Research & Inquiry Writing

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Why it works

Research writing, often reduced to students copying or lightly paraphrasing from sources, should instead develop a genuine inquiry process: asking a meaningful research question, locating and evaluating sources (including for credibility and bias), taking notes and synthesizing information across sources (not just reporting one at a time), integrating evidence with the student's own thinking, citing sources properly, and writing something new and coherent. These are demanding, high-value skills for academics, careers, and informed citizenship, and increasingly important in an age of abundant and unreliable information. Teaching research and inquiry writing well means scaffolding the whole process, not just assigning a paper, with explicit attention to questioning, source evaluation, synthesis, and integrity.

The research: Writing standards; research on inquiry and information literacy.

The run-of-show

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The core activity: teach the whole inquiry process

Teachers leave scaffolding research as inquiry, not a copied report.

Start with a genuine research question (not just a topic to report on).
Teach locating and evaluating sources (credibility, bias).
Teach synthesizing across sources and integrating evidence with the student's own thinking.
Teach proper citation and integrity, scaffolding the whole process.

Inquiry, not copyingReal research writing asks a genuine question, evaluates and synthesizes sources, integrates your own thinking, and cites properly. Teach the whole inquiry process, not just assign a paper.

Facilitator notes

Start with a genuine question, and teach source evaluation.
Teach synthesis and integration.
Teach citation and integrity; scaffold the process.

Assigning a research paper without teaching the process yields copyingA paper assignment with no scaffolding of questioning, evaluation, and synthesis produces copied reports. Teach the whole inquiry process explicitly.

Adapt it

Elementary: questions, simple sources, synthesis, cite.
Secondary: questioning, source evaluation, synthesis, citation, integrity.
All settings: whole inquiry process, synthesis, integrity.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Research & Inquiry Writing: the whole process

Inquiry, not copying: a genuine question, source evaluation, synthesis and integration, and citation and integrity.

The genuine research question (not just a topic):
How I teach locating and evaluating sources:
How I teach synthesizing across sources and integrating thinking:
How I teach citation and integrity:
A step of the process to scaffold better:

Make it stick

The whole process:

Teach the whole inquiry process.
Emphasize synthesis.
Bring a research-writing scaffold to the next PLC.

Common questions

Isn't research writing just reporting what sources say?

Copying or paraphrasing sources is not research. Real research writing asks a genuine question, finds and evaluates sources, synthesizes across them, integrates your own thinking, and creates something new, with proper citation.

What skills does it build?

Asking good questions, finding and evaluating sources (for credibility and bias), synthesizing across sources, integrating evidence with your thinking, citing properly, and writing coherently, high-value skills for school, work, and citizenship.

How do I teach it?

Scaffold the whole inquiry process, questioning, source evaluation, note-taking, synthesis, integration, and citation, explicitly, not just assign a paper. Emphasize synthesis and integrity.