Let’s face it, teaching the research paper can be the bane of teaching English. It is a long and complicated process, and is especially daunting for students who have low skills, a lack of maturity, and/or are English learners. I have taught in low-performing, urban high schools for many years, and have seen the gamut of research paper units and guidelines for the high school level. Though many of them are well-done and very thorough (as in 40 pages of directions and 6 weeks of class time), t