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If you would like to view some of the RFI's we have received as a result of our "I Search" projects, you may wish to visit the Electronic Dialogue Archive,where we are in the process of posting correpondence by subject area. The Web site, if you wish to go there later, is at: "http://www.mcn.org/ed/earch".
If you would like to read an annecdotal article about experiences with this project, you can go to "A TALE FROM THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER".
The report or investigation will be placed in a cover. It must start with a Title page followed by a page with an introduction or "abstract", which is a several paragraph section which introduces the subject of your project, lists what you know already about the subject, and tells what you hope to learn and why you have chosen this particular subject over other possibilities.
If your report is an investigation, you should write the Investigative Question you are asking in this section, and it may also be your title.
The main section of the report begins with a "Question" outline to show the structure of your report.
This is followed by the body of the report, at least 4 or more pages. The body of the report is a summary of information you have gathered about your subject. It is created by taking notes in card form, then rearranging the notes IN YOUR OWN WORDS into sentences.
Data will need to be part of this main body, and it will need to placed into a Table Form, and needs to be done on computer for full credit. If you are doing an investigation, procedures that you have followed will need to be in this section. If you are researching, you will need at least 6 sources of information. For Investigations you will need 2 sources or more. In each case you will need a Background Information Section. Illustrations or drawings are encouraged, especially student created drawings, though these do not count towards the total for minimum written pages.
Finally, a conclusion will be included which shows what you can understand and generalize from the data you have gathered, and also displays your own evaluation of the report. What would you change, or what are some followup areas that could be researched?
At the back a bibliography is needed, with entries listed in alphabetical order. You are encouraged to get more than the minimum number of sources, one of which may be non-print.
Your rough notes need to be included at the back of your report, secured in a pouch to the folder.
Using the Internet: After you have exhausted or at least gained some information from the usual sources, please write a "Request For Information" (RFI) in a letter form which can be placed on the internet in the usenet conferences. For you letter, you should include your name, grade, and our school. You will want to ask primarily questions about your topic which are harder ones, questions you can't get immediate answers to after your reading and note-taking. For example, rather than asking "What are the diseases which can attack or harm the eye?" a better question (one which shows you have done some research) might be: "What are the known causes of cataracts, and what are the latest treatments available to patients?" This shows that you already know of diseases by looking in an encyclopedia or other resource, and you are asking for more current and harder to find information. I will help you with editing this document, but will not be interested in writing it for you! Also, you will want to ask if the reader of your RFI know either about any other resources on the internet (gopher sites or ftp sites) or knows of other written resources that could be asked for through a lending library. You may wish to mention that our current library resources are pretty spare, we have a very small periodical section, much of our information is dated, and that it is difficult to get to a good university library due to distances in our rural community. Finally, thank them for any assistance they can give and give them my name as your teacher, and our e-mail address (cwisnia@mcn.org).
You can see examples of responses to RFI's at:
the Mendocino Unified School District Electronic Dialogue Archive
To whom it may concern,
We are two 8th grade students at the Mendocino Middle school in northern California. We are doing a project on what makes poison oak, stinging nettle, poison ivy, and other similar plants different from other plants like an average fern. Also how it can affect humans skin. What makes poison oak, ivy and other allergy reactive plants different?We are interested in any knowledge about these or similar plants that you might have. We are interested in this because we are both highly affected by these plants where we live. We are also interested in any internet sites which may have some information that might be useful to us. Our school has gopher and WWW access.
Please understand that we live in a very small town with very limited information. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
A_____D_____and M____ C_____
Please E-mail care of our teacher Cory Wisnia at cwisnia@mcn.org
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My name is R__G____, I am in the eighth grade at the Mendocino Middle school. And I am researching a science project about wheather Dinosaurs are more bird like or reptillian or other life form, and the evolution of birds and reptiles.
I already know some information such as bird bone stucture and dinosaur movement and the rise of birdlike dinosaurs like archaeopteryx. Bu I need specific information on these areas and any others, especially reptile evolution. I have looked up books and articles on this subject but I need more current information. Our school library is small and the information limited and most of it is not up to date.
I am reaserching this project because I am interested in dinosaurs and paleontology.
Any information, current or not will be welcomed also if you could give me information on good locations on diosaurs in Netscape, Newswatcher or Mosaic or other networks I would greatly appreciate it. My school E-Mail address is, (cwisnia@mcn.org)
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I am an 8th grade Mendocino Middle School student, living in the ruarel town of Mendocino, California. I am doing a project on the skin, and itŐs many diseases. I am gathering information from various sources regarding this topic. I would greatly appreciate it iof any one with any knowledge about the diseases of the skin or any other facts about the skin, would respond to this letter to help me along with the development of my project.
Thank you, S_____R_______
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Assignment: ************************* Due Date
Start with your INVESTIGATIVE QUESTION. This is the BIG IDEA of what you want to find out. But this question can be divided up into several important smaller questions. Try to think of the three or four or perhaps five questions which might come out of your first question.
Here is an example of how to do that:
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTION:
These 5 smaller conceptual (idea) questions now can help you organize the body of your research. Notice that none of these questions have yes or no answers. After you have written these questions the next step is to fill in ideas or topics under each question. For example, you'd want to list the variuos parts of the eye, and probably have an illustration or two to show where they are with labeling
Note that in this outline the second part comes pretty naturally after the first. In fact they are linked together. You could create a Chart or table (one of the requirements of this project) which lists the functions of the parts.
You can send comments or questions to: cwisnia@mcn.org
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