Skip to Main Content
Accessibility Information

ENG 070 - Research and Academic Skills

ENG 070 Research and Academic Skills Guide

Developing a Research Question

What do you want to know about a topic? When doing research, you want to address your topic as a question for which there are no immediate answers. For example:

Topic: video games and violence

Research Question: Does playing violent video games lead to juvenile violence?

Try these steps to formulate a research question:

Research Question Flowchart

Check out these links and the video below for more information:

Choosing a Topic & Developing a Research Question

Choosing a Topic

When selecting a topic for your research, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Will it sustain my interest?
  • Am I choosing a topic because it seems easy or my friends are doing it?
  • Does it fit the parameters of my assignment?
  • How much time do I have and how long does the assignment need to be?
  • Is credible information on this topic readily available?

Watch the Credo Learning Tools video on How to Select a Topic (linked below), which is an essential foundational step of the research process. The other videos listed on the Credo Research Quick Tips page from the How to Select a Topic video could also be helpful. Take your time viewing those resources.

Narrowing Down or Broadening your Topic

When you need to broaden or narrow down your topic, ask yourself:

Who?

Who am I researching?

  • Consider age, gender, profession, ethnicity, humans vs. animals vs. corporations, etc.

What?

What am I researching?

  • Consider potential causes and effects, trends, statistics, problems, etc.

When? 

What time period am I interested in? 

  • Consider when the topic became significant, century vs. specific dates, historical vs. current data, etc.

Where?

Where is my research topic taking place? 

  • Consider country, state, city, urban vs. rural, environments like prisons vs. college towns, etc.

Why?  

Why does my research matter?

  • Consider what makes it important to you, to your colleagues and peers, to your community, to the world, etc.

Try Using a Mind Map

A mind map is a visual representation of your issue or topic. It is a tool which is used to visualize ideas and opportunities for broadening or narrowing down search topics. Click here for more information on mind mapping.

There are a number of free brainstorming and mind mapping tools available online like Bubbl.us and Popplet. 

Sources of Inspiration for Topics

Need help finding or deciding on a topic? The following databases and web resources contain lists of topics you can browse through for inspiration:

Databases

Web Resouces