Define your question

Strong research begins with a clear, focused question. Start with a topic that interests you, narrow its scope and identify the words you will use to search for information.

Turn a topic into a focused question

A topic tells you what you want to investigate. A research question gives your investigation direction.

Broad topic: Climate change
Too broad: How does climate change affect the world?
Focused question: How has extreme heat influenced public-health planning in Southern European cities since 2015?

Narrow your topic by considering:

• Who is affected?

• What aspect interests you?

• Where will you focus?

• When does your investigation begin and end?

• Why is the issue significant?

Useful question starters include:

• How…?

• Why…?

• In what ways…?

• To what extent…?

• What are the consequences of…?

• How has…changed over time?

Check your question

A strong research question is:

• Focused: specific enough to investigate in the available time

• Open-ended: cannot be answered with only “yes,” “no” or one fact

• Researchable: reliable information and evidence are available

• Analytical: asks you to explain, compare, evaluate or interpret

• Balanced: does not assume the answer before the research begins

• Significant: helps you understand a meaningful issue or problem

Identify keywords and search terms

Break your question into its main concepts. Then add synonyms, related terms, alternative spellings and more specific vocabulary.

Research question: How has extreme heat influenced public-health planning in Southern European cities since 2015?

Main concept

Alternative search terms

Extreme heat

heatwave, high temperatures, climate extremes

Public health

health policy, mortality, emergency planning

Cities

urban areas, municipalities

Southern Europe

Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal

Combine your terms when searching:

“extreme heat” AND “public health” AND cities

Use:

• Quotation marks for an exact phrase: “extreme heat”

• AND to include different concepts

• OR to search for alternatives: heatwave OR “extreme heat”

• An asterisk where supported to find word variations: migrat* finds migration, migrant and migrating

• Terms in other languages when investigating a particular country or community

Try it yourself

My broad topic: ______________________________

What interests me about it: ______________________________

My focused research question: ______________________________

My main concepts: ______________________________

Synonyms and related terms: ______________________________

Names, places, dates or specialist vocabulary: ______________________________

Before moving on

I can:

• Explain what I want to investigate

• Ask an open, focused and researchable question

• Identify the main concepts in my question

• Generate alternative keywords and search terms

• Adjust my question as I discover new information

Next step: Find information

Not sure whether your question is focused enough? Ask the librarian or arrange a research check-in.