When I was 14 years old, I broke my neighbor’s vase. My father asked me to find a way to make money to compensate my neighbor. It made me realize the difficulty of making money and made me become responsible.

Essay # 1: Inquiry Essay. 3-5 Pages

This exploratory essay is an account of inquiry. Your goal is to share the experience of questioning your opinions and the arguments of others on your chosen topic. The paper will be a journey with a starting point, a tour of viewpoints on the issue, and a destination; a claim you can defend. The essay has three parts, one written before inquiry, the other two written after. You can refer to yourself and your own thoughts and write in First Person. You need to have a works cited page and at least 4 outside sources for this essay.


Three parts…each labeled. 


To start…pick a topic that you are interested in, that can be debated, that you don’t feel you know enough about to have a solid informed opinion. Don’t pick something you have already decided on. 

It can be on anything…it doesn’t have to be a world changing issue. What kind of car should I buy? What should I major in? Something about rule changes in sports. Anything you have an interest in. 

Part 1: You will tell what question or issue interests you most about a given topic and express your initial opinion.

Initial opinion…before any research
What is your initial thoughts on the topic. Where do you stand? Why do you think the way you do? Write that opinion in part one. It is ok to use first person here. 

Part two:

Part 2: the exploration. The point is to open the question and to keep it open, testing your opinions and exploring the issue through conversations and research that connect you to a range of expert opinions. You are not trying to support your initial opinion, but test it! You’ll write about readings that confirm and contradict your thinking and evaluate these arguments fairly.

Part Three: the Conclusion…a statement of your thinking after inquiry, a synthesis of the ideas from parts 1 and 2; an explanation of the truth as you now see it.