How many children are injured by shopping carts each year? What is life like inside a coral reef? Why was the only person ever executed for treason by the Canadian government officially an American? What do historians know about Ralph O’Conner, the most successful Canadian novelist of the 20th century? How was the skateboard invented and how has it changed over the years?

Any question which requires you to observe or investigate either by asking someone or looking for the answer online or at a library is a research question. Writing a research paper is an essential part of learning because it teaches you how to find information and to state where and how you drew your conclusions. Research papers help you learn to look for specific details and explanations about a topic in “sources” that provide "support" or "evidence" for a concept.

A research report, the most common type of non-fiction essay, presents information about a specific topic objectively. The tone in research papers should be completely neutral—without personal opinion or emotion. This enables the reader to form his or her own conclusions. A research report with personal bias renders the study invalid.

In this unit you will write a research report, and we will start in this lesson.