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Using A Topic to Generate Questions

Research requires a question for which no easy answer is available. What do you want to know about a topic? Asking a topic as a question (or series of related questions) has several advantages:

1. Questions require answers. A topic is hard to cover completely because it probably covers a lot of related issues; but a question has an answer, even if it is vague or controversial.

2. Questions give you a way of evaluating answers. A clearly stated question helps you decide which information will be useful. A broad topic may tempt you to stash away information that may be helpful, but you're not sure how. A question also makes it easier to know when you have enough information to stop your research.

3. A clear, open-ended question calls for real research and thinking. Asking a question with no direct answer makes research and writing more meaningful. Assuming that your research may solve significant problems or expand the knowledge base of a discipline involves you in more meaningful activity of community and scholarship.

Types of Questions

Research questions are open-ended and require researching and gathering different types of data to develop an answer. ("Would legalizing marijuana reduce crime in the U.S.?")

Review or report questions are typically answered with what is generally known about a fairly narrow topic. ("What is the rationale for California's "3 strikes" sentencing policy?")

Reference questions are typically answered with single known facts or statistics. ("What percentage of drug-related crime in 1999 was committed by dealers, not users?")

Two effective ways of developing a question from a broad topic are brainstorming and concept mapping.

Brainstorming is simply a method of thinking about and writing down all words, concepts, ideas, questions, and knowledge about a topic. After making a lengthy list, sort the ideas into categories. This allows you to inventory your current awareness of a topic, decide what perspectives are most interesting and/or relevant, and decide in which direction to steer your research.

You may create a concept map as a way of brainstorming; or, after your brainstorming activity, you may take the ideas you have generated and create your map from it. Concept maps may be elaborate or simple and are designed to help you organize your thinking about a topic, recognize where you have gaps in your knowledge, and help to generate specific questions that may guide your research.

Combining brainstorming and concept mapping (brainmapping, if you will) can be a creative and useful way to begin your thinking about a topic area. At the end, your goal should be the creation of a topic definition statement that effectively defines what you will be researching and how you will present your answers.

Click here to create your own Concept Map