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Coming up with a Research Question

Coming up with a Research Question:
 
Once you’ve surveyed the territory of your topic, you’ll likely find that your understanding of the topic has become broader and deeper. You may find that your interests have changed and your research has led to surprises and additional research. At some point, though, you need to come up with a research question–a specific question that you will then work to answer through your research. For this paper, your primary research question should be around a problem that needs to be solved.
 
To write a research question, review what you have learned about the topic and generate a list of questions that start with what, when, where, who, how, why, will, does, would, could and should. Here is a list of questions for the tentative topic “the potential environmental effects of fracking”:
 
What are the environmental effects of fracking?
 
When was fracking introduced?
 
Where is fracking done, and how does it affect the surrounding environment?
 
Who will benefit from increased fracking?
 
How much energy does fracking use?
 
Why do some environmental groups oppose fracking?
 
Would other methods of extracting natural gas be safer?
 
Could fracking cause earthquakes?
 
Should fracking be increased?
 
Select one question from your list that you find interesting and use that question to guide your research.
 
Additional Research Tips:
 
· Merely collecting material is not research. Collecting material from a variety of sources , reading it carefully, taking notes properly , and truly familiarizing yourself with the material— that is research.
 
· It may seem tedious, or just mechanical “busy work,” but you must keep careful records of your source materials throughout the research phase, in order both to avoid plagiarism in the writing of your paper and also, later, to make compiling your bibliography a quick, efficient process.
 
· Always keep all of your research material. You will certainly need it when you are writing your draft (which is no time for a hasty trip to the library to retrieve a source you meant to copy earlier), and you may also need it in order to defend yourself against a charge of plagiarism.
 
· In the course of gathering information you’ll soon find your imagination teeming with ideas about how to organize your paper, or ideas for the way you may want to word things, or even ideas about adjusting your topic altogether, perhaps making it more general or more specific. Write these ideas down as soon as they occur to you—don’t make the mistake of telling yourself that you’ll remember them later. (You won’t.) Keep an “idea notebook” (or digital file) separate from your research notes.

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