1. You have already chosen your big topic or problem to solve. Now write down a long list of everything that you know about that topic. Just keep going until your brain is empty! Write about things you associate with your topic, things that are related to your topic, examples of your topic, and things that are connected to your topic.

Here is the bears example. I could write honey,

berries, cubs, Yellowstone Park, grizzly, attacks, big

paws, long brown hair, teddy bears, koala bears,

hibernate, caves, and so on.

2. You can also brainstorm questions. Use seed questions (who, what, when, where, why, how) if you get stuck. Write down as many questions as you can think of.

3. When you are finished writing down your list, start a new page and put the ideas you wrote down together in groups that make sense to you. You are now organizing your items. You have begun to make a  Web or a Concept Map.

4. Once you have finished your web or concept map, you can narrow your topic. If you have chosen a great big topic like animals, you can use a general-to-specific triangle to help you find a topic where there will not be so much information.

5. Then you may form your question or questions. Good questions are open-ended which means you can't answer with a "yes" or "no". Open-ended questions use some of the following words: