Picking Your Research Question

Research Myth

The identification of the research question is the first stage of the research process.

Once you have a question, you can identify the sources and frameworks you want to use for your proposal.

Research Reality

First, you will need to determine the general topic on which you would like to do research as well as the discipline in which will be operating (i.e. history, anthropology, chemistry, etc.), based on the frameworks with which you are familiar.


However, before you can pick a particular research question, you will need to do some background research, familiarizing yourself with the body of scholarship around your general topic. Depending on your disciplinary field, this background research might involve the following:


This background research will accomplish two important objectives:

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