Grade 9 · Analytical Writing · Literary Analysis
Researched Report with Citations
Plan a research question and search terms.
Learning objectives
- Plan a research question and search terms
- Evaluate and record sources
- Build a reference list accurately
AERO English Language Arts alignment
AERO.ELA.9.W.7
Conduct short research projects to answer a question or solve a problem, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate. Grade 9 / MYP 4 emphasis: sustain analysis across complex texts, integrate several sources and control academic register.
AERO.ELA.9.W.8
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility of each source, quote or paraphrase accurately and avoid plagiarism. Grade 9 / MYP 4 emphasis: sustain analysis across complex texts, integrate several sources and control academic register.
AERO.ELA.9.W.10
Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes and audiences. Grade 9 / MYP 4 emphasis: sustain analysis across complex texts, integrate several sources and control academic register.
AERO.ELA.9.W.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which development, organisation and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience. Grade 9 / MYP 4 emphasis: sustain analysis across complex texts, integrate several sources and control academic register.
AERO.ELA.9.W.6
Use technology, including the internet, to produce, publish and collaborate on writing, and to present relationships between information and ideas. Grade 9 / MYP 4 emphasis: sustain analysis across complex texts, integrate several sources and control academic register.
MYP criteria
- Criterion A — Analysing
- Criterion C — Producing text
ENGAGE
From Curiosity to Research
A strong researched report begins long before you write the first paragraph. You need a focused question, purposeful search terms and trustworthy sources. Imagine that you are analysing a story in which an old compass represents memory and responsibility. A search for “compass” would produce thousands of irrelevant results. A sharper search could lead you towards useful literary criticism and historical context. In this lesson, you will practise turning an observation into a research question, judging sources and building an accurate MLA Works Cited list.
Think about it
- What makes a research question manageable?
- How can you tell whether a source deserves your trust?
EXPLORE
Read: The Unmoving Needle
Original classroom extract
Yusuf carried his grandfather’s brass compass along the Doha Corniche, although the needle had not moved correctly for years. Its glass was clouded, and a pale scratch crossed its face like a narrow road. His mother had suggested placing it in a drawer, but Yusuf kept it in his pocket. “A broken guide can still remind you where you began,” his grandfather had once said.
When the afternoon light turned the water silver, Yusuf took out the compass beside the old wooden dhow. Tour boats moved across the bay, while towers shone beyond them. The frozen needle pointed neither north nor home. Yet Yusuf imagined the routes once followed by pearl divers, guided by stars, experience and trust in one another.
He opened his notebook. Instead of drawing a map, he wrote two columns: what the compass could do, and what it could mean. In the first column, he wrote “almost nothing”. In the second, he listed memory, responsibility and courage. The object had failed as an instrument, he realised, but it had become a question: which directions deserve to be carried forward?
Close-reading clue
Notice how the compass changes from a practical object into a symbol. Research could help you investigate this transformation and its maritime context.
Think about it
- What contrast does the writer create between the compass’s practical use and its symbolic meaning?
- How does the Doha setting connect Yusuf’s personal memory with a wider heritage?
- Which question about symbolism could you investigate using the extract and two secondary sources?
EXPLAIN
Building a Reliable Research Path
1. Focus the research question
A useful literary research question is open, focused and analytical. It cannot be answered with one fact. Begin with a feature of the text, such as symbolism, setting or characterisation. Then identify the effect or idea you want to investigate. For example: “How does the writer use the broken compass and the Doha setting to explore the relationship between memory and responsibility?” This question is narrow enough for a short report but complex enough to support analysis.
2. Turn the question into search terms
- Select key concepts: compass, symbolism, memory, responsibility and Gulf literature.
- Add literary terms: symbolic object, setting, imagery or inherited object.
- Use quotation marks for an exact phrase, such as “symbolic objects in fiction”.
- Combine ideas with AND: symbolism AND memory AND literature.
- Refocus if results are too broad, outdated or unrelated to literary analysis.
| Credibility check | Question to ask | Useful evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Authority | Who created the source? | A named scholar, recognised organisation or qualified editor |
| Accuracy | Can its claims be checked? | References, quotations, data or links to original material |
| Relevance | Does it answer your question? | Direct discussion of symbolism, setting or maritime heritage |
| Currency | Is its date suitable? | Recent scholarship, unless an older work is historically important |
| Purpose | Why was it published? | To inform or analyse rather than merely attract attention |
Record each source as soon as you find it. Note the author, title, publisher or website, publication date, page numbers, URL, access date and useful ideas. Place exact copied wording inside quotation marks. When you paraphrase, express the complete idea in genuinely new language and sentence structure. Both quotations and paraphrases still require an in-text citation. This prevents plagiarism and allows readers to trace your evidence.
| Source use | MLA pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Print or journal source | (Author page) | (Hasan 18) |
| Web source without page numbers | (Author or organisation) | (National Maritime Learning Centre) |
| Journal entry in Works Cited | Surname, First name. “Article.” Journal, vol., no., year, pages. | Hasan, Laila. “Objects That Point Back.” Gulf Narratives Review, vol. 6, no. 1, 2025, pp. 14–29. |
| Organisation webpage | Organisation. “Page Title.” Website, date, URL. Accessed date. | National Maritime Learning Centre. “Reading the Dhow in Gulf Literature.” National Maritime Learning Centre, 12 Mar. 2025, www.nmlc.example/dhow-literature. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026. |
Synthesis, not a source parade
Do not write one paragraph about each source. Organise paragraphs around your own claims. Connect evidence from the literary extract and secondary sources, explain relationships between them, and maintain a formal academic register. In MLA style, alphabetise the Works Cited list by the first main element of each entry.
MYP_PRACTICE
Create a Mini Research Plan
Use the extract and the simulated source records in the Source Builder task. Produce a focused research question, three search strings, a brief credibility judgement and two accurate MLA entries. Then plan one analytical claim that combines evidence from the extract with ideas from both credible secondary sources.
- Write a research question about how the compass and setting communicate memory, heritage or responsibility.
- Create three search strings. Include at least one literary term and use quotation marks or AND where helpful.
- Evaluate Sources A, B and C for authority, accuracy, relevance, currency and purpose. Select the two strongest sources.
- Record one paraphrased note with an in-text citation from each selected source.
- Alphabetise the selected sources in a Works Cited list and check punctuation, italics, dates and page ranges.
EXIT_TICKET
Before you close this lesson
Think about it
- How did evaluating credibility change which sources you selected?
- What will you check before submitting a researched literary report?
Watch
How to Read a Scholarly Article
Western University · 3 min
Learn how to navigate the sections of a scholarly article and locate its central findings efficiently.
Before you watch: Which parts of a scholarly article would you examine before reading it closely?
- What information can you usually find in an abstract?
- How would you decide whether an article is relevant to your research question?
Watch
Check Yourself with Lateral Reading: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #3
CrashCourse · 14 min
Learn to investigate online claims by leaving a page and checking what reliable external sources say about it.
Before you watch: Why might studying only one webpage give you an incomplete picture?
- What is lateral reading, and how is it different from reading vertically?
- Which outside sources would you consult to verify an unfamiliar website?
Interactive practice · research source builder
Source Builder: Compass, Memory and Heritage
Use the simulated records below to build a mini research plan. Evaluate all three sources, select the strongest two and produce accurate notes and citations. These records are designed for classroom practice and do not represent real publications.
Check your answer
Task
Investigate how the extract uses a broken compass and a maritime setting to develop an idea about memory or responsibility.
Items
Sentence frames
Pick a topic
Prompts
Your answer
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Key vocabulary
- research question
- A focused question that guides what you investigate and write.
- credibility
- The degree to which a source is trustworthy and dependable.
- paraphrase
- A source idea expressed accurately in your own words.
- citation
- Information showing where borrowed evidence or ideas came from.
Practice questions
0/3 correct
Level 1 · Criterion A
Which research question is most suitable for a short analytical report on the extract?
Level 2 · Criterion A
Which source is likely to be most credible for analysing symbolic objects in literature?
Level 2 · Criterion C
Which MLA Works Cited entry correctly records the simulated journal article?
MYP criterion tasks
Level 2 · Criterion C
Paraphrase this simulated source statement and add an MLA in-text citation: “When a tool can no longer direct the body, fiction may use it to direct the conscience.” The author is Laila Hasan, and the idea appears on page 18.
Level 3 · Criterion A
Write one analytical claim that synthesises the extract with Hasan’s idea about moral guidance and the Maritime Learning Centre’s idea about shared maritime heritage.
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