Section I: What I Know, Assume, or Imagine:
Before conducting any formal research, write a section in which you
explain to the reader what you think you know, what you assume, or what
you imagine about your topic. Your in-class timed writing will serve as a
beginning of the I-Search process.
Section II: The Search
Test Your knowledge, assumptions, or conjectures by researching your topic
thoroughly. First complete your annotated bibliography assignment.
You will narrow
down to the 2-3 best web resources for this section of your paper. This is
the information that best answers your research question. So, again, the
summary/ response format will be quite helpful.
As your write up this section, be sure to be clear where your information is coming from. Clear signal phrases are necessary so the reader understands the difference between your language and ideas and the language and ideas from your sources. Paraphrase most of the information, and use direct quotes for the finer details. Document all your sources on the Works Cited page and the annotated bibliography of online resources.
Discuss your findings in this middle section. Your discussion should include an exploration of your topic using a specific critical framework. Your class presentation material could be the starting point of your discussion. Your discussion should help a reader more clearly understand the material.
Cite outside sources carefully in the body of your paper using clear signal phrases and any necessary background information and / or context for each source.
Section III: What I Discovered
After conducting your search, compare what you thought you knew, assumed,
or imagined with what you actually discovered; offer some personal
commentary and draw some conclusions. For instance, if you chose a
Formalist approach to Dickinson's poetry, you may have discovered a reason
for her use of dashes. What did that lead you to understand about her
poems that you didn't see before? This section should be a fairly thorough
reflection upon the particular framework you chose, the literary text you
analyzed as well as your actual learning experience. Therefore, do pay
close attention to how your interpretation of the work may or may not have
changed.
Works Cited
At the close of this paper, you will provide a Works Cited page,
documenting the sources you used in your paper. Since you have been asked
to compile an annotated bibliography of online resources for your topic,
you will want to use Janice Walker's MLA style sheet for citing those
online sources, both for the web and for your papers.