Talk About Your I-Search Here

March 13th, 2007 · 33 Comments
Beginning My Blog

This is the place for you to talk about your research and to get help and advice from your peers. What are you researching? What questions do you have? What resources are you using? What areas are causing you trouble? What are you struggling with? How have you solved some of your research problems? What do you need to next?
Please leave your first name and last intitial plus the period number in your post. Make sure you have at least 7 sentences and that you proofread your responses before posting.

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33 responses so far ↓

1 Paola S. // Mar 14, 2007 at 6:55 pm

My research project is about the relationships between Harry Potter and Arthurian legend. I am having a lot of trouble finding credible sources for my work. The only thing I can find is speculation, mostly from other, albeit well educated, Harry Potter fans. I did find an essay about my subject. I asked the editor for a copy and she sent me one via e-mail. I might have to go back and figure out the credibility by doing all the steps that Mr.McPhee taught us today. It’s going to take me forever. I’m not quite sure whether I can get my research from blogs. I should explain that the Harry Potter/King Arthur thing is a theory. Can I do a research paper on a theory?
2 Mrs. Milis // Mar 14, 2007 at 8:40 pm

Dear Paola,

This is an interesting dilemma, but I good one to learn from. You need to know that for your topic, the answers must and will be speculation. You are entering the genre of literary criticism. Enormous amounts of information has been produced by scholars whose job it is to interpret texts (from Shakespeare to Poe). Is much of what they do speculation? Yes, but do they do it such a way that commands crediblity…well the answer to that is yes too! All you have to do is state what you stated above in your research paper. That way the reader understands the credibility issues involved in your data. You can say things like, Popular opinion, gathered from current Harry Potter blogers suggests that, “….” Although this might be speculation by some, other sources confirm that….
I hope this helps you. If you found this helpful, please urge your classmates to post!
3 Paola S. // Mar 15, 2007 at 6:36 pm

Thank you for the advice Ms. Milis. It’s incredibly helpful!
4 carli p.4 // Mar 16, 2007 at 9:02 pm

I’m having problems with organization. Although I have the index cards, I have a lot of information, and I’m having trouble deciding what to use and what’s needed. My topic is Tattoo taboo. Why do people think tattoos are wrong and such? Also why people get tattoos in the first place.

What is a better way to organize? How do I know what’s important. To me it seems all valid, but I don’t want my paper to be a bunch of random information thrown on a paper.
How do I give good information without overdoing it?
5 Rafael M. p.3 // Mar 16, 2007 at 10:43 pm

Well Paola I think your topic is very interesting. Seeing how other proffesional and educated thinkers respond to Harry Potter. Since Harry Potter is a popular book with a lot of fans, including myself, whatever research you can find from college proffesor or an editor would be a great insight into the topic to learn from.
To Carli, I suggest you create a type of survey for a selective group of people. When you say people, you are being too broad and general. A survey conducted will give good results and answers to your questions. Types of people you can survey are adults who have a tattoo, adults who do not have a tattoo, and teenagers and see who wants a tatto.
6 Mrs. Milis // Mar 17, 2007 at 1:25 am

Dear Carli,

I sort of agree with Rafael that a survey might help you find out new information on your topic; however, I believe that is not your problem. Synthesizing information from multiple-cited sources is one of the most difficult skills to learn. I suggest you try to stick to information that answers your research questions. Also, you probably want to keep information that answers basic questions about tatooing so that you can clearly explian your topic to the reader. If there is a particular area of research that you come across that interests you, feel free to dive a little deeper. The idea is to go as deep as you can without drowning within the time constraints of the research project. You want to have all of your notes completed by March 26th so that you can begin writing your paper in class. How do you organize your information? By topic, subtopic, research question, source-cited—all of these are a good way to keep organized. I hope this helps.
7 davidkmilis // Mar 19, 2007 at 9:01 pm

David Kim P.5
My topic is on 9/11 attacks and I have no idea who to interview for my research project. I thought about police officers, but they dont have much experiance with my topic because the 9/11 attack occured in New York city not in L.A. So can anyone suggest who I should interview? Thank You.
8 Braianna W // Mar 21, 2007 at 7:38 pm

My I search project is on the Holocaust some of the questions that I am trying to answer are: Why did this happen? and Could we ever has another Holocaust? I am using many recources for this project by reading books, looking on websites, databases, and by my interviews that I will be conducting. The only thing that I am having trouble is with my interview as far as finding an experet so If anybody has or know anyone who is a professional please tell I would really appericate it. As far as my pther problems I am doing things one at a time and so that reduces my stress.
9 Mrs. Milis // Mar 21, 2007 at 10:14 pm

O.K. I’ll start with David. I honestly believe that you can still interview a police officer about 911. You can ask questions like: “How have the rules for police officers changed since 9/11?” “As a police officer do you look at things differently now?” “Has the police department taken any new precautions to make sure this doesn’t happen in L.A.?” “Where were you that day and how did you feel?” There are so many questions you can ask a police officer. I hope you check this discussion so that you can get this help.

Brianna, there are many different Jewish centers in the valley. If you look them up on the Internet and get thier phone numbers, you should be able to find someone willing to put you in touch with someone you can interview. Mrs. Rodriguez might also have some ideas for you. Go ask her. I hope this helps you. Encourage others to post. Tell them it’s o.k. to not have all the answers all the time and that this is a good place to get help instead of giving up.
10 kevinlomilis // Mar 21, 2007 at 10:39 pm

Kevin Lo aka Froogy said,
March 21, 2007 at 10:30 pm

I started my project yesterday when mi lazy ness left for a couple of hours but it was enough time to finally finish pages 3 and 4 on my I-search project. Its going well all that I need is my interview, and to finish my flash cards so that I can be ready for Monday to write the interview part of my essay. In other words I might get a good grade for my I-search project and that’s all. Check tomorrow for more info on an “A” project.
11 Imari // Mar 22, 2007 at 11:26 am

My questions are: When did Human Trafficking begin? Why are they doing this to children? (why not sell their own body?) They recourses I’m using are worldrevolution.org, unicef.org, and a book called slavery today. I’m struggling with getting my interview done, because the police officer said to just go there and talk to a detective; what if their busy? I solved my research problems by using the quotation marks to narrow my search, and that has helped me a great deal. What I need next is to do my interview, do some more flashcards, and finish up my essay.
12 jonathan $ // Mar 22, 2007 at 5:55 pm

Well so far I haven’t had any really bad problems but I do have one. Most of what I research tells me the same information hopefully my interview will spice up my project so it looks and sounds better. After all my note cards and information has been going well. Oh ya and I can’t find anything on my subject on the database. I just don’t know what to look skateboarding under. If there’s anybody who can help or give me some tips please do. My plans for the interview are to go to a demo in at skatelab and talk to some pro skaters.
13 Amybaby // Mar 22, 2007 at 6:05 pm

Well for my research i am doing it about “Run away teens”. I have found alot of good information in books. Finding things online is a bit harder because its pretty much all the same information over and over. Some things i need help with is finding what happens if they go to Juvi. Im going to start working on my poster this weekend. Does anyone have any ideas of what more I should search for? I also found things about what causes a teen to run away.
14 Mrs. Milis // Mar 22, 2007 at 9:16 pm

WOW, it’s great to see that so many of you have joined the discussion. I’ll start with Imari. Even though someone told you to just go interview a detective, I think it would be much better to have a detective’s name first and to at least alert him or her to the idea that you will be coming to interview. It really is up to you. I might try calling again. Sometimes, when a different person answers, you’ll get a different answer.

Jonathan, I might try the online encyclopedias in the databases. They might give you some background info on the sport.

Amy, it sounds like you need better subtopics to help you come up with new info. I like how you are looking into the runaway teens’ experience in juvi. That is a great subtopic. Make sure you follow the rubric for directions on creating the poster. Remember, your poster will be on display in the MPR. Do a good job (spelling, punctuation, grammar)
15 Mercedes R // Mar 27, 2007 at 11:12 am

Well, I was wondering, what if the person you are interviewing for your I-Search topic wants to remain anonymous? Is that bad? Or do I have to find a new person to interview, cause my the interview itself is over spring break and I want to know, should I ask a new person or stick with the same? Like I’m researching culinary arts, and the chef that I got to interview, doesn’t want me to publish his name. So what should I do?
16 jonathan $ // Mar 27, 2007 at 11:26 am

Thanks for the advice it really solved my problem. Except now I have a problem with describing the story we went through when we started our project. How long should it be? I’ve got almost two full pages and still haven’t got half way through my story. I have barley reached the part when I found my first source which was a web site. Another question I have is when we work on our essays are they going to be hand written or typed in the computer. That’s really all the problems I have for now until I finish my project.
17 zamir PER6 // Mar 27, 2007 at 11:29 am

hey my project is about the historyof guitar and how it affect the music we listen to today. I been having trouble looking for more information about guitar influnce. If you got some sites that would help me in my project ? Robert I found a great website on the the NAHS database on Led Zeppelin. I believe you will find a useful imformation that would aid you in your search. So if you have any imformation please send me the site. I’m in Mrs.milis 6 per. class if you have the information.
18 Christina // Mar 27, 2007 at 8:39 pm

My research project is about fashion and its different eras. I’m researching about the fashion styles of American women in 20th to the 21st century. My research questions include: Are there any patterns/ repetitions in the fashion styles from the 1900s until today? What era of fashion is most seen in todays society? How does fashion influence the world? Or how has the world influenced fashion? The resources that I have been using are databases, the internet, and books. The areas that are causing me trouble is actually getting all of the eras together and finding the repetitions and patterns. The number one thing that I’m struggling is with time. I have so many things to do (other than this class) in so little time. In addition, I’m struggling with what to find statistics for. The next thing that I have to do is to interview someone. I’ve looked online for designers online and e-mailed them with some questions; hopefully they respond back in time. I’m afraid that time will be my number one enemy.
19 Zamir Per.6 // Mar 27, 2007 at 10:59 pm

My search of guitars has brought up some new information that may interest some of you. It seem that the guitar was invented 1000 years ago, but the guitar was made in the Western Hemisphere near Greece. Also the guitar was only popular in America a few 100 years ago. It was really interesting that if america was a new country at the time, why did it take that long to the guitar to get popular? Wounding at the things that we dont notice at first. This i-search is teaching me that all things have a history that we never knew existed. A lot of cultures has real connections with the music through out the years . I’ll post new information when crosses my way.
20 Mrs. Milis // Mar 28, 2007 at 12:12 am

Mercedes, it totally o.k. to have an anonymous source. Cite the source as:

anonymous. Personal interview. 14 March 2007.

Jonathan, I’m sorry your search process section is taking so much time. Try to pull a Bradbury. That’s right…condense a whole set of actions into a single profound sentence to move the plot along. Here is an example.

The Internet provided me with all the information I needed.

That sentence takes care of your entire Internet search. Good luck. I hope you check back to read my comments.
21 Mercedes R // Mar 28, 2007 at 11:10 am

Alright, I was just making sure that it was okay. I didn’t know if I should’ve found a new person to interview because I wanted to respect my person’s privacy. So I just cite it like that? Okay, I’ll do that. Thank you for your help.

I was just reading about your topic Zamir and it sounds rather interesting. I have a guitar as well, and it took me a while to warm up to it as well. So I am really looking forward to reading your I-Search paper. I can tell, by what you’ve posted, that it’s going to be a really good paper.

And to Christina, I know how you feel. The time is winding down on us and it seems that none of us are as close to being finished as we would like. It is rather a sticky situation, but I know you will be able to complete your paper in time. My interview is during spring break and I fear that if I add the information that I’ll be getting later, when I’m almost done, it’ll ruin the flow of my entire paper. But I do agree. Time is a great enemy in this project.
22 David Kim P.5 // Mar 31, 2007 at 4:53 pm

I have trouble understanding the part where it says “cite atleast 4 different sources in your text” in the “What I learned section”. Does it mean to write down what you used to do your research project?
23 Milis // Apr 1, 2007 at 2:58 pm

First, thank you Mercedes for responding so insightfully to your classmates posts. I like the “family feel” of this discussion string.

David, I can clarify what I mean by cite 4 sources in that section. I mean give credit to at least four different authors or articles for the information you are sharing that is not your own (Smith 8). Remember the parenthetical citations I taught you, this is where you use them to give credit to your sources. You can also simply introduce information using the author’s name and the title of the article.

According to Senator Smith in the article Politcs and Persuasion, “Many U.S. Congressmen accept bribes.”

These are called in-text citations. You can google the words “in-text citations” to learn more.

I hope this helps everybody.
24 Christina // Apr 4, 2007 at 1:19 pm

I have a question:

I know that we are able to use the books we read for this I-Search project for the pleasure reading page book count; however, the books I read mostly consisted of pictures, how will that work out? Will it still count?

Oh yeah! I have a dilemma. The books I read were by the same author and they had similar titles, for example, Fashions of a Decade: The 1960s, Fashions of a Decade: The 1920s, etc. I looked at a cite and they told me to include the author, an abbreviated for of the title, and the page numbers. How will I abbreviate the title for the books? “Decade: 1960s”?
25 Milis // Apr 4, 2007 at 2:42 pm

If your books were mostly pictures, that doesn’t really count as “pages read.” However, if there is some text, I can give you a fair page credit count for that.

My best advice is to abbreviate the title like this (Fashions…1960’s). This way the reader understands the time period of the book you are referencing which will add to the credibility of what you referenced. MLA was created to help the writer convey information clearly, I believe that you would be following that logic if you cited the title this way. However, I’m also sure that with some intense digging there is a way to find out exactly how MLA wants this issue resolved. For now, do it this way. If you were writing your college thesis paper, I’d tell you to look it up to be sure, but you are not. Take care…
26 Christina // Apr 5, 2007 at 1:04 am

Ok, thank you Ms. Milis!
27 Christina // Apr 5, 2007 at 1:38 pm

Sorry, but I have another question:

Do we have to cite pictures that we may use?
28 David Kim P.5 // Apr 5, 2007 at 4:14 pm

I have a short question.
Do we have to title each section of our essays?
29 Milis // Apr 5, 2007 at 6:58 pm

Yes, David. Here are the titles. Now, if you would like to create more unique titles for each section, you can just remember to properly capitalize each title.

My Questions
My Search Process
What I Learned
What This Means to Me

Works Cited
30 David Kim P.5 // Apr 5, 2007 at 7:57 pm

Alright Thank You
31 edward escobar // Apr 9, 2007 at 12:34 am

i almost done with my project im exided. but i dont know if im going to go to school tomorrow because im sick =(
32 Milis // Apr 9, 2007 at 10:15 pm

Edward, I’m so glad you came to school today. Your presentation turned out so well. You should be proud of yourself.
33 Top Fashion Tips // Sep 26, 2007 at 7:21 am

Top Fashion Tips…

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…