The Multigenre Research Paper: Voice, Passion, and Discovery in Grades 4-6 » (1st Edition)

Camille A. Allen is chairperson of the department of elementary education at Salve Regina University, where she teaches methods courses in reading and language arts. For the past five years she has worked collaboratively with the Sullivan Elementary School in Newport, Rhode Island, to develop literacy opportunities for the benefit of both the primary students and the university students.

For most students, research writing is a perfunctory exercise in which they regurgitate information from the encyclopedia, with little analysis or interpretation. Multigenre research writing is different. When given the chance to select their own research topics, decide which genres to write in, and determine how to present their findings, students assume ownership and take pride in their work. They grow as writers.

This is the first book to lead you through the process of developing multigenre research papers with upper elementary students. Camille Allen starts at the beginning and explains how to organize your classroom, help students choose topics, and introduce them to research. She provides concrete minilessons on the writing of poetry, character sketches, and nonfiction to help get your students writing. She also describes ways to tie together multiple genres to create flow within students' final papers.

Because Camille believes that the multigenre experience should include much more than the writing of the paper, she stresses the integration of the arts and oral communication skills. These creative modes of expression play an integral part in the success of the whole project, and Camille devotes separate chapters to each of these topics. The final chapter focuses on evaluation and the many ways you can measure growth and evaluate progress. Student writing samples, journal essays, and two complete multigenre papers are also included.