Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 11-12, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What W.11-12.7 Means in Plain English
Seniors run research projects from a one-week question to a semester paper, often on a question they pose themselves. They narrow a topic like city heat to one neighborhood, widen it when sources run dry, and combine sources into an answer no single source gives on its own.
The wording matches W.9-10.7. What grows is the scope: more sustained projects, harder sources and a synthesis that shows real command of the subject. This is the last band, the college and career readiness goal for research, the habits a first-year college paper assumes.
W.11-12.7 I Can Statements
I can narrow or broaden a research question as I learn.
I can combine several sources into one answer to my question.
I can show what I understand, not just what each source says.
W.11-12.7 Worked Example
Both students read the same three sources for the same question. One reported them one at a time; the other made them answer the question together.
Prompt
You began with “How does climate change affect cities?” and narrowed it to a question you could answer: why is the Eastgate neighborhood of Corvale so often hotter than Linden Park on summer afternoons? Write the paragraph that answers it, using three sources: the city’s tree-canopy map, which shows 9 percent tree cover in Eastgate and 38 percent in Linden Park; the county’s street sensors, which averaged 7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter in Eastgate at 4 p.m. last July; and an interview with city forester Odile Moreau, who explained that dark asphalt and roofs absorb sunlight and release the heat into the evening, while trees cool the air by shading surfaces and releasing water vapor.
Not YetSource 1, the canopy map, says Eastgate has 9 percent tree cover and Linden Park has 38 percent. Source 2 says Eastgate was 7 degrees hotter. Source 3, Odile Moreau, says asphalt absorbs heat and trees cool the air. These sources show that Eastgate is hotter.Every source is reported accurately, but one at a time, in the order they were read, so the sources never meet. The paragraph never links the missing trees to the sensor readings through the forester’s explanation, and its last line repeats the question as if it were the answer.
Meets the StandardEastgate runs hotter than Linden Park on summer afternoons largely because of what covers its ground. The county’s street sensors averaged 7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter in Eastgate at 4 p.m. last July, and the city’s canopy map suggests why: trees shade only 9 percent of Eastgate, compared with 38 percent of Linden Park. City forester Odile Moreau explains the mechanism that links the two findings. Where trees are missing, sunlight falls on dark asphalt and roofs, which absorb it and release the heat well into the evening; where trees stand, they shade those surfaces and cool the air by releasing water vapor. The gap in the readings, in other words, is a gap in shade. The sensors cannot rule out other causes, such as Eastgate’s heavier traffic, so the next step in this inquiry is to compare blocks within Eastgate that have more and fewer trees.The paragraph opens with an answer, then gives each source a job: the sensors establish the gap, the map points to a cause, and the forester supplies the mechanism that connects them. The sentence calling the gap in the readings a gap in shade is the writer’s own synthesis, and naming what the sources cannot rule out, with a narrower next question, shows real understanding of the subject.
Moves to Use
Narrow the topic to a question the sources can actually answer.Open with your answer, not with the first source you read.Give each source a job: evidence, cause or mechanism.Write one sentence in your own words that only the combined sources could support.Name what the sources cannot settle, and narrow or broaden the inquiry from there.
Common Mistakes with W.11-12.7
Source-by-source reporting
“Source 1 says… Source 2 says… Source 3 says…”
Try this: Have students write their answer to the research question first, then place each source where it supports part of that answer.
A question too big to answer
“How does climate change affect cities?” for a three-week project
Try this: Ask students to narrow the question until they can name the kinds of sources that would answer it, then start searching.
Never adjusting the inquiry
A student keeps searching the same narrow question for a week after the sources run out
Try this: Build in a midpoint check where students decide, in writing, whether to narrow, broaden or keep their question, and why.
From how climate change affects cities to why one neighborhood, Eastgate, runs hotter than another, Linden Park, on summer afternoons.
What job does each source do in the strong paragraph?
The sensors establish the 7-degree gap, the canopy map points to a cause, and the forester explains the mechanism that links missing trees to hotter air.
Which sentence shows synthesis rather than summary, and why?
“The gap in the readings, in other words, is a gap in shade.” No single source says it; it takes all three together.