What is a "high school-level research paper"?
A high school-level research paper can vary. It depends on your specific environment and your specific level of writing. If you're taking a 9th grade English class you may just be doing "Introduction to Literature" where your research paper just specifically focuses in on basic gathering of knowledge. Your research paper may just be something as basic as having a thesis, supporting points. As we move into research we want students to use either primary or secondary sources. They may find primary sources, which is direct contact or direct information from a central source, or they may go to the computer, use newspapers, other things like that. As we move from a more basic literature or more basic essay, we want to see the students are using quotes, they're citing their resources, and they're able to cite them appropriately at the end of their documentation. But we're still looking for--the most important thing in a research paper is your thesis statement. What are you proving to the reader? Once you've proven that to the reader, as you advance into higher level research or more formal research papers, we're going to look to see that you've brought in resources--primary or secondary resources--to support your thesis. But at no level in high school are you not going to have a basic research paper where you have a thesis: what you are proving to the reader.
