Young Naturalist Awards rough draft check list
Focus of Investigation
Procedure
Analysis and Interpretation
Personal Voice
Clarity and Style
Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie, Charles E. Roth (Workman Publishing Company, 2003)
Perspectives of San Diego Bay: A Field Guide by the Students of High Tech High, with an introduction by Jane Goodall (Next Generation Press, 2006)
Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World edited by Michael K. Stone and Zenobia Barlow
The Best American Nature and Science Writing 2005 edited by Jonathan Weiner (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)
River of Words: Images & Poetry in Praise of Water Edited by Pamela Michael (Heyday Books, 2003). A collection of poetry and art about water by children worldwide, aged 5-19.
Essays Online: Visionary teachers tell their tales of helping students cultivate a deep relationship with the natural world.
Is my topic original and interesting?
Is my question clearly defined?
Did I narrow my focus so that my topic is not too broad?
Is my data gathered and recorded using a clearly described methodology?
Did I clearly identify where, what, when, how, and why I conducted my investigation?
Was good data collected?
Did I interpret the data correctly?
Did I use information from outside resources to help formulate my ideas and interpret my data?
Did my observations support and relate to my question and hypothesis?
Did I present ways I might change my procedure or include questions for further study?
Have I written an interesting and engaging essay?
Does the essay describe my observations or the expedition I took?
Is my writing clear?
Is there a logical progression of ideas?
Do I use proper punctuation? Are words spelled correctly?
Are sentence structure and word choice appropriate?
Resources to inspire connection with nature and writing
Return to "From raw data to rich description."