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Writing 10-07: College Reading & Composition (DeBoard, Spring 2025)

Step 1 - Your Research Question

Coming up with a research question Decorative element (magnifying glass with a question mark in the center of the lens)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!

Picking Your Topic IS Research (Video Tutorial)

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

About Research Questions

Forming a Research Question

  • By asking a research question, you are keeping an open mind about what the research may reveal. thought bubble question
  • As you develop a research question, consider these criteria.
  • If you have an existing research question, see if your question is TRUE for these five criteria.  If so, then your research question is probably workable. 

Criteria:

Your research question ...

  1. is not easily answered with a simple yes or no. 
   It has some substance and requires explanation.
  1. has an underlying problem with social significance (local, national or international). 
    It is important to someone other than just you!
  1. poses a genuine question and aims for neutrality.
   It avoids using loaded language or suggesting a pre-determined answer.
  1. can be answered with reliable evidence.
   It is re-searchable. Others have already been contributing to this conversation.
  1. has appropriate scope.
   It is not too narrow, nor too broad; it does not leave you with too much or too little information. 

Together: You will have to do some preliminary research to really discover if all of these statements are TRUE for your proposed research question.

Finding the Right Scope for Your Topic

Narrow Your Topic or Research Question

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

EXAMPLE OF AN OVERLY BROAD TOPIC:  To what extent are cyberattacks a problem for society?

  • What sort of cyberattacks? Think of the many reasons hackers might attack. Theft of personal information? Theft of financial data? Blackmail/ransom?
  • What aspect of society is being attacked? Individuals? Governments (state, municipal or federal)? Companies?
  • How are we measuring "extent?" Amount of personal accounts hacked? Number of companies breached?

When the scope of your topic is too big, it's hard to dig through the huge volume of information available to find something relevant.  It's also hard to write a paper or give a presentation of with any depth. 

Most scholarly research examines fairly narrow topics and looks at relationships between concepts.  For example, hacking and cyber warfare are pretty broad topics, but looking at the relationship between hacking and financial data might be a more manageable topic

There are many ways to narrow a topic that is too broad by asking one or more W questions.  Let's use hacking as an example:

  • hacking and banking (what)
  • hacking and schools (what)
  • hacking and teenagers (who)
  • hacking and the United States (where)

Use how, what, or where (two or three) to develop a research question on the topic of hacking:

NARROWER QUESTION: How do hacking and cyberattacks on banks in the United States impact bank customers and banking services?

NARROWER QUESTION: How does hacking and cyberattacks on school systems in California affect the privacy of teenage students?

WHAT: hacking and cyberattacking, banks, schools
WHERE: United States, California
HOW: privacy, security, services
WHO: bank customers, teenage students

Step 1 - Pause to Reflect

Step 1, Your Research Question, not only requires that you come up with a research questionNoun project icon showing a thought process from question to idea 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.