Writing and Inquiry: Composing, Discovery, and Research

Dr. Bruce BallengerBoise State University

“A culture of inquirers…”

1. Begins with questions not answers.2. Discovery is seeded with uncertainty, willingly

tolerated over time.3. Emphasizes induction over deduction.4. Has a method, a strategy.

Conditions for Inquiry?

Reasoning

Content

Suspending Judgments

Making Judgments

DataResearch Question

Myth of the Boring Topic

• No such thing as boring topic, only bad questions

• Suspend judgment and tolerate ambiguity• Extend the process of open inquiry• Questions are like knives• The more you look the more you see

Is Elvis dead?

Why do people keep asking this question?

Question of Fact or Definition

Interpretation Question

Hypothesis Question Policy Question Relationship

Question Question of Value

Dialogic Reasoning

Strategy for InquiryCreative Thinking

Sea Fastwriting

ShowingSpecifics

CollectingObservations ofWhat happened

ThenGenerating

ExploringSeeingPlaying

Critical ThinkingMountainComposingTellingGeneralitiesFocusingIdeas aboutWhat happensNowCriticizingReflectingInterpretingJudging

Portion of men whose attractiveness is judged by U.S. women to be “worse than average” : 4/5

Portion of women about whom U.S. men say this : 2/5

Number of people in India who currently have access to a mobile phone : 617,500,000

Number who have access to a toilet : 366,000,0009/10

Double Entry JournalCollect

Bibliographic info. Paraphrases Summaries Quotes/Passages Striking Facts

Explore/Evaluate/Explain

Fastwrite responses Questions Connections Believing game Doubting game

Student-centered

Instructor-centered

Content

Reasoning

Open Inquiry

Structured Inquiry

Guided Inquiry

LowKnowledge Moderate Knowledge

High Knowledge

Resistance

Reading

Question-askingCognitive Load

Motivation

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Mini-inquiry Project

Experts see patterns that novices fail to notice.

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1. Organize the Data in a Logical Way

2. Generate Questions that the Data Raise

3. Choose and Refine One Question and Eliminate Irrelevant Data.

4. Pose Inquiry Question of Value, Policy, Interpretation, Hypothesis, or Relationship. Post on newsprint.

Type Questions Genre

Question of Fact or Definition

What is it? What is known about it?

Beginning of inquiry

Question of Value

Which is better/worse? Is it good/bad

Review, Argument, Research Essay

Hypothesis Question

Might this be true? Research Essay, Personal Essay

Policy Question What should be done?

Argument, Proposal

Interpretation question?

What does it mean?

Literary Essay, Personal Essay, Ethnography, Profile

Relationship Question

Does ___ cause ___? Is __similar or dissimilar to ___?

Research Essay, Literary Essay, Ethnography