English 10: Foundations of Literary Studies (Gao/Omeiza)

Coming up with a research question can be challenging, but it's all part of the research process. In some cases, your instructor may give you a topic or in other cases, you may join a lab that is already working on a project with a defined research question, but if you are on your own, this page will give you some guidance.

Part of coming up with a manageable research question is also knowing what your "information need" is. In other words, what kinds of sources do you need to help you answer your question?

Tip: Remember that the research process is non-linear and sometimes messy. You will need to search for and read (or at least skim) some information sources to know if your research question is going to be manageable.  Skip to Step 4 for some reading tips!

Narrow Your Topic or Research Question

It's very common to select a topic or formulate a question that starts out too broad. 

Question 1:  What is the significance of Melville's Benito Cereno? (too broad)

When the scope of your topic is too big, it's hard to write a paper with any depth. How do I know this is too big? I got 7,420 results when searching Google Scholar!

Most scholarly research examines fairly narrow topics and looks at relationships between concepts.  For example, What is the significance of Melville's Benito Cereno? is a pretty broad topic, but looking at how power dynamics are depicted in this book makes this topic more manageable.

North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries, 3:10

Long description of "From Topic to Question" for Web Accessibility

Watch this short video tutorial (2:31) from UNLV to learn about how information gets created and the impact of time on its lifecycle.

Step 1, Your Research Question, not only requires that you come up with a research question or topic that is narrow enough to explore for an undergraduate research paper, but it also requires that you consider what type of information you will need to find in order to answer your research question.

1. Is your topic so large you could write a whole book or PhD dissertation on it? If so, you should try to narrow your topic down to something manageable within the time you have and the number of pages or words your instructor is requiring. More tips for narrowing your search can be found in step 3.
2. Is your topic so specific that you can't find information about it? Can you broaden your topic a bit by widening the the scope of the question (e.g. search "central valley" instead of "Merced county")? 
3. Do you need some basic facts, dates, or names of historical people or specific theories? If so, go on to step 2: Find Background Information.