How to Help Students Master Research Writing by Fixing These 3 Mistakes

Have you ever read a student’s research paper and wondered where things went wrong?

Without knowing how to fix common student misconceptions and mistakes within informational writing, you won’t be able to develop stronger critical thinking skills, increase your students’ confidence, or prepare them for middle and high school-level writing. Your students will continue to plagiarize (even unknowingly) and have disorganized essays. 

Step #1: Choose a “Just Right” Topic

Before you can focus on the rest of the research writing process, take your time helping your students choose a topic that is “just right”. Often, students will choose a research topic that is too broad or too narrow. This makes it difficult when they write their thesis statement, begin to research their topic, and when they write their essay. 

Consider the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. When Goldilocks entered the bears’ house, she slept in their beds and ate their food. When she got to the kitchen and was eating their porridge, she said “This one is too hot. This one is too cold. This one is just right.” 

Research Funnel

You can help your students choose a “just right” topic by using a research funnel. You would start with a broad topic (for example, “space”) and then narrow it down to a more specific focus (ex: “Black Holes”). A “just right” topic would be “how black holes form”. 

Two questions you can have your students ask themselves to test whether their topic is “just right” or not are below:

• Can I find enough credible sources on this topic? 

• Can I write 3+ paragraphs about this topic?

If the answers to both questions are “yes”, they can move forward with their topic. If an answer to one of the questions is “no”, they need to adjust.

Choose the Topic (and Give Your Students Some Choice)

I teach sixth grade and always begin by looking at the curriculum to see how I can connect our informational essays with a topic we are learning about in science or social studies. This year, I’m teaching geography and life science. 

I’ve had my students complete shorter research projects for countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa to get them used to the research process. They’ve created Google Sites and Google Slides presentations. In life science, we do a unit on animals in the spring. I will be connecting our informational essays to our animals unit - students will choose a unique animal and research its habitat, adaptations, diet, predators/prey, and interesting facts. The research process is structured with focused questions so students will have enough information to be able to write their paragraphs and stick to the topic (you can find it here). 

If you are not self-contained and only teach Language Arts, collaborate with other teachers in your building. See what your students are learning about in other classes and try to collaborate with the teachers in those subjects to integrate other content areas!

I have found it helpful to choose a broader topic for my students and have them narrow it down to a “just right” topic within the scope of what we are learning. In this case, they will be choosing their animal to research so they still have some choice and can pick something they are interested in. 

Step #2: Cover Citing Sources (and Recording Information)

When students came to me in fifth and sixth grade, they did not know how to cite sources (or what a source was at all). Citing sources was one area I did a lot of frontloading on. I split citing sources into two parts:

1. The Structure of a Citation 

2. What Counts as a Credible Source

Structure of a Citation

The first essential question we focused on was, “How is a citation structured?” We examined many example Works Cited pages and practiced putting citations for websites and books in the correct order. We also used Easy Bib and Citation Machine, but those came after they learned about the structure of a citation. 

If your students are completely new to citing sources like mine were, check out this engaging, hands-on activity for students to practice putting citations together the correct way in MLA format (linked here)!

What Makes a Source Credible 

The second essential question we focused on was, “What makes a source credible?” I taught my students what makes a source credible and we practiced evaluating a handful of sources related to their topic before they even got into the research process and wrote anything down in their graphic organizers. 

My students ask me all the time if they can count Wikipedia as a source. With the addition of AI Overview to Google, I’ve been telling my students that they may use both Wikipedia and AI Overview as a starting point, but they have to check the facts that they found with two other credible sources to see if the information is accurate. 

Another common trend I’ve noticed is when students write down a source, they will often just put “Google”. I explicitly teach them and remind them all the time that “Google is a search engine, NOT a source”.

Step #3: Summarizing and Paraphrasing

A third (but not final) area that I have had to teach my students, review many times, and teach them again is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing (and how to do both). 

We focus on:

1. Summarizing short texts using the 5 W’s (who, what, where, when, why)

2. Using the 5 Word Rule with paraphrasing (if 5 or more words are the same as the source’s version, then we need to reword again)

When we take notes in the initial research stage, I also emphasize to students that if they directly copy information from a website or book, they must put it in quotation marks. 

Key Takeaways

Teaching upper elementary students to choose the right topic, cite their sources properly, and summarize effectively takes time, but the payoff is huge. By addressing these common misconceptions early, we’re building essential skills that will continue to serve them after their academic careers are over.

When students learn to research with purpose, write with confidence, and think critically about the information they are taking in, they become more independent learners. Plus, they’ll feel less frustrated and overwhelmed when tackling research-based assignments. 

By guiding students step by step and reinforcing these skills through practice, we can transform research writing from a stressful task into an empowering learning experience.