Step 7: Write a report of your CIP study.

Although not all action research projects result in written reports, writing a report is an important step in the Cultural Inquiry Process (CIP) for several reasons. First, writing is a form of thinking. By writing about your CIP study, you are thinking about it in new ways, which should lead to new understandings and new forms of practice. Second, a written record of your study means that you can easily refer back later to this work for your own use. Third, by writing about your study you are able to share the results of your efforts more widely with other educators and researchers.

If you have followed the suggestions for writing provided with the previous CIP steps, you should be in good shape for putting together a report of your CIP study. Rather than repeat what has been written for the individual steps, links are provided here to the "Suggestions for writing" for each previous step, so you can review that material as needed:

1. Select as your focus one or more students, identifying your puzzlement(s) about the student(s).
2. Summarize what is already known about the focus individual(s) and the context.
3. Consider alternative cultural influences and select one or more of them to explore.
4. Gather and analyze relevant information as needed.
5. Develop and implement intervention(s) as needed.
6. Monitor the process and results of intervention(s).

In addition to the sections you've previously drafted, it is also important to think and share your thoughts about the "so what?" questions:

• What have your learned from your CIP study?
• What are the implications of your CIP study for your practice and your school or larger professional community?
• How does what you found link to conversations in the literature? In what ways does your CIP study reinforce, challenge, or add new knowledge?
• What do you see as possible "next steps" to your study?

In pulling together the drafts from the previous CIP steps and your thoughts about "so what" into a final report, several issues require your careful attention:

• Read across the sections reporting on the CIP steps to make sure that the reader will see a clear and coherent "story" across the sections related to your puzzlement and cultural influences on it.
• Examine the organization and style for consistency across the sections.
• Re-examine your discussion of Steps 4 and 6 to make sure that you have provided adequate evidence to support your conclusions.

The many examples of CIP Studies on this web site may give you some ideas for crafting your report. Mills (2000, pp. 162-187) and Hubbard and Power (2003, pp. 144-167) offered some suggestions about writing up teacher research reports. If you are interested in sharing your work beyond your classmates and instructor, see Mills (2000, pp. 129-143) for some ideas and suggestions.

Step 6-Monitor Intervention(s)
Continue the Cultural Inquiry Process