1. WRITING THE PAPER I-SEARCH PAPER

2. OVERVIEW OF YOUR PAPER Your paper will have three sections: Overview/The Story of My Search/Introduction The Search Reflection/Conclusion/Where do I go from here?

3. THE STORY OF MY SEARCH Begin the paper with a hook to grab the reader. Explain how and why you selected the topic.  Explain why you were drawn to this career. Explain how you intend to search for information.

4. WRITING ABOUT THE SEARCH ♦ Use your I-Search log and notes to …  Tell the story of the search.  Describe the sequence of steps in your search—the sources you started with that led to other sources of information.  Describe problems in locating information and how you solved them.  Describe breakthroughs. Tell when it got really interesting.  Describe best sources of information.  Tell how you changed, expanded, or revised your questions.  Acknowledge how others in class and outside of school helped you carry out the search.

5. ORGANIZING THE PAPER Think of ways to organize your paper. This is key to writing an effective paper. You could organize by the order in which you discovered your information. Better option: you could organize by topic – education, salary, job responsibilities, etc. You could model your paper on the examples provided. Write the paper as a narrative – a story of your search.

6. CITING INFORMATION You will use in-text citation to cite your information. The rule of thumb is to cite any information that is not considered general knowledge (a piece of information found in multiple sources). You should always cite statistics.

7. CITATION EXAMPLE In “The Coral Island Revisited,” Carl Niemeyer states: ”Thus Ballantyne's view of man is seen to be optimistic, like his view of English boys' pluck and resourcefulness” (254). NOTES: Introduce the quote Put the citation after the quote If you don’t state the author right before the quote, include the author’s name as well (Niemeyer 254) If there is no author, use the title as in many of the examples in the sample paper. If it is an internet source, omit the page number.

8. WRITE THE REFLECTION/CONCLUSION Use your Search log to:  Focus on major findings or conclusions.  Support the conclusions with examples, details, stories, and arguments that explain how you came to those conclusions  Suggest further questions or areas to explore at another time.  Tell how you developed as a researcher.  Explain how this work will affect your future

9. COMPILE A WORKS CITED You will find information on how to write a works cited online at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01 /. You can also find information at this web site as well: http://www.swccd.edu/~library/Docs/MLAFormat20 09.pdf. Or read page 286 of Writer’s INC for an overview on how to write a works cited list. You will follow these guidelines. Pages 287-298 explain the format of various types of sources. Also see page 307 for a sample. The Works Cited must be typed. Please omit the url from internet source entries.