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Research Process

This libguide walks the reader through a Research Process informed by Dr. Carol Kuhlthau and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

How to IMMERSE

Step 2 - a deeper explanation

  • Build background knowledge
  • Connect to content
  • Discover interesting ideas

In the Immerse phase, the Inquiry Community begins to build background knowledge together through an immersion experience.  The Learning Team designs engaging ways for students to immerse in the overall ideas of the content area under study.

The main task of Immerse is to guide students to connect with the content and to discover interesting ideas to explore further.  Learners are guided to think about what they already know and what seems particularly interesting, curious, surprising, or troubling.  As they build background knowledge, students reflect on ideas that matter to them and are worth further investigation.

Kuhlthau, Carol Collier, et al. “Guided Inquiry Design Framework.” Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century, 2nd ed., Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, CA, 2015, pp. 56–56.