Step

2 of the Extended Inquiry Project

Proposal parts:
1. What do you know about your subject already?
I know about my own experience with my own rites of passage ceremony that I
underwent in a wilderness therapy program in Hawaii that was based off of traditional
Native American vision quest. After a long program of looking inward and asking
personal questions I developed my own intent- a personal montra if you will describing
myself and my goal. Apart from my own unique experience I think often the idea of a
rite of passage has been destroyed by modern culture.
2. Why did you choose this subject over others? Why does it interest you?
This particular subject interests me because I have participated in a rite of
passage an experience that not many of my peers have had the opportunity to
experience. This subject is important to me because I spent so much time working on it.
3. Write ten questions you want to find answers to. At least half of those can be fact-
based. The rest must be substantive.
Why have rites of passage died out over time? What has replaced the rite of passage in
the modern world? What are the psychological impacts of a rite and not having a rite?
How did other cultures have a rites of passage? What happened to those rites? What is
the impact of not having a rite of passage?
4. From that list, choose one or two of the substantive questions that interest you most.
These will be your primary inquiry questions as you begin your research.
What has replaced the rites of passage in the modern world? And what is the impact of
not having a rite of passage?
5. List, where do you think you will find answers you seek? Possibilities are articles from
popular journals or web sites, scholarly research or studies, government documents,
individuals who might be good subjects for interview. What questions might be difficult
to find answers for?
The majority of my research will be done on ProQuest as I aim to find a broad source of
academic resources. The most difficult part will be finding articles that cover my broad
range of topics.
6. If the results of your initial research are so numerous you need to narrow your subject,
what will you narrow it to?

Narrowing my initial search results will consist of reading the abstracts to try to find the
most relevant articles to my topic.
7. If your preliminary research turns up very little information, in what way will you
broaden your subject to open up more research findings?
If my initial search is to narrow, I can always use different search engines; however, I
doubt there will be a lack of articles on rites of passage.