The I-Search Paper: Revised Edition of Searching Writing

This revised and retitled edition of Searching Writing includes two additional I-Search papers, one by a teacher, and a new chapter entitled "The Larger Context," which shows how the I Search concept can work throughout the whole curriculum in school and college. As with the first edition, The I-Search Paper is more than just a textbook; it's a new form of instructional help -- a context book -- that shows students what authority is in matters of learning and invites them to join the author and teacher in the educational movement called "Writing to Learn."

To put this book in the hands of all the students in the course is not only to help them carry out an I-Search but to introduce them in a delightful way to the resources and tools of intellectual inquiry -- but one that never forgets the emotional or physical side of human activity.

This is a rare textbook that treats students as partners in learning. It shows what it is to take charge of one's own learning and suggests that this move is one that productive people keep making throughout their lives.

Ken Macrorie has served as editor of College Composition and Communication, has taught at Michigan State, San Francisco State, and Western Michigan universities, and for thirteen summers was an instructor at the Bread Loaf School of English. A Tribute to Ken Macrorie, 1918-2009It is with profound sadness that we share with you news of Ken Macrorie's death. Ken's association with Heinemann-Boynton/Cook began more than a quarter century ago with the publication of Telling Writing, in which he asserted, "Good teaching in any field isn't a matter of employing gimmicks and choosing from a damnfool encyclopedia of tricks to play on students . . . but a matter of setting up a climate friendly to learning and then challenging learners to connect their experience and ideas with those of the accepted authorities or producers." Through this and his other ground-breaking books, Uptaught, Writing to Be Read, and The I-Search Paper, Ken touched and changed the lives of countless thousands of students-and their teachers-by revealing to them their own latent abilities to write their stories, tell their truths, find their interests, research their curiosities, and finally organize what they need and want to say into memorable prose. Ken's deep respect for students and intolerance of educationally unsound "quick fixes" continue to inform our publishing program just as they did when his books helped first launch us as a publisher. We will be forever grateful to Ken and the significant role he played in Heinemann-Boynton/Cook's publishing history. To post your tribute to Ken or read comments from colleagues Peter Stillman, former publisher of Heinemann-Boynton/Cook, and Tom Newkirk, please visit our Teachers Forum.