Sophomore I-Search Project Description

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The subject of the search will be, we hope, of great interest to you, and must be explored

using libraries
interviewing experts
using the dialectical process

The process of exploring the subject is at least as important as the paper you produce. The process must be

deliberate
rational
recorded for verification

The product of your investigation will be in four parts:

What I Knew & Why I Investigated This Subject
The Search
What I Learned
Works Cited

Choosing a subject

The I-Search is a ten-page research paper that will occupy much of your time over the next two months. It requires a lot of work, whether you are interested in your subject or not. If you are interested, however, the burden is infinitely lighter because you want the answer. So take your time to settle on something you really want to know. Settle on a topic that's rich enough for you to live with for quite a few weeks, and one that will lend itself to thinking, not just compiling "facts." Formulate your topic as a question, not as a word or phrase.

Getting Information

Information for your I-Search must come from two kinds of sources -- recorded materials (primarily books and magazine articles, but this might also include CD-ROM sources and videotapes) and interviews (in person or by phone). Magazines are often more up-to-date on a subject than books; real people are often most up to date of all. The balance you strike between books and interviews will depend on the nature of your subject, but you must do both.

Dialectic

The dialectical process is how we describe a research project that uses information from sources which disagree with each other. The easiest way to picture this for most students is to think of a topic as "controversial." That is, there are different sides to the issue, and your research process must represent the thinking of both sides and come to a conclusion about them. Your topic does not really need to have this for and against quality, however. Experts are not for or against heart attacks, for instance, yet there is quite a bit of disagreement among them over exactly what causes heart attacks and how to prevent them. As long as your paper reflects differences in thinking among experts, it will fulfill the dialectic requirement.

Process

The process you use must be deliberate because it is impossible to discover anything meaningful about a large subject just a few days before the paper is due. A good investigation takes a lot of time, not just in the actual working out of the problem, but in the simmering that will go on in the back of your head. To be blunt, you've got to make constant progress on the I-Search; you can't put it off just because the final deadline seems so far away. The process must be rational. That is, you follow a plan, search for material and take notes methodically -- with a goal in mind of what you expect to learn. You record the story of your search (as Part 2) so that you can reflect on and evaluate the learning process you went through in a quarter's worth of reading, thinking, interviewing, discovering, and writing about your subject. You'll be asked to keep a journal so that you can have material to write Part 2.

Writing the I-Search Paper:

Your final product is a paper, in four parts:
1. What I Knew & Why I Investigated This Subject: First, it is important to record what you knew, and did not know, about your subject before you started your research. This helps to insure that you are quite clear in your own mind what you are looking for, and helps to measure, at the end of your search, the distance you have covered. There is no need to research what you already know about. The point is to increase your knowledge, not repeat it. Second, by exploring the reasons you are drawn to this area of investigation and what you hope to find out from it, you will establish clear goals for your project. You will be required to draft part 1 and type a final copy before you have advanced too far with your research. (Minimum 200 words)
2. The Search: This is the part you'll probably write last, but you'll prepare for it in the meantime through a journal. (Make a journal entry each day that you do anything related to your I-Search. This hand-written journal can be checked at any time and must be handed in with your final paper.) "The Search" is the "I" of the I-Search, the story of how you went about this project. You'll tell about your successes and your frustrations, the lucky breaks and the efficient methods you have discovered. You'll describe what your interviews were like, and reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a learner of the research process. You'll tell this story chronologically, looking back over the quarter from the perspective of being just about done. (Minimum 300 words)
3. What I Learned: This is the formal presentation of the knowledge that you have at the end of your search, the conclusions that you have drawn. This section is organized along the lines of a formal research paper. Its topic is not you but the question you explored. It uses the conventional expository methods of supporting assertions as well as the conventional bibliographic methods of crediting others with their ideas or words. A successful Part 3 can be read in isolation from Parts 1 and 2, and will convey to the reader what you know about the subject. (Minimum 2500 words)
4. Works Cited: This is the list of the sources of information that ultimately became part of your paper. (Minimum 10 print sources and 1 interview)

Documentation:

Your paper will follow perfectly the Mt. Ararat Style Sheet, including correct citations and Works Cited. The purpose of these formalities is to help readers get further information on your subject, and to assess the scope and reliability of your search. It also shows them when the writer is synthesizing and when his or her sources are doing the thinking.
Your final results must be word-processed. Some computer time will be set aside during class, but you will be expected to work on your own, too. The Mt. Ararat Macintosh Lab allows you to use IBM-compatible disks from home on the school computers.