Level 3	Level 2	Level 1
Questioning, Planning, Focusing, and Locating	Identifies independently questions, problem, or issue to research; narrows questions, problem, or issue; collects important information independently.	Formulates questions about topic with teacher help; focuses with teacher help; collects some information independently.	Relies on teacher to state questions; needs to be given a focus; needs help finding some information on topic.
Gathering, Sorting, and Evaluating Information	Collects, sorts, and evaluates important information independently.	Collects and sorts some information but not certain of its use or validity.	Wanders from source to source without trying to determine what will be most helpful.
Recording, Organizing, and Preparing Findings	Organizes important supporting information related to focus. Independently draws conclusions.	Organizes some information related to focus and looks for missing information.	Loses track of most important information and reaches a hasty conclusion.
Presenting, Reporting, and Exchanging Findings	Creates and presents an original product that effectively addresses the original questions, problem, or issue.	Creates and presents a product that offers some insight but is not complete.	Creates and presents a product that does not address the inquiry or research focus.