Investigating: The Second Stage of the Inquiry Process

The second stage of the inquiry process, as identified by our work with the Ontario School Library Association, is termed investigating. 

Here students begin to gather their preliminary  ideas and questions to set a direction for their inquiry: they make a plan, then search sources for relevant information, and finally construct a focus. It is a stage usually marked by great excitement and engagement as students feel they are on a roll. As a teacher-librarian, I find a light but firm touch here is best, being accessible for advice but getting out of the way when possible. 

First, when creating a plan for inquiry, students often need guidance to determine which of the many organizers seem best such as:

• step-by-step plans (“first I must do this, then I can do that”)
• contingency plans (“if I find this, then I will do that”)
• calendar-based plans (“I will do this on X, for Y days, to reach a goal Z”).

Secondly, when searching for information, many students go off the rails if they have not done strong preliminary work with asking effective questions. Often, they will have to go back briefly and reformulate these questions to make them more probing and significant. Moreover, this stage’s behaviors are an interesting paradox: finding seems more important than searching, but browsing seems vital to follow unexpected leads.

Lastly, students must construct a focus (e.g., a thesis, a main idea, a particular slant, hook, or position). Here, teacher/peer guidance is essential, as student powers of analysis are being developed in preparation for the third stage of the process. I want to investigate this moment of focus building in greater depth in a later blog, where I can discuss ways of improving the chances of success through good curriculum design.

The steps in this second stage should be shared and celebrated to reinforce mutual delight in inquiry, However, time is needed to treat the whole stage as circular and recursive. Skilled inquirers recognize what I call the three “R”s of original research: the need to return to examine original assumptions, the re-searching of a topic based on new information, and the reformulating of a focus when things take an interesting turn.

Next week, the hardest stage for many: actually processing what you have found and determining what you intend to do with it!