Beginning Academic Research

Start with your topic - then craft it into a question.  They're not the same - but what's the difference?

The Topic is your area of interest - and the Question is what you hope to answer in and through your research.

So...  How do you craft a "good" Research Question?

1. It describes the question you will - or hope to - answer
2. It is not too narrow - or too broad
   1. A simple topic is too broad. For example:
      1. African Americans and the Civil War may be a broad topic that interests you, but this is not yet a question you can attempt to answer.
   2. A research question must also not be too narrow.
      1. How were African Americans participating in the Civil War in eastern Kentucky in June of 1864? is one example of a question which relates to the previous topic, but which is too narrow in scope to be reasonable.
3. It is an open-ended question - not one that will lead instantly to a yes/no answer or with a simple fact
4. Is specific and clear - not vague
5. The question should be interesting to you and your potential audience.  Why is this topic - and your approach to it - important?  Why does or should it matter?  If it is an often- or overly-researched topic, aim for a unique or creative angle.
6. Is the question answerable, and not philosophical?

 
Robert C. Williams suggests that a research question might:

• "ask how or why an event happened (causation, explanation)"
• "ask what the consequences were of a particular event"
• "discuss the intellectual origins of a particular idea"
• "ask what the cultural context of an event was"
• "ask whether or not an individual was responsible for a certain act"
• "ask about the social history of a political event"
• "quantify broad trends in a society at a particular time"

Source: Williams, Robert C. The Historian's Toolbox: A Student's Guide to the Theory and Craft of History. Second ed. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2007.

NKU Steely Library. (2014, July). Developing a Research Question. [Video file].

Oklahoma State Library. (2016, June). It's All About The Questions. [Video file].