ELL I-Search Research Paper

This I-Search research paper records your search for learning about how best to support and teach ELL students.

Your research should include paper sources, the Internet, interviews with ELL teachers, other teachers who work with ELL students in your content area, ELL students.

Your paper needs to demonstrate some knowledge of community activities and resources relevant to the ELL students you are writing about.

While the focus of your I-Search need not be a Justice-Inquiry-Action approach, you do need to connect/compare/contrast the approach or approaches you learn about to Justice-Inquiry-Action instruction.

The paper should be at least 3 pages long and include references to sources consulted. Prepare to present your findings to the class.

An "I-Search" research paper uses "I" and discusses the process and journey of your research, as well as the development of your ideas. .

Here is a description from one website about I-Search papers:

I-Search reveals the thought processes involved in the search for answers. This allows other members of the learning community to follow the writers' thought processes as their search leads them along the path of discovery. Throughout the I-Search process, students reflect on the information they encounter and make decisions about how to proceed based upon their reflections. This combination encourages the development of metacognitive skills because the students are required to reflect deeply as they analyze the information they uncover and make decisions about its validity. The reader is then able to share the learning process because of the emphasis on the search in writing the I-Search paper.

The I-Search Paper is an interesting variation on the research paper invented by a famous WMU professor, Ken Macrorie!

Here are a couple internet additional links that talk more about the I-Search paper

University of Georgia: I-Search

Make it Happen: The I-Search Unit

Created by: allen.webb@wmich.edu
Revised Date: 9/23