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 might serve as the beginning of the this I-Search process.
Test Your knowledge, assumptions, or conjectures by researching your topic thoroughly. For a traditional I-Search paper, you would be asked to consult books, articles magazines, newspapers, films, tapes, and other sources of information...and when possible, interview people familiar with your topic. Since your topic is the Internet, much of your research is already in process and will continue to be conducted in online spaces in addition to the above sources.
Write this section of your paper in narrative form, recording the steps of the discovery process. Do not feel obligated to tell everything, but highlight the happenings and facts you uncover that were crucial to your hunt and contributed to your understanding of the topic. Document all your sources, using Works Cited format.
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, your initial understanding of "virtual reality" may have been rather hazy when we I first asked you to write about your experience with or understanding of "Cyberspace." Pay careful attention to how your understanding of the Internet has or has not changed over the semester. List the positive and negative.
At the close of this paper, you will provide a Works Cited page, documenting the sources you used in your paper. Since you will most likely have quite a few online sources, you will want to use Janice Walker's MLA style sheet for citing online sources. You will also include an annotated bibliography of five webbed resources for your topic (may print out the web version of your MOO room).
Questions to the MOO list.