WRT2000: Research Writing Research Guide: Step 2: Developing a Research Question

Power Search is our library search engine. It can be used to search across many of our scholarly article, reference, and news databases, as well as our print book and eBook collection. It's a great resource for conducting background research, because not only do you have the ability to filter for the kind of resources you'd like to see, but you get a birds-eye view of what kind of scholarship is available on your topic in general.    

Tip: Power Search uses Boolean logic, so it may be helpful to utilize some Boolean Search Strategies to enhance your results. 

It is completely fine to do a little Googling at the beginning of your research process. When you are choosing a research topic, surveying a number of different kinds of resources can a good way of getting some basic background knowledge on your topic. 

Try a few different searches using the keywords you developed in your brainstorming exercise, and see what comes up. Keep in mind that Google surveys the open, unfiltered web, so you'll need to exercise your source evaluation skills here!

When you write a paper, you typically have a thesis. Your thesis is essentially the answer to a question -- vague or specific. In research writing, your thesis is an answer to your own research question. Your research question serves as the compass for all of the steps in your research and writing processes, so it's very important that your question is strong (and meaningful to you!). 

After conducting some background research on your topic return to those questions your asked yourself in Step 1, but this time, in the context of your topic:

• What interests you about your topic?
• How does your topic relate to your assignment?
• What lingering questions do you have about your topic?
• What would you like to learn more about?

Using these questions and the foundation you've built from the background research process, draft a research question.