Research questions are of utmost importance to writing a good research paper. Creating good research questions is one of the first things to focus on while writing a research paper. It should be compelling and relevant to the topic.
Introduction
Many students and researchers face difficulty when its the time to create research questions. Converting the issues and problems that they think are important into solid research questions can be quite a hard task.
So when you take the importance of the research questions into consideration, you should consider why there is a need to make them as good as possible.
What Is A Research Question?
Writing research questions also helps you break your research process into small tasks that can be managed very easily. A good research question is one that you will be motivated to answer and can help you stay on the right track while writing the paper.
Thesis Statement
Just like a thesis statement, research questions have a lot of importance when you write a research paper. A thesis statement is where you briefly summarize the purpose of the research paper. Similarly, a research question can help you identify the exact issue that you want your assignment to be geared towards.
Creating good research questions will also assist in writing research papers at a faster rate. Once you are done with them, you will have a clear idea of what topic you need to dig into and can finally write your thesis statement.
Most importantly, the questions must stay relevant to the topic you are researching. They can keep you calm and collected during the process as well. A research paper written without the help of questions ends up being all over the place. With relevant research questions, you can stay focused on the main points easily.
How Do Research Questions Affect Your Research Paper?
The type of research questions you write can affect the quality of the research paper assignment. The question you select should be very specific because general questions open up doors to many possibilities. This can result in a very detailed and confusing research question.
Steps To Writing Research Questions Like A Pro
Dealing with a research paper assignment can be a pain in the neck if your writing process is disorganized. Along with working on citations, outlines, grammatical errors, and primary sources, there’s a lot more to take into consideration.
Below is the ultimate guide on how to write a solid and specific research question. Ultimately, this could help you write a good paper in a short span of time. All you need is a proper outline and a little practice.
Choose An Extensive Subject
Choosing a topic for your research paper that gives you various aspects to explore is a good idea. This way, you can search for a satisfactory research question before you start writing.
Once you have chosen a specific topic, your paper should revolve around that central idea. You will have to find relevant subheadings via brainstorming or in-depth research.
With any such process, you could find links between the different aspects of the topic. This will allow you to create questions that fit well. It is important that you opt for a topic that you feel motivated to research. Picking topics that are trending in the researching world is also a plus point as you might even get your research paper published.
Do Some Lightweight Research
After selecting a topic, do some light research on it as it can benefit you in two ways. Firstly, try reading the recent publications, scholarly articles, and other materials from reliable websites on the topic. It will give you an idea about the key points and issues being discussed by other researchers.
This way, your research paper will discuss all the current trending problems, which will make your research paper more relevant. Furthermore, by conducting light research on your topic by reading previous literature, you will be able to identify your topic’s current shortcomings and limitations. These can be useful for your research paper as you can focus on them and make your paper stand out. After this, you can further research your topic in-depth to extract more information.
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Break Your topic
After a bit of research, you will have enough knowledge regarding your topic and will be ready to dive deeper into a specific area of study. One of the options is to write a research paper that will fill the gaps and inadequacies in the information presented in the other papers.
In order to focus your paper on the limitations and aspects that were left undiscussed, you will have to construct meaningful research questions. Those will bring new information into the limelight that the previous research papers failed to explain and also shed light on your own ideas regarding the topic.
However, if the above-mentioned way doesn’t work for you, it might be time to opt for the problematization technique. This is another way of constructing research questions that are useful to the research paper. In the problematization method, you will have to analyze the preconceptions that underpin other researchers’ theoretical concepts.
This also means that you will be constructing questions that will make you question your understanding of the matter. Another way of coming up with good research questions is by taking the researcher’s own experience into account. Instead of hunting for other sources, the researcher will be able to pinpoint issues that they have experienced personally and then construct a question accordingly.
Determine The Best Questions
After the light research you conducted, there will be a lot of good questions that will be worth discussing, but there will be many that won’t be eligible to be discussed in your research paper.
So, if you want to identify if the research questions are interesting and worth pursuing or not, you should see if it satisfies the “FINER” criteria. The term FINER stands for feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, and relevant. Here’s what each factor stands for.
Feasible
The feasibility of the question depends on the capability of the researcher’s exploring abilities. Most importantly, researchers’ should only pick questions on which they can collect data easily with the primary resource that is available.
Interest
Research questions are all about interest, but it’s important that the research questions don’t just intrigue the researchers but also the members of the community. This way, the researcher will be anxious to see the answers to their questions.
Novel
The questions should bring new information to your knowledge and the field of study. Furthermore, these questions should also contribute to expanding previous research.
Ethical
It is crucial that you come up with questions that are appropriate and tick all the boxes for authorities to approve your research paper. This can help you in sending your paper in for publication later on as well.
Relevant
Relevancy is the most important factor to consider while writing questions. Constructing irrelevant questions will ruin the flow of your research paper, and it will lack consistency.
What Makes Your Research Questions Compelling?
Research writing is easy if you are good at scientific research and coming up with good research questions. These can affect the overall research paper, which includes the thesis statement, information presented in the paper, and outline.
Often people lack the skill to find good research questions, this can change quickly. Here are some factors that make your research questions solid and worth including in your paper.
Exclude Yes/No Questions
While writing a research paper, it is important to keep in mind that the research question should not be yes/no questions. Instead, it should compel the answerer to argue and present their point of view.
Complex Answers
If your research question can be answered easily or has a one-sentence answer, then it does not qualify to be enlisted in a good research question. In order to answer a solid research question, you will have to dive deep into the previous publications and research.
Debate-Worthy
Research questions with one-word answers are unacceptable. Instead, the research question should be constructed in a way that you can easily debate.
Unanswered Question
If you utilize your researching abilities properly, you will discover that many questions remain unanswered. Therefore, including them in your research questions will be a good idea as you will be increasing the information regarding the subject matter.
Be Specific
Make sure that you don’t include general questions in your research paper. For instance, instead of asking, “how should the government take action to control this problem?” go into the depth of the issues and come up with a highly specific question.
Writing Process
So, if you have research writing on hold, take a look at the outline to write a relevant research question. Often students seek help from a writing center such as Purdue OWL to get their research paper. Other students like to play with their own words and research. Once you have done the research and completed the revision process, your paper will be ready for submission.