General Information on the I-Search Paper

I. The Narrative form

A. What you know and do not know about your topic

B. What you want to find out

C. The story of your search

D. What you learn

II. Biggest Advantage--an authentic human voice/ not merely a "cut and paste" or

easily plagiarized paper

III. Three poles in the I-Search

A. The student searcher

B. The authorities consulted

C. The persons likely to read the paper

IV. How to determine content/topic

The needs of the researcher

"To write in their own voices about things that count in their lives is surely a basic step for students learning to write" (Macrorie 154)