Lesson Plan 
Conducting Research 
 

Summary 
1. Subject(s): American Government 
2. Topic or Unit of Study: Gun Control 
3. Grade/Level: 12 
4. Objective: Students will be able to determine online source reliability.  
5. Time Allotment: 54 minutes 

Implementation 
Learning Context 
This lesson is falling under a mini unit on research within my Three Branches of Government Unit. 
This lesson does not directly focus on a branch of government but is still based on a political 
topic. In the bigger unit students will be conducting research projects. The ILP pre/post 
assessment and POP Cycle lesson are designed to help students with developing research skills.  

Procedure 
a. Anticipatory Set: 

List at least 3 things you should keep in mind when conducting research. Explain in 
complete sentences why these are important.  

When students are finished with this they will share out with the class. The teacher will 
write their ideas on the board to refer to during the lesson. This helps students come up 
with criteria for source examination, rather than the teacher being the one to provide 
them to students.  

b. Direct Instruction: Sourcing-At the beginning of the lesson I will introduce the activity to 
the students. We will source two articles on Gun Control together as a class. I will discuss 
what students should do when first examining an online source. Students will then 
compare the list of criteria they created with the criteria I present to them.  

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c. Guided Practice: Students will read two articles in their table groups and will be asked to 
analyze the sources together. They are to discuss which source would be a better choice 
to use in the beginning of research on Gun Control and why.  
d. Check for Understanding- Google form assessment. Students will choose which of the 
two articles they feel is the most reliable and useful in conducting preliminary research.. 
They will then will justify their choice by providing clear reasoning.  

Differentiated Instruction 
Students will be supported by whole class guided instruction from the teacher and peer support 
in groups. Groups will be made by the teacher with the purpose of students being able to work 
together and support one another.  

Materials & Resources 

a. Instructional Materials: Projector, ELMO camera, chromebooks for student use 
b. Resources: SHEG(Stanford History Education Group) Civic Online Reasoning Assignment 
on Webpage Comparison. I will adapt the lesson by adding direct instruction and group 
work to help guide students.  

Assessment 
At the end of the lesson students will fill out a google form. They will be asked which of the 
articles is a better starting point for research on Gun Control. Students will then have to provide 
reasoning for their choice.  

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