Common Core LiteracyGrades 9–10Writing

WHST.9-10.7: Research Projects in History and Science

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.7 · Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge.

The Official Wording

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 9-10, Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What WHST.9-10.7 Means in Plain English

Ninth and tenth graders research history, science and health questions over days or weeks, often questions they posed themselves. They narrow one that is too broad, such as “How do runners get hurt?”, or widen one that is too thin, then combine several sources into one answer.

Grades 6 to 8 (WHST.6-8.7) run short projects that end in new, focused questions. Grades 9 to 10 add sustained projects, problems to solve and synthesis that shows understanding of the subject. Grades 11 to 12 (WHST.11-12.7) keep the same wording, applied to harder subjects and sources.

WHST.9-10.7 I Can Statements

I can narrow a broad research question to one I can answer.
I can combine several sources into one explanation.
I can stay with a research project over several weeks.

WHST.9-10.7 Worked Example

Both students finished the same three-week project with the same sources; only one made the sources answer a question together.

Prompt

Health, three-week research project. Your first question, “How do runners get injured?”, returned sources on dozens of injuries. Narrow it to a question about your own school, then answer it in a paragraph that synthesizes three sources. Source 1, a sports medicine clinic’s handout: shin splints, pain along the inner edge of the shinbone, are most often caused by increasing running too quickly, and many coaches advise raising weekly mileage by no more than about 10 percent. Source 2, the cross-country team’s training log: first-year runners went from about 8 miles a week in summer to 20 in the first week of practice, while returning runners had run about 18 miles a week all summer. Source 3, your survey of 26 teammates: 7 of the 11 first-year runners reported shin pain in the first three weeks, compared with 2 of the 15 returning runners.

Not YetShin splints are a common running injury. Source 1 says they come from running too much too fast. Source 2 says the new runners ran 20 miles. Source 3 says 7 first-year runners had shin pain.The response reports three sources in a row, one sentence each, and never says what they show together. The broad question was never narrowed, and the reader is left to notice alone that a jump from 8 miles to 20 is exactly the cause the clinic warns about.

Meets the StandardNarrowed question: Why do so many first-year runners on our cross-country team develop shin splints in the first three weeks of practice? The answer appears to be how quickly their training load rises. According to a sports medicine clinic’s handout, shin splints are most often caused by increasing running too quickly, and many coaches advise raising weekly mileage by no more than about 10 percent. Our training log shows first-year runners going from about 8 miles a week in summer to 20 in the first week of practice, an increase of 150 percent, while returning runners had already run about 18 miles a week all summer. Our survey matches that difference: 7 of the 11 first-year runners reported shin pain in those three weeks, compared with only 2 of the 15 returning runners. The problem, then, is not running itself but the jump, which suggests a solution the coach could test next season: a summer plan that raises new runners’ mileage gradually before the first practice.It narrows the question to one team, one group of runners and one time span, then synthesizes: the handout supplies the cause, the training log shows that cause at work, and the survey shows its effect, with the returning runners as a comparison group. The last sentence turns understanding into a problem to solve, which WHST.9-10.7 names alongside answering a question.

Moves to Use

Narrow the question to one place, one group and one time span.Give each source a job: cause, evidence or effect.Connect sources inside sentences instead of reporting them one by one.Compare with a group the problem did not affect.End on what the findings let you solve or ask next.

Common Mistakes with WHST.9-10.7

A question as wide as the internet

“How do runners get injured?” kept as the final research question after a week of searching

Try this: Have students rewrite the question until it names a group, a place and a time span they can actually study.

Source-by-source summary

“Source 1 says… Source 2 says… Source 3 says…”

Try this: Ban paragraph openings that name a source, and require most sentences to connect two sources or a source to the claim.

Stopping at the answer

A finished paper that explains the cause but never says what anyone could do about it

Try this: Ask students to close every research paper with one problem the findings could solve and who could solve it.

Where WHST.9-10.7 Fits

Comes BeforeWHST.6-8.7Run short research projects that draw on several sources and generate further focused questions.

AlongsideW.9-10.7The same research skills in English class, on literary and other topics.WHST.9-10.8Gather authoritative sources with advanced searches and judge how useful each one is for the question.

Comes NextWHST.11-12.7The same wording, applied to the longer, more demanding research of grades 11 to 12.

Practice WHST.9-10.7

Quick Check

How did the student narrow the first question?
From “How do runners get injured?” to why first-year runners on the school’s cross-country team develop shin splints in the first three weeks of practice.
What job does each source do in the strong paragraph?
The clinic handout explains the cause, the training log shows the 150 percent mileage jump, and the survey shows the effect on first-year runners compared with returning runners.
What problem does the strong response propose to solve?
Shin splints in new runners, with a summer plan that raises their mileage gradually before the first practice, which the coach could test next season.

WHST.9-10.7: Other Names

WHST.9-10.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.7