Brainstorming and Research Questions

What is a research question?

First...

BRAINSTORM: Think about a few topics that interest you and develop a list. Your weekly agenda (2/24) is set up to help organize your ideas and provide a broad range of topics.

Think about what's been going on in the world socially and politically over the past few years (immigration/family separations, legalization of marijuana, voting, protests and social issues/civil unrest, covid-19, the economy, the Capital) and see if there are any that struck a chord with you or you feel like diving in to.

Think about pop culture (movies, music, streaming, the entertainment industry), technology (app development, diversity in big tech, censorship), sports (anthem protests, covid concerns, gender equality), religion, current events, climate change.

You can browse the Gallup site to look at polls and data on just about every issue under the sun.

Slowly narrow this down to be more and more specific and once you settle on a topic, narrow it down before. Which brings us to...

QUESTION: A research question is a clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable question around which you center your research. You should ask a question about an issue that you are genuinely curious about.

Research questions help writers focus their research by providing a path through the research and writing process.

THREE THINGS:

1. Topic should strongly interest you

2. Make sure your topic is creative  

3. It is not too broad!

Use this link for help: Research Questions: The Good and the Not so Good

The most important thing is to think about the goal. What do you want to accomplish by answering the question?

Please let us know if you have trouble brainstorming, narrowing down, or developing a clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable question. Use the agenda to stay on task.

Next week we will begin to finalize research questions and develop a thesis!