From research topic to the

research question(s)

codrutagosa@yahoo.co.uk
Defining your topic

 Choose an overarching topic

that you think you are fairly
familiar with
 Locate the topic (the content
and focus – what subject you
will be writing about and any
specific treatment or angle you
want to take)
Task

 Try to tell your neighbour

something interesting about the
subject of your expertise
From topic to question
 From topic to question: narrowing it
down
Example:
Vague topic: Death penalty
Still a topic: Hanging as a death penalty
Still a topic: Cruelty in hanging as a
death penalty
Overarching question:: Is hanging is a
cruel way to impose death penalty?
Focused question: Do people believe
that hanging is a cruel way to use
hanging as an acceptable means of
punishment?
Your question

 Try to develop your question by

following the pattern presented
previously:
Vague topic:
Still a topic:
Still a topic:
Overarching question :
Focused question:
 Generating Ideas
 A useful question to ask before
choosing a topic:
 ‘What do I know about the overarching
topic, and what else do I need to know?’
 Some useful techniques for narrowing
down the topic
 Brainstorming
 Freewriting
 Listing
 Asking the journalist’s questions (who,
what, where, when, why, why not, how)
 cubing
 An example: cubing

 It involves looking at an
idea/concept from six different
points of view
 Describe it (what do you see?)
 Compare it (what is it similar to?)

 Analyse it (what are its parts?)

 Associate it (what does it remind

you of?)
 Apply it (what can you do with it?)

 Argue for and against it (give any

reasons, even ‘crazy’ ones)
Task

 Think of the topic of your

dissertation and then ‘cube’ it by
using the previous angles.