Research & Information Literacy

Defining (and Refining) Your Research Question

When working on a research project, it is important to have a well-defined research question. This helps make the research process more targeted, and it makes your final project more specific.

Steps:

1. Decide on a topic
2. Narrow the topic
3. Brainstorm questions related to the topic
4. Choose one question
5. Make the question more specific and focused

Good research questions should...:

• ...adhere to the assignment's criteria and requirements.
• ...concentrate on one issue.
  • Trying to address too many issues at once makes it difficult to produce a coherent and organized piece of writing.
• ...be specific and focused.
  • You need to answer the question effectively within the space you have to write about it; if the assignment is to write a short paper, the question needs to be more specific.
• ...require analysis and deep thought.
  • A simple 'yes' or 'no' is not sufficient to answer them.
  • 'How' or 'why' questions are typically better.
• ...be clear.
  • Define and/or make specific any vague terms.

Clarifying Your Topic

Before beginning a research project, you must clarify your search terms or concepts. Each project is different and will require critical thinking skills. Clarification is the first phase of a Search Strategy.

Suppose you are asked to write a paper about the semiotics of advertising. You think the Benetton ad campaigns are a possibility.

• The term "Benetton" refers to a specific company.
• The concept of "advertising" can be searched using other terms, such as "ads" or "advertisement."
• You could also narrow your topic by limiting your research to billboard, TV, or magazine ads.
• The term semiotics is only used in very academic writing, and you may not find it used in magazines or newspapers. You may choose not to use the term at all in your search, but use synonyms instead, like "symbol" or "popular culture."

A first step might be to do some preliminary searching in a library database in order to discover how much has been published on the topic and what other terms have been used that relate to your topic. Notice especially which terms are used in the subject fields.

Narrowing Your Topic

Narrowing your topic helps make your paper more focused.

Consider the following questions:

• What do you know about the topic? What don't you know?
• What aspects of the topic interest you: historical, sociological, psychological, etc.?
• What time period do you want to cover?
• What geographic region do you want to focus on?
• What kind of information do you need?
  • A brief summary or a lengthy explanation?
  • Journal articles, books, essays, encyclopedia articles?
  • Statistics?

Example: I want to write a paper on an environmental subject.

This topic could develop in many different ways. By selecting a specific time span, place, associated group/community/person, etc., this makes it a more manageable research topic.

Broadening Your Topic

Having a topic that is too narrow can make it challenging to find a sufficient number of sources. It may also be too narrow to satisfy the page requirements of your project.

Example: I'm researching a particular artist who graduated from Otis

This topic, as stated, may not have many articles written about it yet. How can this be turned into a more feasible topic?

Look for broader associations:

• Could you examine a movement or type of art the artist is associated with?
• Could you think broadly about the success of art school graduates -- what might these be?
• What other issues are involved in this topic? Such as artists as teachers.

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