The I-Search Paper
The I-Search Paper and Works Cited Page Made Easy
Writing an I-Search paper should be an enjoyable experience—or at least one that will not incapacitate you for life! You should be able to understand the assignment by thinking carefully about the title “I-Search.” Literally, you will search for facts, examples, and quotes that will explain the subject or topic in which you are interested. Just presenting the facts won’t be enough to earn a decent grade. More is required of you than just copying some junk out of a book and never bothering to understand it. You must think about what you are finding out. Comment on what you’re reading. If you can’t find particular information in books or magazines, figure out why that might be. Include that thinking in your paper. If you find better info on-line, figure out why. If you disagree with something you see, talk about it. If you’re really upset about something you find, explore the feelings. Make connections.A neat thing about an I-Search paper is the flexibility you have as a researcher/writer. You might start out looking for information on Hitler and end up studying current leaders who are dangerous in the same ways Hitler was. You are not tied down by an outline.
Even though the I-Search is less formal than a research paper, you still need to keep the following things in mind to earn a decent grade. Use this as a checklist to make sure you’re on target.
Sample I-Search Paper
Before reading The Diary of Anne Frank, I had no idea what the Holocaust was really about. Now, I know more than I want to about man’s inhumanity to man. I have questions that can’t be answered. How could one man be powerful enough to turn thousands of seemingly normal people into mass murderers? How could regular people turn into bystanders who did nothing to help stop the cold-blooded murder and torture? How could the United States just sit by and watch as millions of innocent people were led into gas chambers? What made some people risk death to help victims they didn’t even know?
With these questions in mind, it was difficult to get started because the subject of the Holocaust is so big. I decided to sample some of the books in the classroom to see if I could find the answers to my questions. Every book I picked up contained fascinating information. It was hard to take notes because I got so interested in what I was reading. I came across an interesting article written by John Doe. He studied the heroes who helped those targeted by Hitler. According to Doe, the people who helped were people who did good things on a regular basis—they were volunteers, good neighbors, and people who genuinely liked people.
Most of the time, the heroes were not the intellectual types. They didn’t have to think about whether or not to help—they just found themselves getting in there and doing whatever they could—sneaking food into the ghetto, mailing letters to the United States, or hiding Jews
(Doe 5). This kind of shocked me. I would have thought the more highly educated people would have been the ones to commit heroic deeds—but for the most part, they didn’t. Sometimes, too much thinking gets in the way of taking action. ETC.Notice “(Doe 5).” in the sample I-Search above. This is an example of in-text citation. Notice also that it corresponds to an entry on the sample Works Cited page. If you are quoting a long passage of more than 4 typed lines, change the margins to start 10 spaces in from the left. Do not use quotation marks. Place the author’s name and the page number inside the parentheses marks at the end of the quote. No period is used after the last parenthesis mark when citing a long quote.
