8th Grade Capstone: Home

Categories for Topic Selection

2025 Topics List

64 Parishes website (for Louisiana topics)

Annotations

Annotations are brief descriptions of how each source contributes to your understanding of your topic. They generally include the following elements:

• A brief description of what the source was (the format of the source and what it contained).
• An explanation of how it was useful in shaping your understanding of your topic.

Annotation Sentence Starters

Try not to use the same words to start each annotation. Change it up by trying one of the following:

• This book helped me to understand...
• This website was important to understanding my topic because...
• After reading this article, I learned...
• This website was...
• I found that...
• This chapter provided me with...
• I learned that...
• This article showed me that...
• I have a new perspective on the topic after reading this source because...
• This book helped me to understand my topic better because...

Stuck? Feel like you're repeating yourself?

• Pretend that you're describing the article to your teacher. Try describing the author's point of view in the source.
• Did this source surprise or shock you? Tell us more.
• Was this one of your favorite sources? Describe why?
• Be specific. Was there one particularly important part of the source?

"This source helped me understand what role the Interim Committee (a group of distinguished scientific, industrial, and political figures) played in the decision of the bomb.  It helped me understand their reasoning for dropping the atomic bomb.  The Interim Committee advised the President on nuclear energy."

"I used this book to learn more about recent events in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, especially the war.  It also included some maps, which we used to get a better picture of the partition."

"This book was a collection of the letters that Joe Kennedy wrote from 1914 until his disabling stroke in 1961.  Although there were no letters speaking of Rosemary receiving the lobotomy, Joe did write his concerns for his daughter and the prospect of getter her the operation."