Research Question

A research question is written in the form of a question. It guides your research in a more specific direction.

Why?

Why should you create a research question? Because it limits the scope of your investigation!

If you do not first determine the scope of your investigation, you risk wasting time sifting through search results. Additionally, what you find may not fit your assignment. For example, there is too much information about teens and their body image to fit into a five-page research paper.

A good research question saves you time and keeps you focused.

Good Research Questions Are

• Clear: Your question is specific and detailed enough that it can be understood without additional explanation.
• Focused: The question can be answered thoroughly within the bounds (word or page count) of the assignment.
• Concise: Your question should be efficiently written, without being overly long.
• Complex: The question should not be answerable with a simple “yes” or “no.” It will require you to consider ideas and information from multiple sources to develop an answer.
• Debatable: The potential answers of your question must be open to debate. If established and widely accepted facts make your question indisputable, you should pick another one.

Taking the Next Step

You have developed your research question, and your next step is to answer it based on your research. The answer you come to will be your thesis statement.