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FYE Making Media that Matters - Needham

Research Question

Asking the Right Question


Who? What? When? Where? are factual questions that for the most part, are not debatable.  Everyone generally agrees with the responses to these questions.  Use these questions to gather information about your topic, then ask yourself a why? or how? question. Why? and How? questions are interesting and lead to discussions. 

Additionally, your question should be something that scholars care enough to write about.

Once you have written your initial question, ask yourself:

  • Can the question be answered too easily?
    Questions that can be quickly looked up do not make good research questions.
     
  • Could anyone disagree with your research question?
    You want people to be able to disagree with your answer as this leads to discussion.
     
  • Is there factual evidence to support your answer?
    Everyone has tastes and opinions; however, in academic work you need evidence to support your point.  If no evidence exists, consider shifting the focus of your point - perhaps look at the opposite perspective.
     
  • Are there so many sources that you couldn't look at most of them?
    This might be an indication that your question is too broad.  Consider looking at some of the sources for ways to refine and focus your question.
SOURCE:
Turabian, K. L., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2010). Student’s guide to writing   college papers (4th ed.). Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press.

Once you've selected a research topic, consider these questions:

1. What do you already know about your topic?  What do you want to know / need to know in order to write a paper?

2. What is your opinion on your chosen topic?  What other opinions might others have?

This work by Principia College Library is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International