Ten Basic Steps to work on iSearch Project

An amazing learning is happening in Grade 9 classes. Students work on individual projects and go through divergent research experiences.

Students discern that information gives freedom. They face a challenge of meeting with information that "empowers people to do what they want to do", as Steve Ballmer said about information, "It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential".

TEN Basic Steps to make your iSearch projects successful:

 1. Choose a topic of your interest, the one that you wished to learn but never had time to do so. You are going to work on the project for several weeks, and it's important that you are passionately involved in what you are reading and writing about.

 2. Create Timeline. You need to know when to stop collecting information and start working on an outline, write the paper and create a visual component related to your topic and presenting it in a creative way.

 3. Read broadly on the topic to identify a particular question you would like to write your paper

about. Read encyclopedias such as Britannica and World Book Online to observe what subtopics the topic of your interest holds and choose the direction for your inquiry.


 4. Narrow down your research topic and turn it into a question (create a query). It will help you concentrate on a certain problem.

 5. Read non-fiction books and scholarly articles in order to learn how the question you are asking was attempted by specialists.  Support your hypothesis and ideas.  Use library catalog and library research databases to find detailed reliable information.

 6.  Evaluate web sites when using Internet sources. Authority, objectivity, accuracy and currency of information are factors that identify web sites as credible sources of information. Read more.


 7. Organize collected information and take notes. Use NoodleTools to organize information you have collected. Add sources of information to Bibliography, create note cards and connect them to sources listed in Bibliography. 

 8. Work on an Outline: Use NoodleTools Outline to plan the paper, identify topics and subtopics and add your note cards to support topics and subtopics.

 9. Conclude your research. Compare what you thought you knew and assumed with what you actually discovered. Offer some personal commentary and draw some conclusions. Then apply your conclusions to your own life.

10. Reflect on the research process and describe your growth as a researcher.