Step 3: Develop a research question or a thesis statement


Introduction

Developing a good research question or thesis statement is one of the first critical steps in the research process.  The research question or thesis statement will focus the research process and assist in the construction of a logical argument.

Write a research question or develop a thesis statement

Write a research question

A successful research question will be a “clear, focused question that summarizes the issue that the researcher will investigate.”1 The answer to a good research question will often become the thesis of your research project and can be written after you have collected and analyzed your research sources.

Example: Beginning with the general topic, “length of the school year,” a good research question might be “Should public school students have year-round school or summers off?” After researching and reading expert opinions on the topic, you decide that the working thesis of your paper will be “Public school students should attend year-round schools in order to reduce the amount of knowledge lost during a typical summer break.”

“Writing a Good Research Question” from Grand Canyon State University offers a step by step walkthrough of developing a strong research question. Wilfred Laurier University’s “Developing a Research Question” video embedded below also details the process of creating a research question:

Develop a working thesis statement.

A working thesis statement is a concise statement of what you currently believe you want to argue or explain in your assignment. You may change your working thesis as a result of the information you find in your research.

Example: You are developing a persuasive speech and feel strongly that your working thesis should be that genetically modified foods should be banned from the U.S. After researching your topic, you change your thesis to say that "Genetically modified foods should be banned from the U.S." After researching your topic, you change your thesis to  “Genetically modified foods should be evaluated for their benefits and risks to people and the ecosystem before being allowed into the American food supply.” 

 Use your research question or thesis statement to guide your search for supporting evidence.

In order to complete your assignment, you need to support your opinion – your argument – with solid evidence. Use the central concepts from a strong research question or thesis statement to generate keywords to use as you search for sources.

 

“Writing a Good Research Question,” Grand Canyon University Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching, accessed September 1, 2015, https://cirt.gcu.edu/research/developmentresources/tutorials/question.