An academic inquiry is a formal paper that asks questions, but does not provide clear answers. An example of an inquiry paper might be a research proposal: questions are asked and background provided to explain why further study is necessary.
Rhetoric and Inquiry
- Shared inquiry discussion
- Participants are interested in an issue
- Shared questions
- Open-ended exploration of quest
- Two or more possible answers
- Reasons for each plausible answer
- Information available
- Interaction to test competing answers
- Inquiry Questions
- “Questions at issue”
- Two or more possible, supportable answers
- An interest in answers within a community
- Begin with facts
- Who, what, when, where, why
- Exploratory Questions
- Question of facts: What happened?, etc
- Question of definition: What is it?
- Question of interpretation: What does it mean?
- Question of causation: Why did it happen? Results…
- Question of evaluation: Is it ‘good’, etc
- Question of policy: What should be done?
- Reading as Inquiry
- Ask questions as you read
- “Reading for questions”
- Predictive questions
- Clarifying questions
- Writing an Inquiry Paper
- Identify the question
- Plan – At least two possible answers
- Organize – Outline
- Draft – Introduction, a paragraph per question/answer, conclusion
- Revise – Edit for clarity
- Format and print/publish
- Editing
- Know your common errors and make lists
- Use reference books
- Pocket grammar guides
- Dictionary and Thesaurus
- Encyclopedia and other factual materials
- Markup a printed copy