Conducting Research for a Paper

To guide you in your efforts in conducting academic research, it is important to develop a focused research question.

A focused research question should be:

• clear: it provides enough specifics that an audience can easily understand its purpose without needing additional explanation.
• focused: it is narrow enough that it can be answered thoroughly within the limitations stipulated in the assignment (e.g., number of pages).
• concise: it is expressed in the fewest possible words.
• complex: it is not answerable with a simple "yes" or "no," but requires an analysis and synthesis of ideas and sources.
• arguable: its potential answers are open to debate rather than accepted facts.

Research Tip: A research question should reflect the need to include multiple information sources as you report on the results of your academic research.

Application Exercise: Incorporating what you learned from writing an introduction to your topic and the elements of a strong research question, construct a research question for your topic. Retain a copy of the completed exercise for yourself and download a second copy to D2L by [date].

NEED HELP?

Laurier Library. (2017 December 20). How to develop a good research question [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oJNO6PYZe4