Research Cycle

The Research Cycle by Jamie McKenzie was first developed in 1995 to meet the needs of students working on essential questions for school research. The model places emphasis on questioning and rejects many of the model that focus on topical research. His model requires students to make decisions, create answers, and show independent judgment. Another feature of this model is its focus on actively revising and rethinking the research questions throughout the process.

McKenzie (2000) stresses the importance of students as information producers rather than simply information gatherers. Students move repeatedly through the following steps in the research cycle:

• Questioning
  
• Planning
  
• Gathering
  
• Sorting & Sifting
  
• Synthesizing
  
• Evaluating
  
• Reporting * (after several repetitions of the cycle)

Read Research Cycle 2000 by Jamie McKenzie at FromNowOn to learn more about this model that involves questioning, planning, gathering, sorting & sifting, synthesizing, evaluating, and reporting as part of a cycle.

Explore The Question Mark by Jamie McKenzie. This website is an educational magazine devoted to questions, questioning, sound intelligence, strategic reading and quality teaching.

Learn More

McKenzie, Jamie (2000). Beyond Technology: Questioning, Research, and the Information Literate School. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press.

McKenzie, Jamie. Learning to Question, to Wonder, to Learn. Bellingham, WA: FNO Press.

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