Phase I) The first thing you need to do is set up a research topic list using your assigned person. Follow the steps on the left, using the screen shots on the right to guide you.

1) To begin go to the Think Tank website to help set up your research topic. (When you click the link above, the Think Tank site will appear in a new browser window, so you can toggle between windows and follow the instructions below)

Click the "Let Me Get Started" button to move on.

3) On the next screen, type the name of the person you've chosen for your project in the text box at the top. (Make sure you spell your person's name correctly!)

Then click the "person" option from the list of buttons.

Finally, choose the "Next" button to move on.

4) On the next screen, you'll see your person's name appear. (In this and the sample screens that follow, the topic is Saladin. Yours, unless you have Saladin, will look slightly different.)

Choose the first of the buttons from the option list that appears to narrow the research for your person.

Finally, click "Next" to move on.

5) On the next screen you'll be choosing a number of questions to help you focus your research. Read the introductory information on this screen.

Although it advises you to pick only a couple of the questions to include in your research, you're actually going to select all but one of the suggested questions.

Check all the boxes except the third one (the one about science).

If you have a question of your own about your person that you'd like to answer as you research, you MAY include that in the blank box. Just be sure to check its box.

When finished, click the "Next" button to move on.

6) The next screen will show you the questions you checked in step 5, formatted as a list of subtopics.

Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click "Save and View Your Topics" to move on.

7) To save your topics, you need to provide a few pieces of information. In the zip code box, provide the zip code for Columbia High School -- 98672

In the password boxes, provide a simple, easy to remember password. It is only used to retrieve your subtopics, so it doesn't have to be ultra-secure (I use "12345" as mine)

After filling in the zip code and passwords, click the "Save and View" button to move on.

8) On the screen that appears, you'll see 4 important pieces of information, and you need to write them down. They are your Report ID, your Subject, your Password, and your Zip Code. Write them down so you can use them later.

Then click on the "View Topics" button to move on.

9) The next screen will show you your topic and subtopics again. Since you need to print them out, click the "Print View" button to move on.

Then, after printing your list, return to this page and click the "Export" link from the menu at the top of the screen.

Next Step: Phase II>>>