LESSON 4.2
Finding a Subject for a Prompt
with a Specific Focus
For Grades 7-12
Situation
Your class has just finished a unit on the South Seas. The instructor gives you this prompt: Write a paper about Easter Island.
What Not to Do
Most students, when given such a prompt, might turn in a travelogue that discusses the island and, of course, its world-famous statues, the Moai. But writing something like that can bore readers because it doesn’t offer anything new or insightful.
What went wrong: Students chose a subject based on what they knew instead of choosing a subject based on what the experts could teach them.
What to Do
Remember the three steps for finding a subject:
- Brainstorm for Quantity, Not Quality
- Grade the Ideas
- Rank the A Ideas
Modified Approach for a Specific Assignment
Step 1: Brainstorm by Finding Articles
Get online and search for articles. If you have access to a university network, that’s even better. Otherwise, there are still plenty of excellent sources available.
Important: Don’t settle on the first idea. There are always better ones out there.
Step 2: Pick at Least Five Articles
Choose articles that are:
- Understandable
- Are very Factual
- Supported by a reference list with at least 20 entries
- Between 6 and 20 pages long (not too short, not too long)
Step 3: Rank the Articles
Avoid picking a subject “out of a hat.” Instead, use a decision chart to help you.
Process – Individual
Skim these Articles:
- Easter Island boat house – hare paenga
- New excavations in Easter Island’s statue quarry: Soil fertility, site formation and chronology
- Rethinking Easter Island’s Historic ‘Collapse.’
- A New Discovery at Easter Island Could Rewrite History As We Know It
- The ‘walking’ megalithic statues (moai) of Easter Island
- Rethinking Easter Island’s ecological catastrophe
- Ancient fishing activities developed in Easter Island
Decision Chart for Ranking Articles:
| Source | Correct number of pages | Fairly easy to understand | Has hypothesis | Has reference page | I am interested | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boat house | ||||||
| Soils | ||||||
| Rethinking | ||||||
| New Discovery | ||||||
| Walking Megaliths | ||||||
| Rethinking – Scholarly | ||||||
| Moving Moai | ||||||
| Ancient Fishing |
There are eight sources, so you will grade them 1-8, with 1 being worst and 8 being best. To make judging easier, find the 8, then the 1, then the 7, then the two, and so on.
| Source | Correct number of pages | Fairly easy to understand | Has hypothesis | Has reference page | I am interested | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boat house | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| Soils | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 15 |
| Rethinking | 6 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 25 |
| New Discovery | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
| Walking Megaliths | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 36 |
| Rethinking – Scholarly | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 23 |
| Moving Moai | 8 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 31 |
| Ancient Fishing | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 21 |
Note
Some sources had reference pages, but the references were difficult to understand, resulting in a lower score. “Walking Megaliths” scored high but lacked a bibliography, which affected its ranking slightly.
Instead of picking a subject randomly, the decision chart helps you systematically evaluate and choose the best topic. For instance, “Walking Megaliths” and “Moving the Moai” are closely related, making them ideal for a comparison/contrast paper.
Old vs. New Theories
Moving the Moai: Traditional belief by Jo Anne Van Tilburg that the Moai were transported using sledges and ropes by teams of Rapa Nui.
Walking the Moai: New theory by Terrance Hunt and colleagues, suggesting the Moai were “walked” using a motion similar to moving a refrigerator.
Use the decision chart to finalize your topic, then dive deeper into the articles you’ve chosen. Begin drafting your paper by comparing and contrasting the old and new theories of how the Moai were moved on Easter Island.
Task 4.2.1 – Tandem
Download the following video. Answer the questions below.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S4SZssH5iKs
Task 4.2.2 – Tandem
Download the following video. Answer the questions below.