Topics

Research requires a question for which no ready answer is available. What do you want to know about a topic? Asking a topic as a question (or series of related questions) has several advantages:

1. Questions require answers. A topic is hard to cover completely because it typically encompasses too many related issues. A question has an answer, even if it is ambiguous or controversial.

2. Questions give you a way of evaluating answers. A clearly stated question helps you decide which information is going to be useful. Without a question, you may be tempted to stash away information that may be helpful, but you're not sure how. Also, you may not be sure when you have enough information to stop your research.

3. A clearly articulated, open-ended question calls for real research and thinking. Asking a question for which there is no simple answer at hand forces intellectual engagement with learning, making research and writing more meaningful.

*This section is adapted from Hord, Bill. "The Art of Research Questions," from The Research Center: A Guide to Using Libraries and Other Information Facilities [Online - accessed February 2001].

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