"Where there is curiosity, a mouse may be caught."--Lu Po Hua

[The idea for this assignment came from Ken Macrorie's Searching Writing]

Step 1: Choosing the topic

Choosing the right topic for this paper is absolutely crucial. You must have a very driving interest to know about whatever topic you have chosen. The topic does not have to be one of scholarly research. For example, you may be about to make a major purchase of some kind--a car, a sound system, a cellular telephone--and wish to make an informed, intelligent decision. Or you may be thinking about what school you want to transfer to, or what you should major in when you get there. Maybe you are planning your summer vacation. Or maybe you want to know more about global warming, or what makes cars or airplanes run.

Suggestion: Take the spring break to think about a topic that is choosing you. Make the topic relevant to you. What do you need to know?

Assignment #1, due (completed before you come to class) Monday, April 24

1. Choose a topic

2. Pose a question on your topic: What happened to the dinosaurs? Where should I go on my vacation this summer? What country has the best recycling program and why? Could I become a disc jockey? What is the right car for me to purchase right now?

3. Write freely for 10 minutes on, into, or about the topic that has chosen you for your I-Search Paper. Let your mind go anywhere. This writing does not have to serve any direct purpose.

4. Be prepared to announce your topic and how it came to choose you.

5. Be prepared to suggest sources/resources of information to classmates on their chosen topics.

6. Choose groups of 3.

Assignment #2, due on Wednesday, April 26, for reading to your group

1. Write the first section of your paper (in draft form, 1 page), "What I Know, Assume, or Imagine About My Topic" (see handout) and

"What I Want to Find Out"

Note: Make your opening a story of how your topic worked its way into your head. Your opening is the beginning of a story.

Sample: from a paper on different types of funeral arrangements

What I Know

As the old saying goes, "All a person ever has to do is die and pay taxes." When a person dies, if he leaves family or friends alive it generally follows that they'll pay their last respects by giving him a funeral. A funeral can end up being a financial burden on those left behind, which only adds to the pain they're being put through.

What I Want to Find Out

I'm mainly interested in looking at the different choices a person has in being buried. I'd like to focus mainly on the economic alternatives. There are some other things I'd like to explore. I've been to two funerals in my life. Both were the type where you plop them in a box, say f few nice words, put them in the ground, and then go party. I know there are other choices like cremation or being put in a mausoleum. I'd like to see why other people take these choices.

I'd also like to find out what people who believe in reincarnation and those who believe in regeneration through the earth believe should be done with the body after it dies. My own feeling on religion leans toward atheist and so the religious aspect of the funeral wouldn't matter to me, but perhaps one of these other types would follow my own thoughts on death. One that I'm thinking of in particular is regeneration throughout the earth. I'll have to do some searching and see what I can find.

Assignment #3--The Search

First draft of paper to this point, due Wednesday, May 3, for reading to your group for response

Your paper will require the following sources of information:

one interview

one Internet source

one magazine, newspaper, or book

one other source of information, such as a brochure, etc., or one more of any mentioned above

Other requirements:

6-8 pages in length

in-text citations correctly formatted

Works Cited sheet

Tips:

Use dialogue in giving results of interview

Use descriptive details in describing all aspects of the process of finding the information, setting the scene of the interview, your feelings while doing the search, your feelings throughout the assignment

Tell a story

Tell the truth of the experience

Assignment #4- -"What I Discovered", "What I Still Want to Know"--due with complete draft on Monday, May 8, for response and editing

Final draft due Friday, May 12--Plan ahead!! No late papers will be accepted for this assignment.