Brainstorm the Topic

After you have chosen the topic for your project, it is now time to complete the second step of the research process. Brainstorming is when you think about what you already know and record these ideas down on paper. A brainstorm allows you to use what you already know about a topic to help you begin to do your research. It helps prepare you for doing the work that lies ahead. Also, sometimes your brainstorm is very short and shows you that you are going to have to do a lot of research for your project. 

Brainstorming is actually the first step of a strategy we use called K-W-L. If you would like to find out more about this strategy, follow this link.

Our group has chosen to research Emily Carr and Maud Lewis. We now have to brainstorm what we know about these people. To do this, our group got together and started discussing these people. We had one person record our thoughts down while we all took part in the discussion. Our brainstorm was simple and just included brief jot-notes about the two people. You can organize your brainstorm in a variety of ways but you should choose a way that works best for you. Below you can see how our group did its brainstorm.