Assignment Prompt
For this project, pick a topic and compose a research question or set of related research
questions on a topic of significant personal interest, and work through relevant research
strategies to begin to find answers to these questions. Compose a 1500-2000 word project
that explains your research process, findings, and reflections.
What does the paper look like?
The I-search paper is a narrative of sorts, describing your search for answers to your
research questions. In this paper, you will use first person (I), and will think about what
vocabulary, style, and tone work best to support your development of the topic.
Ken Macrorie, in his book I-Search lists four parts of the paper (What I Knew, Why Im
Writing This Paper, The Search, and What I Learned), though, as he notes, this is flexible:
I) The introduction (What I Knew and Why Im Writing the Paper)
a. In the introduction you will explain three things:
i. Your research question
ii. What you know or think you know about the topic
iii. Your motivation for finding the answers to your question(s)
b. The introduction may be more than one paragraph long, depending on how
much prior knowledge you have. Decide in which order the content is best
presented.
II) Part 2: The body of the paper (The Search)
a. The body of the essay is the narrative of your search for answers and your
reflection on this research process.
i. In the beginning of the project, we will learn about the tools available
to you through the WSU library database. You will explore these
library tools as you engage in library-based research on your topic.
b. There are two ways students generally plan the research process:
i. You might begin with the source that is closest to you, the one that is
easiest to access. Write about what you find there to answer your
question and what seems like an intuitive next step for research. Then
move on to that next source, and continue to follow the research path.
ii. Or, you might have a more concrete research plan in place when you
begin. For example, you might plan to look at scholarly articles from
three particular journals to answer your question, or you might plan
to find the answers to your sub-questions in a certain order.
c. You will find at least three relevant secondary sources to learn more about
your topic. For each source you write about in the body of the essay, you
should do the following:
i. Explain how you found that source: What search tools did you use?
How did you navigate them?
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ENG 1020 Common Syllabus
ii. Summarize the information you find in that source as it relates to your
question.
iii. Reflect on how that source helps you answer your question and/or
how it helps you build on the knowledge youve found in other
sources.
d. Your narration of the search process and your reflection on and analysis of
sources will help you build transitions between your discussion of the
sources you discover.
III) Part 3: The conclusion (What I Learned)
a. The conclusion of the paper is different than the traditional conclusion you
may be used to in academic writing. While you may be able to summarize
what youve learned, its also just as likely that you will be left with more
questions, or will have gone down an unsatisfying research path. This is also
worth writing about, as you are nevertheless learning about the research
process, and can always carry your inquiry forth in a future project. Your
conclusion should include three things:
i. An explanation/summary of what you learned through research about
possible answers to your research question.
ii. An explanation/summary of what you learned about research and/or
writing through examining this question and using the research
methods you used.
iii. A claim about your conclusions in a nutshell; that is, state what you
learned through this project (your research process, writing process
and topic) in one sentence (After finishing this project, I
hypothesize/claim/understand/argue that….)
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