Information Literacy: Creating Research Questions

Complete the Research Tutorial created by MC Librarians.  Test your knowledge of topic selection and question creation. 

► Click the arrow in the top right corner to progress through the tutorial.

You should research and ask a question on a topic that you are genuinely interested in.  You will be spending a lot of time with this one particular topic and want to stay as engaged as possible. 

Your research question should follow these principles: 

• CLEAR - it should provide enough specifics that the audience can easily understand its purpose without needing additional explanation 
• FOCUSED - it is narrow enough that it can be answered thoroughly in the space the assignment allows. 
• CONCISE - it is expressed in the fewest possible words
• COMPLEX - it is not answerable with a simple "yes" or "no", but rather requires synthesis and analysis of ideas and sources prior to the composition of an answer
• ARGUABLE - its potential answers are open to debate rather than accepted fact

- George Mason University Writing Center. (2018). "How to Write a Research Question." https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/how-to-write-a-research-question