compose a divergent, open-ended, generative research question

Introduction/Rationale
ENGLISH 1020 accumulates like a tumbleweed. In the first project, you learned how to rhetorically analyze a text in which someone was making an argument; and you were able to articulate your own opinion about this text using the conventions of academic discourse. In Project 2, you will use these critical reading skills, adding research skills to the mix, in order to prepare yourself for Project 3, our academic research paper. So, the genre of Project 1 = rhetorical analysis essay. The genre of Project 3 is an academic research paper. The genre of Project 2 is its own genre entirely; it’s called the “I-Search”.

While you will be conducting research in Project 2, this will not be the actual research paper. Here, you will write a narrative essay about your process as a thinker, writer, and researcher. By narrative essay, I mean you will be writing about your own experiences with the subject you choose, and you will write about what you’ve learned about the research process, and then finally you’ll get to make a plan for your future research in this class. And, yes, you will be writing it in the first person (using I, me, we, us, etc.).

This project will be used to explore and develop research skills and your ethos as a researcher. Pick a topic and compose a divergent, open-ended, generative research question about that topic. Then you will use the “I-Search” method to work through the process of composing a reflective research narrative. Instead of researching a question and answering it, the I-Search is a process of asking questions, and then asking more questions, and then finding the best (and worst) possible sources to make a plan towards answering it.

AKA this is a project where you write about your search for information rather than only reporting what other writers have researched before you. The outcome of the I-Search project may be an answer to your initial research question, an understanding of how to best research this kind of question, an evaluation of sources for a future research project, or even a refined sense of the argument you might pursue in the next project.

Assignment Prompt
For this project, you get to choose your own topic of interest. Then, compose a divergent, open-ended, generative research question along with a set of related research questions. Then, we will learn about different types of research strategies and sources (like scholarly sources vs. popular sources, library database research, etc.) and you will use this information to guide your own personal research process. And, as we do this, you’ll be writing about it.

This should be a 1500-2000 word essay that explains your research process, findings, and reflections.