Mary Hoffman, was having a hard time teaching in-depth research skills to her middle school students, due to time limitations. So last fall, she approached her principal with an unprecedented idea: to offer kids a semester-long elective on research. What better way to teach comprehensive, analytical skills to those who really wanted a challenge? The principal liked the idea, and she immediately began planning for the class. This article describes the planning, and implementation, one creative teacher employed as she designed a way to carve out a time slot in order to acquaint students with research techniques as this class progressed through the semester. During the first half of the semester, students worked in pairs to research their chosen controversial topics, such as prison reform, gun control, cloning, and abortion. The students would then debate, give PowerPoint presentations, and hand in well-written and documented research papers based on guidelines in an eight-page research packet that she had developed for them. During the second half of the semester, students worked independently and chose their own research topics and method of presentation, guided by her research packets. By the end of the semester, all of the students were seasoned researchers.