3. Pace the content based on your students ability. In the movies the teacher assigns the research paper and students  just do it. That has never happened in my professional career, even with my AP Language students. So to make the assignment seem doable to students, I always break the paper into “chunks”. So instead of just assigning a 10 page research paper with at least 8 sources I break the research paper into mini assignments.
Ideally the first assignment is to actually getting students to develop a topic for their research then helping them  narrow down their topics from broad to specific. After that the assignments vary from developing annotated bibliographies to creating outlines but no matter the assignment it’s all paced to help students get to the final product, the research paper. In addition to “chunking” the assignment, I also make sure that kids are given ample time to complete the assignment based upon their skills and/or progress.
Click here for tip #4.
