I-Search: Topic Selection and 5 Interesting Questions

A good topic for your I-Search has to make you ask questions.  In fact, it has to make you ask Interesting Questions (IQs).  If you can't think of any IQs for your topic, then the topic just won't work out, because your paper is going to be organized based on the answers to your questions. 

Here's what makes an Interesting Question good:

• A good IQ asks "how?" or "why?," not "who?", "when?" or "how many?"
• With a real IQ, you REALLY want to know the answer!

Often, a "who?," "when?" or "how many?" kind of question can be changed into a good "how?" or "why?" question.  For instance, I want to do my I-Search on tides.  Instead of asking "how many feet do the tides move every day?," I'm going to ask "why do the tides move different distances every day?"  That way, I'll have something more to look up and report on than a simple factual answer.  I (and my readers) will have a lot more information to sink my teeth into when I answer that question.  And we'll both learn more!  Here's an example of my topic list and my IQs:  Example

The AIM of today's lesson is for you to narrow down your choice of topics to one or two and generate 5 IQs about them. 

Here are today's lesson steps:

1. Create a new screen so you can read these instructions while still working on another screen. 
2. Log on to your 8th grade site and click onto your name page. 
3. Click into your Top Ten I-Search topics story, and click the Edit This Page button. 
4. Review your possible topics and highlight and put into bold print your top one or two choices. 
5. Under your top one or two topics, write at least 5 IQs.
6. Ask questions if you need help!