Graphic Organizer
I-Search Chart
Grades
9 - 12
Printout Type
Graphic Organizer
About this printout
As part of an I-Search writing process, this handout facilitates the formation of meaningful questions and subquestions for student inquiry. By positioning the questions at the center of the page, and questions relating to students' interests in the topic and the research process itself, students begin to see the ways in which the I-Search paper brings all three of these components together.
Teaching with this printout
- At the beginning of the I-Search process, model for students how to think through the various sections of the chart. Use a question that is of personal significance that might also appeal to the sensibilities of your students (e.g. “Should my 7-year-old son be playing video games?” “How can I make cell phones less of a distraction in my classroom?”).
- As students are researching, revisit your own chart and share how questions might change, new research opportunities avail themselves, and added dimensions of personal significance become apparent.
More ideas to try
Use a sample I-Search paper from past student work or through an online search and have students “backwards map” from the finished project to the structure of the chart. Because the author may not have used the chart, there will not always be complete connections, of course.