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Lesson 4

Craft a Central Research Question

With our teacher’s help, we will use our work so far to fine-tune, sharpen, and deepen our inquiry question into the subject of our team’s final presentation to our learning community.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I revise my inquiry question to make it more helpful as I seek out in-depth information about my research topic?

  • Can I phrase my inquiry question in a way that will effectively convey its precise meaning to my learning community?

  • Can I stay conscious and conscientious about the steps of the research process and refine my work to meet my knowledge goals?

Texts

There are no texts for this Lesson.

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will plan to present our work to our teacher.

In teams, plan a brief presentation to your teacher in which you do the following:

  1. Summarize your area of investigation on an Exploring a Topic Tool.

  2. Present your refined Central Research Question.

  3. Use your Potential Sources Tools to present the sources you have identified to date that led to your team’s decision to pursue your question.

Activity 2: Present – Discuss

We will meet with our teacher to evaluate our progress so far and discuss our next steps toward articulating our research question.

With your team, meet with your teacher.

While the other teams are in conference, your team will be given time to work on your pre-searches or read additional sources.

Your teacher will use the Central Research Question Checklist to assess your team’s work. During the meeting, your teacher can help you do the following:

  • finalize the question or problem you will explore in your final presentation

  • make sure that your question makes sense to others and can be clearly understood

  • confirm that your question makes sense for the scope of your final presentation and that enough valid sources can be found to complete your research in the time allotted

  • make sure that your research will inform and enrich the learning community’s knowledge and decision making

  • make sure your team is genuinely interested in this research, as the goal is for each student to find this process valuable and exciting

At the end of the conference, leave your Exploring a Topic Tools, Potential Sources Tools, notes, and Central Research Question Checklist in the first section of your research portfolio: Defining a Central Research Question.

Activity 3: Discuss – Write

We will apply any feedback our teacher has given us.

In teams, discuss the feedback your teacher has given you on your Central Research Question. Revise, or refine, the question as needed.

Depending on the level of feedback, you might consider reviewing your Exploring a Topic Tool to see if a more viable research question should be considered.