The Bedford Researcher: Chapter 3

Section A of chapter three discusses how to develop and refine your research question, a brief question that can be used to focus your research on a specific issue related to your topic. You can do this by first, reflecting on your writing situation- compare what you have learned so far in the research process, and what you would like to learn next. TBR suggests you consider how your initial biases toward your topic effect your interpretation of what you’ve learned. Keeping an open mind during the initial research process is key to developing a research question that truly interests you as a writer. Next, you should begin generating a list of potential research questions. You can do this by focusing on a certain aspect of your topic. For example, you can focus on information about you topic (what is known?), history of your topic (what has occurred in the past?), or policies (what is the best way to carry out action?). You can then combine your focus with a certain type of thinking process such as definition (describing specific aspects on an issue), or analyzing cause and effect (asking what leads to a specific result). Next, review your potential research questions and select the question(s) that most interest you, and are appropriate for you writing situation. You can help craft your research question by using “question words” such as who, what, why, where, when, how, should, would, and could. Finally, select the research question that best suits your goals as a writer. Then continue to refine you question by making it more specific, and narrowing the scope. TBR reminds us that it is always a good idea to test your research question by conducting preliminary searches. Section B discusses how to successfully create a research proposal- a formal plan for your research project. Your proposal should be comprised of a title page, an introduction, a review of literature, an explanation of how you will collect information, a project timeline, and a working bibliography.