1. 3 rd Grade Animal Research Project

2. Collecting Information It is your job to learn how to collect information using a variety of sources. For this project, you will be using print and internet resources. Other types of resources include online, databases, interviews with experts, and visual sources such as timelines, graphs, and maps.

3. Skimming and Scanning Skimming and scanning allows you to cover a lot of information in a short amount of time. Helps to identify main idea. This is where you need to pay attention to titles, subtitles, headings, first and last sentences in paragraphs, illustrations, and first paragraphs. This is simply to locate information, not for total comprehension. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down a page to locate specific information. Let’s practice.

4. Notetaking Note-taking is a very important skill to learn at an early age. Write down more information than you are going to need to complete your assignment. Then you can go back and decide what is most important. It is best to use an organizer to sort your thoughts. One has already been made for you for this project. If you don’t already have one created for you, use your main topics for your assignment as your headings.

5. Life CycleInherited TraitsHabitatAdaptationsInteresting FactsOther Animal Notes for 3 rd Presentation Name: _____________________________________________ Date: ________________________ My Animal is: __________________________________________________ Title of Book: ___________________________________ Author: ________________________________________________________ Publisher: ______________________________________________ Year of Publication: ___________________________________

6. Citing sources This is where you give credit for the information you have collected. For 3 rd grade, you are required to provide the author, title, publisher, and publication year. These can always be found on the title page of any book.

7. Paraphrasing or Summarizing This is one of the most important steps. DO NOT COPY FROM THE BOOK WORD FOR WORD. That is called plagiarism or stealing someone else’s words. You must read the information, stop and think, and then write down the information in your own words. Let’s practice.