5th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 10 of 11
Research Ready
Questions, sources, notes and credit
What your child practices
Children practice narrowing a research question, searching with keywords, judging sources, telling sponsored content from information, taking notes, paraphrasing and citing sources instead of copying.
Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 5.W.7; 5.W.8 · research questions, judging sources, taking notes and listing sources
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Narrow your question and search with keywords.
- Judge a source: who wrote it, what do they know, is it an ad?
- Take notes in your own words. Use quotation marks for exact words, and cite your sources. Copying is plagiarism.
Example: When should you use quotation marks in a report? Your own words don’t need them. Someone else’s exact words do. Answer: when you use a source’s exact words
Research Ready in Arizona
In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 10 of 11 in 5th grade English Language Arts, after Create With Words, Pictures and Sound and before Spelling Smarts.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
- 5th grade guide for Arizona parents
- Printable 5th grade English Language Arts sheet
- Arizona report cards explained
Source: Arizona Department of Education
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
You use a photo from a website in your slideshow. What should you do?
- give credit to who made it
- hide where it came from
- say you took it
- change the colors and keep it
give credit to who made it
Hint: Pictures are someone's work too.
Question 2
Why is the author's background important?
- it helps you judge if they know the topic
- it shows the font
- it is not important
- it tells you the price
it helps you judge if they know the topic
Hint: Experts are more likely to be accurate.
Question 3
Which research question is focused enough for a short report?
- Animals
- How do sea otters use tools to eat?
- Why is the world interesting?
- Everything about the ocean
How do sea otters use tools to eat?
Hint: A good question is narrow enough to answer.
Question 4
Which statement from a website is an opinion?
- Many cities collect recycling each week.
- Aluminum cans can be recycled.
- Recycling is the most important thing anyone can do.
- Paper is made from wood fibers.
Recycling is the most important thing anyone can do.
Hint: Words like “most important” show a judgment.
Question 5
What is sponsored content?
- a free school lesson
- a dictionary entry
- something paid for by a company to look like regular content
- a weather report
something paid for by a company to look like regular content
Hint: Look for words like “sponsored” or “ad.”
Question 6
Which is a secondary source about the Moon landing?
- a photo taken by an astronaut
- a book written years later about it
- an astronaut's own notes
- a recording from mission control
a book written years later about it
Hint: Secondary sources explain events after they happen.