Writing Reports, from Top to Bottom

Use this guide to help your child succeed on their term paper or research project.

FamilyEducation Editorial Staff

Updated: December 1, 2022

In this article, you will find:

School reports

Writing a rough draft

Writing a rough draft

Not a large parental role when it comes to writing the rough draft. At this point, your student is organizing the research paper into sections, using headings from the outline as a guide. She's writing information from her note cards into paragraphs with clear main ideas. She's struggling with topic sentences and transition phrases. She's formulating a title, an introduction and a conclusion. Essentially, it's a one-person show.

A lot of what happens at this stage is monitored at school during class time, especially for first-time researchers.

Getting feedback and revising

In most cases, your child's teacher is likely to be checking progress and offering suggestions for improvement. If your child wants you to look over anything at this stage, you're lucky. Lots of kids simply don't want to deal with criticism from parents.

In the event you are asked, why not suggest she read her paper aloud to you? It's a good way to identify run-on sentences, repetition, and inconsistent use of tenses.

Is your student discouraged by all the mistakes? Remind her that "getting it down on paper" is only the first of many steps. Rewriting is part of the game.

Writing a final draft

The art of tinkering and refining is key to any written project. Perhaps the most significant contribution parents can make is talking up the virtues of revision. Initially, most kids groan at the prospect, but it's a habit that will serve them well throughout their school and work lives.

Remind your child that his favorite athlete, actor or rock star didn't get where they are by doing what they do once or twice. The pros are no strangers to repetition and hard work.

Organizing a bibliography

Is your child gnashing her teeth because this year's teacher requires a different form of bibliography than last year's did? Advise her to do it exactly the way the teacher wants it. This is not the place to demonstrate individuality.

Giving credit where credit's due

A bibliography is a list of sources used to get information.Your child will find it easier to assemble one if he keeps track of each book, magazine, or encyclopedia he uses for note-taking.

Every time a fact gets recorded on a note card, its source should be noted in the top right corner. Notice that in the sample note card, The World Book, Volume 2, page 21, has been shortened to: WB, 2, p.133.

When assembling a final bibliography, students should list all sources (texts, articles, interviews, videotapes, and so on) in alphabetical order by authors' last names. As for the exact form, different teachers have different preferences. When in Rome. . .

For a book:
Author (last name first), Title of the book. City: Publisher, Date of publication.

EXAMPLE: Dahl, Roald. The BFG. New York. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982.

For an encyclopedia:
Encyclopedia Title, Edition Date. Volume Number. Article Title in Quotations, page numbers.

EXAMPLE: The Encyclopedia Brittanica, Volume 7, "Gorillas," pages 50-51.

For a magazine:
Author (last name first), "Article Title." Name of magazine. Volume number, (Date): page numbers.

EXAMPLE: Jordan, Jennifer, "Filming at the Top of the World." Museum of Science Magazine. Volume 47, No. 1, (Winter 1998): page 11.

For a newspaper:
Author (last name first), "Article Title." Name of newspaper, city and state of publication. (date): edition if available, section and page number(s).

EXAMPLE: Powers, Ann, "New Tune for the Material Girl." The New York Times, New York, NY. (3/1/98): Atlantic Region, Section 2, page 34.

For a person:
Full name (last name first), Occupation, Date of interview.

EXAMPLE: Smeckleburg, Sweets. Bus driver. April 1, 1996.

For a film:
Title, Director, Distributor, Year.

EXAMPLE: Braveheart, Dir. Mel Gibson, Icon Productions, 1995

CD-ROM:
Disc title: Version, Date. "Article title," pages if given. Publisher.

EXAMPLE: Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia: Macintosh version, 1995. "Civil rights movement," p.3. Compton's Newsmedia.

Magazine article:
Author (last name first). "Article title," Name of magazine (type of medium). Volume number, (Date): page numbers. If available: publisher of medium, version, date of issue.

EXAMPLE: Rollins, Fred. "Snowboard Madness." Sports Stuff (CD-ROM). Number 15, (February 1997); pp. 15-19. If available: SIRS, Mac,. version, Winter 1997.

Newspaper article:
Author (last name first). "Article title." Name of newspaper (Type of medium), city and state of publication. (Date): Edition if available, section and page number(s). Available: publisher of medium, version, date of issue.

EXAMPLE: Stevenson, Rhoda. "Nerve Sells." Community News, (CD-ROM), Nassau, NY. (Feb 1996): pp. A4-5. Available: SIRS, Mac. version, Spring 1996.

Online Resources

Internet:
Author of message. (Date) Subject of message. Electronic conference or bulletin board (Online). Available e-mail: LISTSERV@ e-mail address

EXAMPLE: Ellen Block, (September 15, 1995). New Winners. Teen Booklist (Online). Helen Smith@wellington.com

World Wide Web:
URL (Uniform Resource Locator or WWW address): author (or item's name, if mentioned), date.

EXAMPLE: (Boston Globe's www address) http://www.boston.com. Today's News, August 1, 1996.

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