How can FOSIL help you?
Using the FOSIL Cycle to guide you during the EPQ process will help you to structure your inquiry and make sure you don't miss key stages - and end up needing to work twice as hard! Based on the Stripling Cycle of Inquiry, the FOSIL cycle rests on a solid background of internationally recognised research into how to conduct inquiry effectively.
Drawing on what you might already know in order to better understand what you do not yet know.
During Connect you will be doing a great deal of background research and reading. Use the Planning tab of this guide to help you to get started. Even once you have chosen your topic you will still need to do a fair amount of exploring before you are ready to understand what a good question in this area might look like. Use the guidance in the Finding and selecting sources tab of guide to help you find suitable sources.
This is the point at which you will begin to generate the vital list of keywords to guide your search, which you will use, revisit and revise throughout the Investigate stage of your inquiry.
During this initial stage you might expect to feel a bit uncertain and confused. This will get better as you work through your background research and your thinking becomes more focussed and less vague.
Identifying those questions that will best guide your investigation.
You do not begin the inquiry process with a question - you start with a topic you are interested in and then generate questions around that. Your main inquiry question is likely to shift and change as you proceed through the Investigate stage, but you should expect to have settled on your exact question by the time you start Constructing your understanding.
You can find further guidance in the Developing a line of inquiry tab of this guide.
As your knowledge of your topic grows and you start to generate your own questions, you are likely to start feeling more optimistic about your essay.
Knowing what scholarly resources are available and being able to use them effectively.
Not all resources are suitable for academic work, and you should always evaluate the resources you choose for Currency, Relevance, Accuracy, Authority and Purpose. Don't waste your time working with unreliable resources that you cannot cite in your assessed work. You will find guidance in the Finding and selecting sources tab of this guide on: where to find suitable, reputable sources for you subject; how to evaluate them; how to make and organise effective notes; and what information you should be collecting along the way in order to be able to reference your sources properly when you come to write-up your research.
Once you get going you may realise how much you still don't know and that you still have some work to do to focus your question and make your task more manageable. It is normal to feel some confusion, frustration and doubt at this stage.
Building an accurate understanding based on factual evidence.
As you process the information you have found, you will begin to develop a new understanding of your topic and start to work your way towards answering your question. As your understanding grows, you may still need to seek new information to fill in any gaps - research is a messy back-and-forth process! However, at a certain point you will need to stop Investigating and work on building a coherent argument. You wil find support for this in the Working with ideas tab of this guide. Remember that you will be working with the ideas of others in order to develop your own, and it is important to reference clearly to show where the ideas come from.
At this point you might expect to feel clarity, direction and confidence as your thoughts become more focussed and your goal is now in sight.
Making the most compelling case given your evidence and audience.
Now it's finally time to start writing! Make sure you follow any guidelines you are given on how to present your work, write in a suitable style for a piece of academic work and reference all your sources correctly. You will also need to deliver a presentation about your project as part of the assessment. You can find guidance on all of this, including ICT helpsheets, in the Expressing your ideas tab in this guide.
At this stage, depending on how well you completed the previous stages you are likely to be feeling either relief and satisfaction, or disappointment.
Evaluating how you have worked and what you have produced.
While there is a place for reflecting on your work once it is complete, reflection should also be happening all the way through your inquiry. The Production Log is an important part of your EPQ assessment which helps you to reflect on the progess of your inquiry throughout. Make sure you keep this up to date. You are also required to give a presentation at the end of the project on the process of your inquiry, reflecting on how and why you arrived at your product and how you might develop or improve it. The Reflecting tab of this guide discusses how to set up an Inquiry Journal right at the start of your journey to help you to reflect throughout the process.
By the time you have finished your inquiry (and, in the case of your EPQ, also delivered your presentation) you should have a well-deserved sense of accomplishment and an increased self-awareness which will prepare you for the next academic challenge you meet.
The Information Search Process
Kuhlthau's Information Search Process is based on years of research into how students undertake inquiry and what they are feeling, thinking and doing at different stages. Here we have combined it with FOSIL (which is based on the Stripling Cycle of Inquiry and the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum, themselves products of years of research by Professor Barbara Stripling), to give you a sense of what you might expect to be feeling, thinking and doing at the different stages of the process.
Knowing when in process you might expect to feel confused and frustrated, for example, helps you to anticipate, recognise and embrace this as a necessary stage that you need to pass through to reach the feelings confidence, satisfaction and accomplishment that come with a job well done. It also helps you to know when you might need some extra help and support - either from an expert such as your supervisor or a member of Library staff, or from a friend or family member who can just give you a bit of encouragement when you need it.
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