A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Find a question in your topic - Search your interests
Moving from a topic to a question to a working hypothesis
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

A research project is more than collecting data. You start it before you log on to the Internet or head for the library, and you continue it long after you have all the data you think you need. In that process, you face countless specific tasks, but they all aim at just five general goals. You must do the following:

Ask a question worth answering.

Find an answer that you can support with good reasons.

Find reliable evidence to support your reasons.

Draft a report that makes a good case for your answer.

Revise that draft until readers will think you met the first four goals.

You might even post those five goals in your workspace.

Research projects would be easy if you could march straight through those steps. But as you've discovered (or soon will), research and its reporting are never straightforward. As you do one task, you'll have to look ahead to others or revisit an earlier one. You'll change topics as you read, search for more data as you draft, perhaps even discover a new question as you revise. Research is looping, messy, and unpredictable. But it's manageable if you have a plan, even when you know you'll depart from it.

2.1 Find a question in your topic

Researchers begin projects in different ways. Many experienced ones begin with a question that others in their field want to answer: What caused the extinction of most large North American mammals? Others begin with just a vague intellectual itch that they have to scratch. They might not know what puzzles them about giant sloths and mastodons, but they're willing to spend time finding out whether they can translate their itch into a question worth answering.

They know, moreover, that the best research question is not one whose answer others want to know just for its own sake; it is one that helps them understand some larger issue (So what? again). For example, if we knew why North American sloths disappeared, we might be able to answer a larger question that puzzles many historical anthropologists: Did early Native Americans live in harmony with nature, as some believe, or did they hunt its largest creatures to extinction? (And if we knew that, then we might also understand. . . .)

Then there are those questions that just pop into a researcher's mind with no hint of where they'll lead, sometimes about matters so seemingly trivial that only the researcher thinks they're worth answering: Why does a coffee spill dry up in the form of a ring? Such a question might lead nowhere, but you can't know that until you see its answer. In fact, the scientist puzzled by coffee rings made discoveries about the behavior of fluids that others in his field thought important—and that paint manufacturers found valuable. So who knows where you might go with a question like How many cats slept in the Alamo the night before the battle? You can't know until you get there.

In fact, a researcher's most valuable ability is the knack of being puzzled by ordinary things: like the shape of coffee rings; or why Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth die offstage rather than on; or why your eyebrows don't grow as long as the hair on your head. Cultivate the ability to see what's odd in the commonplace and you'll never lack for research projects, as either a student or a professional.

If you have a topic, skip to 2.1.3 to find questions in it. If you already have a question or two, skip to 2.1.4 to test them by the criteria listed there. If you're still looking for a topic, here's a plan to help you search for one.

2.1.1 Search your interests

If you can pick any topic appropriate to your field, ask these questions:

What topics do you already know something about? You can learn more.

What would you like to know more about? A place? A person? A time? An object? An idea? A process?

Can you find a discussion list on the Web about issues that interest you?

What issues in your field have you debated with others, then found that you couldn't back up your views with good reasons and evidence?

What issues do people outside your field misunderstand?

What topic is your instructor working on? Would she like you to explore a part of it? Don't be too shy to ask.

Does your library have rich resources in some field? Ask your instructor or a librarian.

What other courses will you take in your field or out of it? Find a textbook, and skim it for study questions.

If you have a job in mind, what kind of research report might help you get it? Employers often ask for samples of an applicant's work.

You can also consult print sources for ideas:

Skim the topics in specialized indexes in your field such as Philosopher's Index, Geographical Abstracts, Women's Studies Abstracts, and so on (in the bibliography, see items in category 2 in your field).

Skim a journal that reviews the year's work in your field (in the bibliography, see items in category 2 in your field).

Academic research is meant to be shared, but the understanding it brings is also valuable to you alone. So think ahead: look for a project that might help you a year from now. Keep in mind, though, that you may be in for a long relationship with your topic. If so, be sure it interests you enough to get you through the inevitable rocky stretches.