As you review the information you've found and the ideas you've encountered, these questions may help you to form a focus for your research:
(From Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century by Carol Kuhlthau, Leslie Maniotes, and Ann Caspari)
What have you found? How does the information and ideas you've encountered fit together? What themes have emerged? What important question do you want to develop from the ideas and information you have found? What do you want to explore in more detail? What do you want your research to focus on?
And - does your research question answer the assignment?
You'll want to make sure that you're not trying to answer too many questions - think about the time you have available. You'll want to focus on one aspect of your topic.
Sometimes this is referred to as the "so what" - what makes your project interesting and important.
What makes your question important? What makes your question interesting or exciting? Does your question require anything more of you than just repeating the information you've found? (If you find you're just repeating the information found, you probably don't have a very good question).
https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/getstarted/forming
8/24/24 11:53 AM