects Part 4: Reading and Analyzing Sources
• Research and Writing Projects Part 5: Synthesizing Information from Multiple Sources
• Research and Writing Projects Part 6: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
• Research and Writing Projects Part 7: Conducting Short Research Projects
• Research and Writing Projects Part 8: Generating Additional Questions
• Research and Writing Projects Part 9: Presenting Your Findings 

Building Toward Mastery

When you use these materials across multiple modules throughout the year, students get repeated, authentic practice with research and writing. This not only builds content knowledge around the topics and themes of each module but also helps students develop transferable skills that align with grade-level standards.

These research materials encourage students to draw evidence from literary and informational texts to develop their ideas, supporting deep thinking and analysis as part of the research process.

A Culminating Project Opportunity

While the research skills students develop are embedded into the core curriculum, we also offer stand-alone research units that provide a perfect way to culminate the year’s work. These engaging, high-interest projects allow students to apply everything they’ve learned in a fun, flexible way.

Some of our favorite final research units include:

• The Travel Magazine Research Project – a creative way to explore geography, culture, and travel writing
• The Year I Was Born Research Project – a deep dive into historical events, pop culture, and innovations from a single year
• The Price Is Right Research Unit or Off to Camp Research Unit – a research project centered on product research
• Henderson Island Project-Based Learning Unit or 'Ata Island Project-Based Learning Unit – a unit that combines research and problem-solution writing

These units aren't tied to a specific module or scope and sequence, making them easy to plug in whenever you’re ready to wrap up the year with a research-based celebration of learning.

Try It Out in Your Classroom

Whether you're introducing students to research for the first time or helping them to build on skills they’ve practiced all year, our resources make it easy to teach research with clarity, purpose, and engagement. Choose a stand-alone unit to get started or dive into one of our thematic modules and start guiding your students toward research confidence today!