Writing Your Research Question
A good research question enables you to place your topic in its historical context. It also allows you to contextualize it theoretically, that is, to draw connections to what other authors have said about it. Your research question shows you are engaging with existing historiographical sources and relevant theories on your topic.
A good research question has four characteristics:
- it is bounded in time and space;
- it requires extensive argumentation;
- it cannot be answered briefly or descriptively; and
- it requires a balanced conclusion.
One useful tip is to start your research question with the words ‘To what extent…’. For example: ‘To what extent did the building of railways contribute to the economic development of the Netherlands in the 19th century?’ or ‘To what extent was the high percentage of Dutch Jews deported during the Second World War due to the professionalism of the Dutch civil registration system?’
Questions that start with ‘To what extent’ allow room for you to arrive at a balanced answer (on the one hand… on the other hand). This guiding principle helps to ensure that your paper will be analytical and not merely descriptive. Keep in mind that the argumentation tends to count more than the actual conclusion in academic writing.
It is important to realize that you will need to rewrite your research question as a statement later on, as direct questions are rarely used in English-language academic writing and never instead of a thesis statement. Once you have researched and found answers to your research question, you should rephrase your research question as a thesis statement that reflects your main point or conclusion.
While reading, write down all the questions and ideas you have that relate to your main research question (which will later become your thesis statement) and subquestions.
Talk to someone, a fellow student for instance, about your topic. This is a good way of quickly organizing your thoughts. What is it that attracts you to this topic? Which problems or questions did you hit upon while scanning and reading the sources you found in your initial search?
Subdivide your main research question into subquestions
Once you have phrased your main research question, you can split up your topic and thesis into subquestions. This makes answering your main research question much easier:
- Subquestions will make your research systematic and manageable; each subquestion will help you focus on one particular aspect of your overall topic.
- Subquestions make explicit which questions your research needs to answer. This is indispensable for building a well-founded argument that fully explains your paper’s thesis.
The answers to subquestions are often very specific. They are also helpful for creating a division into chapters and/or sections.