Developing Your Research Question

As a student, you’ll find that developing your research question and searching for its answer is not a linear process. In fact, you’ll return to and refine your research question many times over the course of your project.

You may encounter a number of roadblocks: knowledge gaps during your search, missing or overlooked voices towards the scholarly conversation, too much (or too little!) information on your topic, limited access for finding sources… all of which is overwhelming when you first start out in your research process!

That’s why it’s important to reflect on your own knowledge, gather other perspectives, find support to critically search and evaluate your sources, and take responsibility in how you answer your research questions.

Use our As You Research series alongside our tutorials to enrich your understanding of our content, and learn how to thoughtfully navigate different parts of your research journey!