Theories of Inquiry

Catalog description

Theories of Inquiry (3) The many paths to creating knowledge begin with asking a good question and a willingness to take some risks. This process of producing and presenting knowledge is called inquiry. All inquiry begins with a problem, puzzle, or question and seeks to address, solve, or answer it in a way that is compelling for audiences. Different traditions of inquiry approach this process in different ways, fitting questions to methods according to different principles and structuring the process in order to achieve different outcomes. At the same time, traditions of inquiry are not entirely exclusive; they are, rather, engaged in an ongoing scholarly dialogue, and feature subtle overlaps and complementarities. In this course AU Honors students navigate this complexity while formulating plans for their own research, creative, or professional activities. What they learn in this course feeds directly into their other classes, Honors colloquia, and capstone. Students also take these lessons with them into the world beyond the university. The course helps students grapple with the difficulties of identifying a strong question to inaugurate a process of inquiry, how to refine the question in dialogue with different research traditions, and then how to identify and locate the right material and methods for answering the question. Usually Offered: fall. Grading: Pass/Fail only. Restriction: American University Honors Program.