Through your work on supporting questions, you will start to dig in on the content reflected in your compelling question. Think back to your initial work on the inquiry where you thought about content and an interesting angle on your content topics. Supporting questions represent the content of your inquiry in a logical arrangement that will help structures students encounter with the content. The supporting questions unpack the compelling question. They are rich in detail and deliberately reflective of the content. Returning to the inquiry on the Civil War, consider how the supporting questions this inquiry are rich in detail. Remember, the compelling question is, Can words lead to war? Here are the supporting questions.

1. How did Harriet Beecher Stowe describe slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

2. What led Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

3. How did Northerners and Southerners react to Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

4. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin affect abolitionism?

These questions connect together in a logical manner. The fist question provides students with an introduction the book. With that understanding in place, students then focus on Harriet Beecher Stowe's motivations in writing the book. The third and fourth supporting questions focus on reactions to the book. So, as you can see these question drill into the content of the inquiry and are connected together in a purposeful manner.