Research questions help you focus your search for information about your topic. Even if your assignment doesn’t require formal research questions, it’s always a good idea to jot down a few questions to help guide your search process. Effective research questions are:
- Specific: Each question should be limited in scope and address a specific aspect of your topic.
- Objective: The question can be answered through verifiable facts rather than opinion or conjecture.
- Realistic: The answer to the question can actually be found. “What’s on the other side of a wormhole?” can’t be answered because we don’t yet have the technology to actually find out.